Air conditioning pioneer Volution Holdings airs out plans for listing June 11, 2014 The British manufacturing firm that installed extractor fans for Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War is heading to the London stock market after unveiling plans for a £300m listing. Volution Holdings, which owns Vent-Axia – the engineering firm famed for supplying ventilation to 10 Downing Street during the war – will raise £72m [...]
Justin King’s final curtain: Sainsbury’s CEO goes out on sliding sales June 11, 2014 It is chief executive Justin King’s last set of results, and Sainsbury's has reported a 1.1 per cent fall in like-for-like sales – in line with expectations. Including fuel, they dropped 2.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 7 June. But shares have risen by as much as two per cent this morning. Darren [...]
City Moves for 11 June 2014 | Who’s switching jobs June 10, 2014 BNP Paribas Investment Partners Patrick Mange has joined BNP Paribas Investment Partners as an emerging markets strategist. Since 2009, Mange has been deputy chief executive at Shinan BNP Paribas. He previously worked at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets France, where he was a euro area strategist. Prior to that, he was a senior economist at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt [...]
UK industrial output sees strongest annual increase since 2011 June 10, 2014 The UK's manufacturing sector continues to go from strength to strength, with output growing by 0.4 per cent in April, according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates. That's manufacturing's fifth consecutive rise, and is bang in line with the consensus estimates of analysts, while being matched by an equivalent increase in overall industrial [...]
Tesco Bank current account finally checks in June 9, 2014 After six years of delays, glitches and excuses, and a cool £600m splashed on the project… BRITONS can today open current accounts with Tesco Bank as the retailer at last becomes a fully functioning challenger to the big banks. The long-awaited milestone comes at a tough time for Tesco, which hopes a stronger banking arm [...]
London Report: FTSE near to a record high on global pick-up June 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index extended its gains and closed near a record high yesterday, led by mining companies, amid signs a global economic recovery was picking up speed. The UK mining index rose 0.4 per cent, making it the biggest sectoral gainer in the FTSE 100 index. The gains came after China, the world’s biggest [...]
Sainsbury’s to trial selling clothing online June 9, 2014 Sainsbury is to take on its high street and supermarket rivals by selling its clothing brand TU online for the first time. People close to the company previously said that clothing margins were too low justify delivering clothes bought online to customers. However in a statement yesterday Sainsbury’s said it will pilot selling [...]
Banks’ fines to soar past $100 billion June 4, 2014 EUROPE’S biggest banks face an eye-watering $104bn (£62bn) bill, as regulators throughout the world ramp up fines for bad behaviour. The total amount, calculated by analysts at Credit Suisse, is nearly twice as high as had been expected a year ago, following a series of huge punitive charges in recent months. The 10 banks included [...]
Private sector figures suggest this week’s US job report could be a huge disappointment June 4, 2014 This week's US jobs numbers could be very disappointing, if this indicator is anything to go by. The economic calendar is dominated by a couple of events this week, one of which is Friday's US jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to show that the US economy added 218,000 jobs in May, down from the [...]
Services growth beats analyst expectations as sector stays strong June 4, 2014 Service growth remains incredibly strong in the UK, with new survey data revealing that the pace of growth has moderated by a shade. Markit's service sector purchasing managers' index has dropped from 58.7 to 58.6 in May, a fall well short of the drop to 58.2 that analysts had been expecting. Any number above 50 [...]