Ambitious network won’t see light of day February 20, 2012 FOR several years Inmarsat was the unsung darling of the FTSE 100. During the financial crisis it became a safe haven for investors seeking shelter from riskier stocks, a high-tech defensive with few competitors. Better still, its biggest shareholder Harbinger Capital, the US investment fund, propped up the shares by making clear its intention to [...]
Scottish house price dip means good value buys February 16, 2012 SCOTLAND: land of hunting, shooting, fishing…and fortified castles set amid hundreds of acres selling for less than £3m, the cost of a mere flat in certain parts of London. As Jamie Macnab, of Savills’ Edinburgh office, says: “Someone said to me once that four square miles of London is worth more than the whole of [...]
Real potential is in emerging markets February 13, 2012 WHEN I first met Alastair Lukies back in 2009, things were not looking good for his company, the mobile payments provider Monitise. The firm’s share price was languishing at 5p, way below its IPO price of 21.25p, and it was operating in not one but two troubled sectors: tech and financial services. To make matters [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 13, 2012 Parental guidance Well written, David Crow [Too many children are being taken into care, last Friday]. In a free society such as ours, surely it is better to leave children in the care of their parents rather than in institutions – we must give back to parents, often single parents, the responsibility and authority they [...]
UK trade deficit plummets to nine-year low as imports take a sharp tumble February 9, 2012 IMPORTS fell sharply in December and exports expanded slightly, taking the UK’s trade deficit to its lowest level since 2003, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed yesterday. The deficit in goods and services fell to £1.1bn for the month, compared with £2.8bn in November. In goods, the deficit fell from £8.9bn to [...]
Too many children are being taken into care: the Baby P witch hunters are to blame February 9, 2012 WHEN Sharon Shoesmith, the former director of Haringey Children’s Services, became the scapegoat for the death of Peter Connelly or “Baby P”, almost everyone joined the witch hunt. The media went for her with a viciousness that knew no bounds while Ed Balls, then Children’s Secretary, took the unprecedented step of ordering her dismissal (unfairly, [...]
Emerging markets push comes too late February 8, 2012 WHEN times get tough, branded products are the first things to go. British consumers know there is little difference between Fairy and a supermarket’s own-label washing up liquid. The trend is more pronounced among younger consumers, who will protect luxuries such as their iPhone and designer clothes by buying staples from the supermarket economy ranges. [...]
Rogue trading scandal was a blessing in disguise February 7, 2012 THE ROGUE trading scandal that hit UBS in September was a blessing in disguise. The disaster sounded the death knell for the group’s investment bank, at least as we currently know it, which has dragged on profitability for far too long. The division has lost around SFr3.5bn (now $2.4bn) since the start of 2009. We [...]
Rogue trading scandal was a blessing in disguise February 7, 2012 THE ROGUE trading scandal that hit UBS in September was a blessing in disguise. The disaster sounded the death knell for the group’s investment bank, at least as we currently know it, which has dragged on profitability for far too long. The division has lost around SFr3.5bn (now $2.4bn) since the start of 2009. We [...]
Taiwanese firm is caught in pincer February 6, 2012 THE demise of Nokia happened in slow motion. Apple released its first iPhone in 2007 but it took almost four years before Nokia admitted it was “standing on a burning platform”. Even now, some believe Nokia’s new Microsoft Windows smartphone, the Lumia, could snatch the Finnish handset maker from the jaws of defeat (for the [...]