Construction industry begins to recover as its decline slows February 2, 2010 HOPES of a recovery were boosted further today with a survey showing that the construction industry shrugged off last month’s snowy weather and shrank at its slowest rate in nearly two years. The CIPS/Markit survey came in at 48.6 during January, up from 47.1 in the previous month. New orders decreased for the second consecutive [...]
City veteran Adam Wilson takes helm at Daniel Stewart February 15, 2010 STOCKBROKING doyen Adam Wilson, the former chief executive of Hichens Harrison, has joined loss-making City broker Daniel Stewart as chief executive in a bid to revamp the business. Wilson’s appointment comes after Daniel Stewart yesterday said it had secured a deal to buy Dubai-based financial consulting business Mena-RL, which was set up by Wilson after [...]
Copper looks red hot for next year November 15, 2009 COPPER’S status as a widely used industrial metal meant it was always going to do well in 2009. Restocking, East Asian growth and growing confidence in the global economic recovery saw the price of the red metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rise to as high as $6,700 a tonne earlier in the year. [...]
SMOKING-HOT CUBANS LAUGH IN THE FACE OF A CIGAR SALES SLUMP February 23, 2010 CAVIAR, lobster, champagne and sports car sales have all been dwindling over the course of the downturn, so I suppose we really should have seen this one coming. Apparently, the latest luxury product to take a tumble is the Cuban cigar, synonymous with bulging wallets the world over – which saw an eight per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES DUBAI WALTH FUND BUY-OUT HEAD SWITCHES TO CARLYLE Carlyle, the US-based private equity group, has poached Eric Kump, head of Dubai International Capital’s European private equity team, leaving the sovereign wealth fund with a troubled portfolio and lacking funds for new deals. Mr Kump will on Tuesday be unveiled by Carlyle as a [...]
THE TIPSTER January 31, 2010 FRIDAY’S upbeat house price data from the Nationwide was well received by home owners, but it might only last for the short-term. Whether the upward trend in home values can be sustained for any length of time is clearly open to debate. The prospect of rising interest rates threatens to squash demand as mortgage repayments [...]
This is the moment to sniff out some bargains March 15, 2010 ONE of the most lucrative strategies in the investment book is value investing, or investing in firms that appear undervalued when analysed using a certain type of fundamental analysis. For example, if a company’s share prices is lower than its dividend yield, or its book value. Famous proponents of this strategy include Warren Buffett, and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 15, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MUTUALS CLOSE TO CAPITAL DEAL Building societies are close to finalising details of a new investment instrument that would allow them to comply with tough new capital requirements without compromising their mutual status. According to senior figures in the industry, talks are close to conclusion on the creation of of “mutual ordinary deferred [...]
THE TIPSTER TIME TO GO DEFENSIVE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO February 21, 2010 VOLATILITY has been rising since the start of this year and all of these extreme moves can make investors dizzy. Now is a good time to switch to a more defensive stance on equities and invest in the likes of supermarkets and energy providers. These companies tend to perform strongly when risk aversion returns to [...]
Merger talks end for Kirin and Suntory February 8, 2010 Japanese brewers Kirin Holdings and Suntory yesterday dropped plans to create a combined food and drinks group with $43bn (£28bn) in annual sales after disagreeing over levels of control in a merged firm. The two brewers began talks eight months ago with the aim of building the scale needed to keep pace with global consolidation [...]