Markets
London - The FTSE 100 rose 45.72 points to 5,201.56 on Friday. Cable & Wireless gained 5.7% to 66.2p, Vodafone Group Plc advanced 2.8% to 153.6p and BT Group Plc rose 2.8% to 134.2p as telecommunication stocks rallied across Europe. A gauge of the industry climbed 2%. BP Plc retreated 1.5% to 379.7p, paring yesterday’s gain. Company executives told U.S. investigators they didn’t know who was in charge of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico or who made key decisions before the vessel exploded in April, killing 11 workers, sinking and spewing millions of barrels of crude oil into the sea.

Posted: August 31st, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 dropped 78.89 points yesterday to 5,155.95. Again, hit by the US housing data, losses were broad with miners weighing heavily. Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Plc fell 4.3% and 1.5% respectively as metals prices retreated in London. WPP’s shares retreated 4% to 644.5p after posting first-half net income that missed the £163.5 million average estimate of analysts, even though profit jumped 39% from a year earlier to £150.8 million and sales rose 3.5 percent to 4.44 billion pounds.

Posted: August 25th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 dropped 78.89 points yesterday to 5,155.95. Again, hit by the US housing data, losses were broad with miners weighing heavily. Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Plc fell 4.3% and 1.5% respectively as metals prices retreated in London. WPP’s shares retreated 4% to 644.5p after posting first-half net income that missed the £163.5 million average estimate of analysts, even though profit jumped 39% from a year earlier to £150.8 million and sales rose 3.5 percent to 4.44 billion pounds.

Posted: August 25th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 rose 39.56 points to 5,234.84 yesterday. Insurers led the market higher after Old Mutual said it may sell a controlling stake in its Nedbank Group unit to HSBC. Old Mutual, the biggest insurer in Africa, rallied 3.2% to 124.9p. HSBC shares advanced 0.8% to 639.2p. Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest lender by market value accounted for more than 12% of Old Mutual’s revenue in 2009 and was the biggest money maker for the group outside of Old Mutual’s insurance business. The two U.K. companies are in exclusive talks and have eight weeks to reach an agreement. Elsewhere, Petrofac Ltd. surged 3.5% to 1410p, a record high. The oilfield services and engineering company posted first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $321.3 million, topping the $283 million average estimate of analysts.

Posted: August 24th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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The ASA Council (Non-broadcast) has recently held a retailer in breach of the CAP Code for having insufficient stock to meet anticipated demand.  It found that internet retailer, Simply Be, has breached the CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 16.4 (Availability of products), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules) and 30.1 (Availability), by an email it [...]

Posted: August 23rd, 2010 under Business Advisory Services, Business Regulation, Competition Law & Regulatory, Contract, Corporate Defence & Prosecution, Dispute Management, Miscellaneous.
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