Ofcom cuts Premier footy prices March 31, 2010 MEDIA regulator Ofcom has slashed the price BSkyB can charge its rivals to screen its sports packages. It cut the wholesale price for Sky Sports 1 by 24 per cent to £10.63 a month. It means rivals BT and Virgin will be able to undercut Sky and chip away at its vast 9.5m subscriber base. [...]
Kingfisher raises dividend after profits boost March 25, 2010 B&Q owner Kingfisher beat profit forecasts and raised its dividend – helped by a rise in sales of eco-friendly products. Pre- tax profit excluding and one-off items jumped 49 per cent to £547m in the year ended January, above the average forecast of £543m. As well as raising its dividend for the first time in [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: DO YOU THINK INFLATION WILL FALL BACK TO BELOW TARGET THIS YEAR? March 23, 2010 SIMON WARD | HENDERSON Assuming no significant impact from Budget decisions, CPI inflation is projected to fluctuate in a 3.0-3.25 per cent range until mid-year before declining modestly during the second half, remaining well above the two per cent target. ALAN CLARKE | BNP PARIBAS “We expect inflation to be stable in the coming months, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 14, 2010 Coutts Private Office Rupert Allison has joined Coutts Private Office as senior client partner from after three years with HSBC private bank as a relationship manager/ director. At Coutts, Allison will advise high-net-worth individuals whose assets top £30m and will report to global head of Coutts private office, Duncan McIntyre. Allison also spent 15 years [...]
Kingfisher sees revenues rise March 25, 2010 B&Q owner Kingfisher beat profit forecasts and raised its dividend yesterday – helped by a rise in sales of eco-friendly products. Pre-tax profit excluding one-off items jumped 49 per cent to £547m for the year to the end of January, above the average forecast of £543m. As well as raising its dividend for the first [...]
Freeview could be a poisoned chalice March 21, 2010 THE outcome of Ofcom’s long-anticipated review of the pay-TV market is the world’s worst secret: it will almost certainly make BSkyB slash the amount it charges rivals to show its premium content. Less attention has been given to the ways in which Ofcom might placate Sky. Allowing the pay-TV giant to access customers via the Freeview [...]
VEXED IN THE CITY May 12, 2010 Can I ask my colleague about his home life? DEAR VEXED: There’s a colleague I work really closely with on a number of projects. We get along well, but our relationship is strictly professional. Recently I’ve noticed him being really distracted, and I overheard him having a bitter argument with his wife on the phone. [...]
Osborne: hung house will paralyse the UK April 26, 2010 THERE is a “clear risk of economic paralysis, higher interest rates and a loss of market confidence” if the general election results in a hung parliament, George Osborne warned yesterday. Speaking in an exclusive interview with City A.M., the shadow chancellor said the Tories needed to win an overall majority so they could make “the [...]
Kingfisher says profits will survive the impact of the winter’s big freeze February 18, 2010 B&Q owner Kingfisher said it had defied the big freeze in posting better-than-expected results for January. The company said it had kept a lid on costs and profits would be “slightly ahead” of the £540m for the year to 30 January pencilled in by city analysts Like-for-like sales for the final quarter at B&Q had [...]
Don’t let City living dull your good looks June 7, 2010 A FRIEND visited from the country this weekend and claimed to have blown dirty snot into a tissue after spending just two days in London. Like most long-term Londoners, I’m in denial about black phlegm, but she had a point. Living between the office, the Tube, the fumes of the street and the boozy, salt-and-sugar [...]