Persimmon in house sales boost January 7, 2010 Housebuilder Persimmon remained cautious over the health of the housing market despite a stronger performance in the second half of 2009. The FTSE 250 group said it completed the sale of 8,796 new homes during 2009, which generated a turnover of around £1.4bn. Almost 5000 of these properties were sold in the second half – [...]
Beat the blues with a slice of Caribbean sun March 25, 2010 WINTER is finally over, and the sun has been reminding us all of its existence in the past week or so. If you are already thinking ahead to next year and wondering how you will get through another few months of darkness and “snow days”, there’s a solution: buy a home in the Caribbean. Barbados [...]
Five tips for traders in the second quarter April 5, 2010 THE first quarter of 2010 was a rocky one. We had confirmation that the British economy exited recession in the last three months of 2009 but political polls increasingly pointed towards a hung parliament come the general election. The Eurozone suffered dreadfully from the Greek fiscal crisis and fears grew that its woes could spread [...]
Expansion curtailed as profits slump at restaurant group Clapham House December 17, 2009 THE company behind restaurants Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek has suffered a 13 per cent slump in profits – scuppering any major expansion plans next year. Clapham House Group – whose Tootsies chain closed in October – said trading conditions remained “pretty challenging”. However, the firm claimed there were signs that things were [...]
ECONOMIC DIARY December 20, 2009 IN a quiet and short week, the big news on the agenda will be the revisions – if any – to third quarter GDP figures for the UK and the US on Tuesday. The UK third quarter data will be released on Tuesday at 9.30am. Despite an upward revision to -0.4 per cent from -0.6 [...]
The chances of a Hershey counter-bid are slim January 14, 2010 THOSE Cadbury shareholders hoping Hershey will take Kraft on in a bidding war are likely to be disappointed. The maker of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is going to find it awfully hard to fund a takeover, as its enterprise value is estimated at around $10bn (£6.1bn) compared to Cadbury’s $21.3bn. Simply raising the funds in [...]
The comeback cad trying his luck in the Med March 2, 2010 JAMES Hewitt – former lover of Princess Diana, ex-solider, comeback cad – throws his head back and laughs at what I have just said. “Yes, I suppose this is like Rick’s in Casablanca,” he says when he recovers. “And everyone comes to Rick’s.” We are having dinner in a corner of Polo House, his bar [...]
Entrepreneur gathering gives views on 2010 January 18, 2010 LAST Thursday, 260 delegates braved the cold to come and hear leading entrepreneurs, politicians and think-tank leaders share their views at the 6th Entrepreneur Country Forum, which had the theme “Politics Not as Usual”. Stephan Shakespeare, co-founder of YouGov, was candid when he said that tough times were the making of his firm – “when [...]
Tullow down after £1bn share placing January 27, 2010 TULLOW oil shares plunged yesterday after the company raised £1bn to fund expansion in Uganda where it hopes to gain government support for a major acquisition. Shares fell as much as 5.6 per cent after the London-based oil explorer launched the placing. The firm – which has more licences in Africa than any other UK [...]
JAL shares drop to a record low November 24, 2009 Shares of Japan Airlines slid to a record low yesterday on growing investor worries that Asia’s largest airline by revenue could face bankruptcy as it struggles to agree pension cuts. The slide was also fuelled by news that trading house Mitsui sold all of its 11.7m JAL shares, raising speculation other shareholders would follow suit. [...]