PADDY POWER BLOWS £11K DERBY WINNINGS OVER THREE-DAY STAG June 5, 2011 THE QUEEN was not amused by her loss at the Investec Derby, for which City A.M. proudly served as the official newspaper. But Paddy Power, the public face of the bookmaker of the same name, was still celebrating on Sunday afternoon after winning £11,000 the previous day. Power told his wife Jane he would make [...]
US rentals lift growth at hire firm Ashtead June 16, 2011 BRITISH industrial equipment hire company Ashtead said a continued shift to rentals from ownership left it well placed for 2012, after posting full-year pre-tax profit in line with expectations. The FTSE 250 company, which hires out equipment from diggers to small tools, yesterday said the trend of contractors renting rather than buying equipment had continued [...]
US rentals lift growth at hire firm Ashtead June 16, 2011 BRITISH industrial equipment hire company Ashtead said a continued shift to rentals from ownership left it well placed for 2012, after posting full-year pre-tax profit in line with expectations. The FTSE 250 company, which hires out equipment from diggers to small tools, yesterday said the trend of contractors renting rather than buying equipment had continued [...]
Kensington and Chelsea has most £1m plus house buyers in London May 30, 2011 THE borough of Kensington and Chelsea saw the highest number of £1m plus property sales in London last year, according to figures revealed today by specialist private bank Investec. A total of 4,530 properties sold for over £1m in 2010 with 912 of them sold in Kensington and Chelsea alone. City of Westminster saw 790 [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW BAD WAS THE PERFORMANCE OF ARGOS? June 9, 2011 TOM GADSBY | MATRIX GROUP These are pretty dire figures. We expected another tricky quarter for Argos, but the like-for-like sales fall is well below the expected range. While the decline in profits over the past two years is cyclical rather than structural, a clear upturn in consumer demand would be needed for the shares [...]
Greencore to buy rival Uniq in £113m deal July 12, 2011 GREENCORE has made a £113m offer for rival food company Uniq as it paves the way for a delisting in Ireland ahead of joining the London market. The Dublin-based company, which is one of Britain’s biggest providers of ready meals, said its 96p per share offer has received the backing of Uniq’s board, which put [...]
ECONOMISTS’ VIEWS: IS IT TIME TO START NORMALISING INTEREST RATES? June 5, 2011 PATRICK MINFORD | CARDIFF BUSINESS SCHOOL “Yes, because more easing will be counterproductive. They have to accept that there’s an environment of slow growth now. The danger is the Bank could push sterling down even more, by staying loose while the rest of the world tightens, resulting in longer-term inflationary effects.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON [...]
A horse fit for a Queen May 19, 2011 THE Investec Derby is just over two weeks away and the world’s greatest flat race, held at Epsom for over 200 years, may be about to have its most famous winner. Carlton House, bred by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud operation and the red-hot 7/4 favourite with William Hill to land the mile and a half [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT WOULD A SALE OF SYNOVATE MEAN FOR AEGIS? June 6, 2011 STEVE LIECHTI | INVESTEC We see Synovate as a decent add-on to existing players rather than a strategically exciting asset, therefore while an auction might develop, we would not encourage this view. Bigger questions are what Aegis does with any possible proceeds or whether this stimulates interest in the whole group by third parties, bearing [...]
England can impress in Investec Series opener November 5, 2010 ENGLAND vs NEW ZEALAND TOMORROW, 2.00PM, SKY SPORTS Martin Johnson gets the chance to show how his England team have progressed since their excellent 21-20 victory over Australia in June, as the autumn internationals get underway tomorrow at Twickenham. England face the toughest possible opener against the All Blacks, who will be seething after they [...]