Record travel numbers for Eurotunnel September 6, 2010 EUROTUNNEL enjoyed a record summer this year, after car traffic rose 17 per cent on last year with more than half a million cars taking the trip between Kent and Calais in July and August. The French company, which trades on the London and Paris stock exchanges, said it broke its previous passenger record on [...]
GOVERNANCE TRAINSPOTTERS GET KNICKERS IN A TWIST OVER FLINT September 27, 2010 IT’S been a tiring week for HSBC, which is currently juggling the handling of a full-scale management game of musical chairs, the fallout from its leaky succession-planning AND a band of disgruntled sticklers for corporate governance among its shareholder base. So it’ll come as a welcome surprise for the bank to learn that a conservative [...]
New volatility products help investors to hedge April 28, 2010 EUROPE’s sovereign debt crisis has gained momentum this week after Greece’s debt was downgraded to junk status. Similar to the financial shock in 2008, this has rocked global stock indices and volatility has spiked higher in recent days. Volatility indices, such as the Vix in the US and VSTOXX in Europe, measure the “fear” in [...]
Promethean set for £400m listing March 12, 2010 EDUCATION technology group Promethean World and its owners are set for a £400m listing on the London Stock Exchange. The Blackburn-based company and private equity firm Apax Partners – which owns a 25 percent stake in Promethean – sold a combined 92.9m shares at 200 pence. The shares represent 46.4 per cent of Promethean’s enlarged [...]
LSE trading share falls as rivals up ante March 25, 2010 DAILY trading levels on the London Stock Exchange have dipped by more than a third over the past year, as competition continues to hot up between the traditional bourse and its upstart rivals. Average daily value traded in UK equities on the LSE fell 35 per cent to £4.6bn over the 11 months to the [...]
Chi-X boss covets top slot among bourses February 15, 2010 Pan-European share trading platform Chi-X Europe, Europe’s third-biggest trading platform after just three years in business, has broken into profit and aims to become Europe’s number one exchange, its new chief executive said. Chi-X has become profitable on a daily basis this year, making it the first European multilateral trading facility (MTF) to do so, [...]
Know how to value your ETF April 21, 2010 WHEN placing a trade, investors understandably concentrate on making the decision that will yield the most profitable returns. But it is just as important for traders to understand how they are investing as well as what they are investing in. This is particularly relevant for investors using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – knowing how an ETF [...]
BA and Iberia sign merger agreement April 8, 2010 BRITISH Airways and Iberia have signed a merger agreement that will see the two carriers launch a new company called International Airlines. The merger is expected to be complete by November this year and has received approval from local aviation authorities but awaits both European Commission and shareholder approval. BA and Iberia will create a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES STEEL INDUSTRY SET FOR A ‘NEW VOLATILITY’ Lakshmi Mittal warned yesterday that the impending large rise in the costs of iron ore would lead to “new volatility” in the steel industry by pushing up prices of the metal in a development that could harm the competitiveness of some of ArcelorMittal’s European plants. The [...]
Squarestone in AIM float February 23, 2010 PROPERTY group Squarestone Brasil is planning to raise up to £250m in what would be the largest float on London’s Alternative Investment Market in a year. Squarestone plans to invest the cash in new Brazilian shopping-mall developments and future acquisitions. The company will be chaired by Asda veteran Tony Campbell with Liberum Capital acting as [...]