Hornby set to reveal £1bn Boots profit May 16, 2010 ANDY HORNBY, the man associated with the near-collapse of HBOS, will return to the limelight today as he announces an estimated £1bn profit at the helm of Alliance Boots. Hornby is expected to say the private equity-owned healthcare and beauty products retailer’s trading profit for the year to 31 March grew at a faster pace [...]
BP TOP DOGS SPOTTED OUT ON A TOP-SECRET MAYFAIR MISSION June 7, 2010 A STERLING spot by one of The Capitalist’s army of spies yesterday, on the way to a meeting at an office building on Old Burlington Street. Stepping out of the lift in the building were none other than beleaguered BP chief executive Tony Hayward and his finance director Byron Grote – taking some time out [...]
BP TOP DOGS SPOTTED OUT ON A TOP-SECRET MAYFAIR MISSION June 7, 2010 A STERLING spot by one of The Capitalist’s army of spies yesterday, on the way to a meeting at an office building on Old Burlington Street. Stepping out of the lift in the building were none other than beleaguered BP chief executive Tony Hayward and his finance director Byron Grote – taking some time out [...]
Cowdery buys Axa’s UK arm in £2.8bn deal June 24, 2010 RESOLUTION will reshuffle the leadership of its insurance consolidation project after agreeing to pay £2.8bn for the British life and pensions businesses of French group Axa yesterday. Axa’s UK arm will be merged with Resolution’s existing holding, Friends Provident, to create Friends Life. Trevor Matthews will stay as chief executive but David Hynam, Graham Harvey [...]
SEC bolsters rules on loan securitisations April 7, 2010 WALL Street regulators yesterday proposed issuers of mortgage-backed securities and similar instruments disclose more about the underlying loans and keep five per cent of the credit risk in some circumstances, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule responds to the debacle involving securities packed [...]
THE TIPSTER June 2, 2010 SINCE Richard Glynn took over the helm of Ladbrokes on 22 April, shares in the bookmaker have dropped over 13 per cent. The technical outlook for Ladbrokes looks challenging because it is trading below its 50, 100 and 200-day moving average, which are all clustered around the 150p area. Downtrend resistance and indicators are all [...]
US home sales dip amid fragile market recovery March 23, 2010 Sales of previously owned US homes fell slightly in February, according to a trade group report yesterday that underscored the fragile nature of the housing market’s recovery. The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 0.6 per cent month-on-month to an annual rate of 5.02m units, the third straight month of declines in sales. January’s [...]
US plans securities sale March 25, 2010 The US central bank is a step further towards gradually selling some of its $1.25 trillion portfolio of mortgage securities. Ben Bernanke at a House hearing yesterday said: “I anticipate that at some point we will, in fact, have a gradual sales process.” Bernanke’s stand on the issue is important to millions of US homeowners [...]
Coca-Cola ups Innocent stake April 11, 2010 American drinks giant Coca-Cola has taken majority ownership of Innocent, the British smoothie maker, increasing its stake to 58 per cent. The move gives the US company more exposure to the fast-growing health beverages market in the UK and comes a year after Coca-Cola paid £30m for an 18 per cent stake in Fresh Trading, [...]
Redrow April 27, 2010 NO ONE can deny that Redrow’s management team has engineered an impressive recovery. With the once moribund housing market showing signs of life, the firm says that sales rates per outlet are comfortably ahead of the same period last year. Falling prices and soaring cancellation rates are also showing signs of stabilisation. Unlike some of [...]