CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 25, 2009 AvivaThe insurer has appointed Patrick Regan as its new chief financial officer, effective from February next year. Regan is currently group chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Willis Group Holdings, the insurance broker. He has also previously held positions within the industry as group financial controller at RSA and as finance and claims [...]
Belgian bank set to make loss selling off its British brokerage September 20, 2009 BELGIAN bank KBC has put its London brokerage and corporate finance house, KBC Peel Hunt, up for sale. The struggling bank has had to borrow around €7bn (£6.3bn) from the Belgian government, and is now likely to make a huge loss on its investment by selling the brokerage. KBC bought Peel Hunt in a deal [...]
Witching week to make a wary start September 13, 2009 With poetic timing, the FTSE finally did it. Almost a year to the day of the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the London blue-chip index closed above the 5,000 point barrier on Friday after a tour de force week in which the market stormed up 160 points. The week ahead however is likely to [...]
Calzedonia swoops on undie store September 2, 2009 ITALIAN fashion company Calzedonia yesterday bought its flagship London underwear store Tezenis from landlords Great Capital Partnership for £22.9m. The Spirella House store, on the busy shopping corner of Regents Street and Oxford street, was sold at a price 12.5 per cent above its March 2009 book value. It comprises a retail unit over three [...]
Profits spike at Kingfisher September 8, 2009 KINGFISHER, Europe’s largest home improvement retail group, yesterday rushed out first-half profit figures following an administrative error, though the better-than-expected results cheered investors and sent its shares to a two-year high. The group, which owns B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said it expects to report an underlying pre-tax profit of between £285m and [...]
Profits spike at Kingfisher September 8, 2009 KINGFISHER, Europe’s largest home improvement retail group, yesterday rushed out first-half profit figures following an administrative error, though the better-than-expected results cheered investors and sent its shares to a two-year high. The group, which owns B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said it expects to report an underlying pre-tax profit of between £285m and [...]
Cadbury and Kraft bosses woo investors September 22, 2009 THE bosses of Kraft and Cadbury are holding a series of meetings in London this week to drum up support from investors in the bid battle for the Dairy Milk maker. Cadbury chief executive Todd Stitzer and Kraft boss Irene Rosenfeld yesterday attended the Bank of America Merrill Lynch global consumer and retail conference and [...]
Goldman sends LSE shares down despite praise for CEO October 21, 2009 The FTSE 100 was all about the power of the analyst today, with a number of individual movers spurred up or down by words of wisdom from the City’s finest. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) shed 2.2 per cent to close at 914p after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to “neutral” on [...]
Funds buy up UK property August 10, 2009 PROPERTY fund managers are storming back into the UK market, believing the correction has now ended and bricks and mortar assets are looking cheap. Managers believe the collapse of the property bubble has created a wealth of investment opportunities, with Henderson’s Herald fund and F&C’s Commercial Property Trust both diving back in to the UK [...]
Large caps break 5,000 as travel gets its day in the sun September 9, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended a week of waiting yesterday to pull itself above the 5,000 level by the close. The benchmark index rose by 1.2 per cent on the back of strong oil and bank stocks, as well as early gains on Wall Street. By the close the index was 56.96 points higher at 5,004.30, [...]