Retail shares hammered by short sellers January 14, 2013 LEADING hedge funds are making enormous bets against the health of the UK high street, according to figures supplied to City A.M. by data provider Markit. Home Retail Group, the parent company of Argos and Homebase, has more than one in five of its shares out on loan ahead of Thursday’s interim management statement. Short sellers borrow shares [...]
Accidental bidding at Coutts auction for ambulance charity January 2, 2013 PRIVATE bank Coutts finished 2012 by writing one very large cheque – having raised over £50,000 for the London Air Ambulance charity in the last 12 months. Staff handed over £51,705 to the trauma charity – after fundraising activities including a comedy night, treasure hunt, abseil and auction. But The Capitalist hears that one new [...]
UK consumer price index is forecast higher January 13, 2013 UTILITY prices are expected to have lifted the UK’s consumer price index (CPI), the household spending index due out tomorrow along with a swathe of housing and retail data. “We expect CPI inflation to have edged up to 2.8 per cent year on year in December from 2.7 per cent, and retail price index (RPI) [...]
Wandisco leads the way for UK technology flotations January 24, 2013 We have already seen the likes of Luxfer, Edwards and Manchester United list in New York when they might have been expected to grace the London flotation markets. Now there are rumblings that Intelligent Energy, a clean energy technology, might look overseas for a listing if it chooses to go for one. And my fellow [...]
Hedge funds forced to reveal most shorted stocks by FSA November 6, 2012 HEDGE funds have had their short selling activities made public for the first time, as regulations enacted this week expose some of the massive bets made by firms involved in the secretive industry. The Financial Services Authority will now force all funds to declare any short position that represents more than 0.5 per cent of [...]
The trusted brand with personality at its core February 3, 2013 YOU may have seen Clippy McKenna’s eponymous preserves on your supermarket shelves. Her two-man show (it is just Clippy and fiancé Paul Gorman working at the business; everything else, including the actual jam-making, is contracted out) now stocks its products in some of the biggests stores – including Tesco and Harvey Nichols. After graduating as [...]
OCADO CHIEFS FORFEIT BONUSES March 22, 2012 EXECS at online grocer Ocado will not receive a bonus this year, after the firm failed to generate a pre-tax profit. Chief executive Tim Steiner’s (above) total pay has slumped 38 per cent to £354,000 for the year to November 2011 as the company grew sales but suffered supply problems. Finance chief Andrew Bracey, who [...]
FTSE 100 flat as EU budget talks continue November 23, 2012 A lack of headway on the EU budget talks kept the leading share index broadly flat in trading this morning. Eurasian Natural Resources was the biggest blue-chip riser, adding more than one per cent. On the FTSE All-Share, holiday group Thomas Cook rose 5.44 per cent, while credit card CPP Group added 2.88 per cent. [...]
FTSE 100 up on optimism over fiscal cliff deal November 19, 2012 The leading share index was trading up this morning, buoyed by optimism that the US will avoid the fiscal cliff. Miners and banking shares led the FTSE 100 higher this morning, with Eurasian Natural Resources the biggest blue chip riser, adding 3.27 per cent. On the FTSE All-Share, internet grocer Ocado rose almost 21 per [...]
FTSE 100 up on optimism over fiscal cliff deal November 19, 2012 The leading share index was trading up this morning, buoyed by optimism that the US will avoid the fiscal cliff. Miners and banking shares led the FTSE 100 higher this morning, with Eurasian Natural Resources the biggest blue chip riser, adding 3.27 per cent. On the FTSE All-Share, internet grocer Ocado rose almost 21 per [...]