Low volatility offers opportunities to buy March 22, 2010 LOOKING at the headlines, you probably wouldn’t draw the conclusion that the financial markets are currently a sea of calm. There’s political uncertainty in both the UK and, to a lesser extent, the US. Sovereign debt risks are mounting in the developed world with the Eurozone still in focus and the UK a concern if [...]
CRH hit after profit slump sparks fears January 5, 2010 SHARES in Irish building materials group CRH dipped yesterday after a warning of a steeper than expected slide in profits. The Dublin-based company said the outlook for construction markets was still murky, despite cheerier forecasts from its rivals. CRH, now Ireland’s biggest company by market value, said the fall in profits slowed in the last [...]
Begbies Traynor profits rise after historically busy year January 21, 2010 Insolvency firm Begbies Traynor has emerged as a big winner of the recent crash. Its profits rose 69 per cent after six months of “historically high” levels of work. In the first half of last year it made pre-tax profits of £3.6m. Turnover was up 21 per cent to £34.2m. Earnings before exceptional costs increased [...]
Understanding tracking error is key to savvy ETF investing February 24, 2010 EXCHANGE-TRADED products may have only just entered the mainstream and been accepted by the European investment community, but some market commentators are already questioning whether the end is nigh for these funds. This was indeed the question posed by financial blogger Felix Salmon, citing news reports of a recent piece of research from Morgan Stanley [...]
Costain cheers as order book hits £2.6bn mark January 7, 2010 CONSTRUCTION group Costain is celebrating a 30 per cent rise in forward orders to £2.6bn thanks to transport, utility and local authority work. Costain said 2010 prospects were uncertain, but its order book included more than £850m of work this year, better than at this time last year. The group is winning utility, nuclear, road [...]
Davos delegates call for single set of regulations January 27, 2010 TOP bankers took a swipe yesterday at US and British moves to tighten regulation of their activities and pay, saying one set of rules were needed to govern the global banking industry. The Group of 20 leading nations have attempted to address the financial crisis through a common global approach, but policymakers came under fire [...]
American-style glitz and glam come sailing into Barcelona March 28, 2010 WHATEVER the brand values are that the W Hotel group holds dear, subtlety probably sits low on the list. Take, for instance, the way it classes its rooms. Not for W those fuddy-duddy words like Superior (meaning bog-standard) and Deluxe – instead, W offers you Mega rooms and Fabulous rooms, or if you want a [...]
Careers clinic February 10, 2010 One of the people on a team I manage made a costly mistake recently. I’m worried about him becoming demoralised, so what’s the best way to manage it? The first thing to realise is that this shouldn’t be too much about finger pointing. You need to acknowledge a mistake has been made, but do it [...]
Irish approach could resolve Greek tragedy January 24, 2010 Should Greece be following Ireland down the path of austerity? Finance minister George Papaconstantinou could certainly do with a few friends in the bond market right now but is the Irish playbook really an option? The Celtic Tiger was the first Euro zone country to enter recession at the back end of 2008. The Irish [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 10, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BOCOM EYES $500M PRIVATE EQUITY FUND Bank of Communications is to launch a US dollar private equity fund in the latest sign of mounting Chinese interest in the asset class. BoCom International, the bank’s overseas arm, said on Wednesday it was targeting a $500m fund that would invest in mainland groups. The fund [...]