Unicredit to raise €7.5bn new capital November 13, 2011 ITALIAN lender Unicredit will tap up investors for €7.5bn (£6.4bn) in cash as it scrambles to pass a new round of European stress tests. The bank’s strategic committee will this morning unveil the recommendation to meet requirements by raising money rather than holding an asset fire-sale, making it Europe’s first bank to formally announce its [...]
M&S profits fall by 10pc November 8, 2011 Marks & Spencer posted a 10 per cent drop in first-half profit after second-quarter underlying sales fell for the first time in two years, underscoring the pressure on UK consumers. The 127-year-old group, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer which also sells homewares and upmarket food, said on Tuesday it made a profit before tax and one-off [...]
If it’s broke, then buy it and fix it up for a tidy return November 10, 2011 Q.Why should someone consider an unmodernised property? A.Unmodernised property provides the opportunity to buy at a lower price than a recently modernised equivalent, and the chance to create one’s own home to one’s own taste and standards. People also enjoy the experience of renovating a property; it’s creative and fun. Q.What are the biggest upsides? [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 15, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES HGCAPITAL IN TALKS TO BUY BACK IAS HgCapital, the mid-market private equity group, is in talks to buy back the main part of Iris Software Group four years after it sold the UK’s largest private business software maker to Hellman & Friedman. The buy-out house has approached its larger US rival with a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 15, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES HGCAPITAL IN TALKS TO BUY BACK IAS HgCapital, the mid-market private equity group, is in talks to buy back the main part of Iris Software Group four years after it sold the UK’s largest private business software maker to Hellman & Friedman. The buy-out house has approached its larger US rival with a [...]
Traders keeping a close eye on FTSE after drop to 5,100 November 27, 2011 GLOBAL equities continued to tumble last week with many indices crashing through technical support areas. At the start of the week, the FTSE gapped below its 50-day moving average around 5,350 and went on to trade below 5,100 briefly on Friday. This level is not only psychologically significant, but also important in technical terms. It [...]
I’m dreaming of a blue and green Christmas November 24, 2011 The colour of TV commercial Christmas is snowy-white, accented by the waxy green and red of bows of holly. The Christmas of real life tends to be a slushy brown, accented by car-fumes and accompanied by a complete breakdown of the transport system. While most of us will just slog through it as usual, for [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 15, 2011 Smith & Williamson Finbarr O’Connell, the former managing partner of turnaround specialist Re10, has joined the accountancy and investment management group as a director, bringing the total number of staff in the restructuring and recovery team to 70. O’Connell is a past president of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association and has 25 years’ restructuring and turnaround [...]
M&A to dine out next year December 11, 2011 BRITAIN’S restaurants and bars sector is expected to enjoy a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions next year, thanks to a pick-up in private equity demand, a report by the accountancy firm BDO has revealed. While sales across the industry are predicted to remain subdued, top high street chains such as Yo! Sushi, Pizza Express and [...]
Economic fears stalling US recovery: Beige Book October 20, 2011 THE US economic outlook grew dimmer in September, leading businesses to be wary of spending and of building up inventories ahead of the holiday sales season, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book revealed last night. US stocks fell after the Beige Book was released, while Treasury debt prices rose on its glum economic outlook. In more positive [...]