THE LONDON REPORT February 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed up yesterday, led higher by miners and banks, but lingering concerns over Europe’s fiscal problems weighed on sentiment. The FTSE 100 ended 19.51 points or 0.4 per cent ahead at 5,111.84, having hit a session high of 5,132.93. Metals prices regained some ground after sharp falls last week, helping mining [...]
PROPERTY BARONS PAY TRIBUTE TO THEIR SAGE April 13, 2010 IT WAS a hop, a skip and a jump over to the Dorchester yesterday lunchtime for the slap-up annual lunch hosted by Gerald Ronson, the seasoned chief of property group Heron International. Ronson’s list of invitees reads like a who’s who of the upper echelons of property and high finance, including ex-Lloyds chair Sir Victor [...]
RBS boss Hester to waive £1.6m bonus February 22, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester has decided to waive the bumper £1.6m bonus to which he is contractually entitled for this year, amid a fierce torrent of populist anger over remuneration in the banking sector. The news comes after Barclays chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond set the bar for [...]
Persimmon wary despite sales rise July 6, 2010 HOUSE builder Persimmon reported higher sales and improved debt for the first half of the year, but said consumer uncertainty following the election and the emergency Budget had dampened its outlook. The country’s largest house builder by market value said legal completions on properties in the first half increased by 16 per cent to 4,657 [...]
Relishing wine and luxury in Porto September 12, 2010 BOTH port (the drink) and Portugal tend to be the victims of limited appreciation in this country. The latter is best known for the golf resorts and tourist traps of the Algarve, and for football’s premier golden-booted poseur; the former is the tipple you pass to the left during the cheese course. Well there’s a [...]
Relishing wine and luxury in Porto September 12, 2010 BOTH port (the drink) and Portugal tend to be the victims of limited appreciation in this country. The latter is best known for the golf resorts and tourist traps of the Algarve, and for football’s premier golden-booted poseur; the former is the tipple you pass to the left during the cheese course. Well there’s a [...]
Calls for Voda chair’s head July 21, 2010 A powerful investor group has called for the head of veteran Vodafone chairman Sir John Bond. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTTP), which has a 0.42 per cent stake in the telecoms giant, has demanded a radical shake-up at board level and says it will vote against his re-election. Though the OTTP stopped short of [...]
BAE on track for full year growth May 5, 2010 BAE Systems said it expected to deliver earnings growth in 2010 and that the loss of a contract to build new armoured vehicles for the UK army had not hit its outlook for the year. The defence contractor said it expected three of its four divisions to deliver growth in 2010 and that sales at [...]
Murray: I still need to raise my game June 27, 2010 ANDY MURRAY accepts he is going to have to up his game if he is to end Britain’s 74-year wait for a Wimbledon champion. The British No1 is still yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament ahead of this afternoon’s fourth-round clash with big-serving American Sam Querrey. But the fourth seed knows there [...]
Murray: I still need to raise my game June 27, 2010 ANDY MURRAY accepts he is going to have to up his game if he is to end Britain’s 74-year wait for a Wimbledon champion. The British No1 is still yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament ahead of this afternoon’s fourth-round clash with big-serving American Sam Querrey. But the fourth seed knows there [...]