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Jaguar and Land Rover UK Looking to China

By Jessie Wilkens on September 14, 2011 in ,

Jaguar and Land Rover are eyeing the possibility of producing their trademark cars outside of their Midlands base. As sales are soaring in Asia and China is accounting for more than 10pc of sale in the last fiscal year, the management of JLR and the parent company Tata Motors are thinking of creating a joint venture in China.

Saving on the Bottom Line

This venture would allow them to save on import costs on vehicles that are sold in the area. Ralf Speth, the chief executive, said at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Tuesday that they are in negotiations but that this isn’t something that you can do quickly.

Despite economic difficulties around the world, JLR has seen incredible growth this year. Sales are ahead of last year’s sales; they have hired another 3000 staff this year; and they are building a new plant in the UK.

Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Sons and the one who bought JLR said,

“The credit for the turnaround of Jaguar Land Rover goes to the management team and workforce of the company. No single person can or should take credit for the improvement in the company’s operations.”

Company Upturn

He continued by saying, “The upturn in the company’s performance commenced two years ago. The improvement reflects the changed market environment, the success of new products already in the pipeline and the enthusiasm and support of the management team and workforce.”

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London Has Eyes on Africa

By Jessie Wilkens on September 12, 2011 in ,

In recent financial news, a group from London has arrived in Africa to explore investment and business opportunities.  The group, led by Michael Bear who is the Lord Mayor in the city of London, is looking for investments in energy, rail, tourism, travel and other avenues.  They have the goal of partnering with Nairobi in many financial areas.

This visit is historic in that it’s the first delegation of its sort to come from the UK since 1974.  As Mr. Bear said, “I want you to see the UK and City of London as your partners of choice.”

The UK is, perhaps, feeling encroached upon as Africa looks to China more frequently as a strong investment partner.  The government has been shifted its financial focus to China since President Mwai Kibaki came to power.  The UK, however, is still one of Africa’s leading foreign investors.

And it appears that UK leaders are trying to keep that advantage in place.  Mr. Bear impressed upon the Kenyan companies that they should turn to London when they need capital. As Mr. Bear said,  “London has enjoyed competitive advantage in the financial sector over other markets and we are willing to share the information with Kenya.”

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Low Performing UK Funds

By Jessie Wilkens on September 7, 2011 in

Certainly, some funds do better than others – but some simply crash and burn. Standard Life £40m UK equity recovery fund has managed to win the dubious distinction, as reported by Morningstar, of being the worst-performing fund across the IMA sectors for the last three months.

CF Richmond core fund has also taken a hit, falling by 23.92 %, followed closely by the £52.5m CF junior oils trust. Angelos Damaskos, the Sector Investment Managers chief executive, said, “Medium to smaller-sized companies have suffered the worst during the sell-off because of the risk aversion of investors. The mandate of the fund constrains us to these types of stocks.”

Another very poor performer at the moment is Standard Life’s £436.5m UK equity unconstrained fund. Manager of the fun Ed Legget said, “I have been overweight industrials, which has hurt particularly in the last few weeks. Industrials have de-rated by 25 to 30 per cent over a four-week time period.”

Next on the list of poor performers is the Cavendish European fund, followed by the Digital Stars Europe ex UK fund, Jupiter China, JPM Europe smaller companies and the Ignis European growth fund in 10th spot.

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Clarks Shoes: Family Gets Windfall This Year

By Jessie Wilkens on September 5, 2011 in

Clarks Shoes has had a banner year. Family members who are part of the Clarks enterprise will share a £30million dividend windfall this year, after a truly exceptional showing this year. During 2010, profits jumped above the £100million mark after there was a surge in sales in Europe and America.

International Sales

The company had a 10% rise in sales in the US. Similarly, the Chinese market took off this year, with 20% more shoes being purchased there from the Clarks collection in 2010 than were purchased in 2009.

Largest in the World

Founded in 1825, Clarks is one of the largest shoe retailers in the world and is still 75% owned by the Clark family. Clarks sells around the world, with websites for the EU, France, America, Denmark and beyond. They began in Somerset village of Street with James Clark and his brother Cyrus. Today, their major focus is still in Britain, where they have their largest market. Total sales in England rose 9.2% to £1.28billion.

This most recent windfall will be distributed among 400 family members, although the majority of it will go to a small group led by Lance Clark, as he controls 25% of the company.

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Warning about Jobless Recovery for Brits

By Jessie Wilkens on August 31, 2011 in

While England is focusing on its job recovery – they are apparently doing a poor job on this front for the English. A recent employment figure produced by the Office for National Statistics shows that 90% of those who joined the workforce in 2010 were foreign nationals.

Jobless Recovery Warnings

Experts warned last night that the job recovery could actually be a “jobless recovery” for British workers if the ministers don’t clamp down on immigration – and fast. The figures show that employment for those of working age rose by 181,000 in the Coalition’s first year; however, the employment for British nationals only rose by 14,000, which is less than 8% of the total.

Alarm Bells Sounding

Tory MP Priti Patel said that this should “ring alarm bells” in Downing Street. She said,

“There is an opportunity now, with the economic recovery underway, to tackle this in a much more structured way. It is vital that we do, because if we are going to have a buoyant economy we need to make sure British people on benefits get back into employment.”

The most recent figures show that the situation has grown worse in the last few years. Between 1997 and 2010, slightly more than half of the employment rises came from foreign nationals. Now, those figures are much more dramatic – and should cause more alarm for the British public.

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UK Companies Looking to Invest in Libya

By Jessie Wilkens on August 29, 2011 in

Gaddafi’s downfall is bringing some unusual changes. Many British companies are now setting their sights on relaunching their businesses in Libya. Major streets in Baghdad and Kabul are fast becoming stomping grounds for western capitalism, as major US and European retailers want in on the action.

Gaddafi Fallout

Some are still approaching the prospects in Libya tentatively, waiting to see what happens with the fall-out from the Gaddafi downfall. John Gallacher, for instance, Weir’s North Africa operations director says that he has consulted with the Foreign Office which has indicated that it’s still too dangerous to go into Libya and to start doing business again.

Getting in the Act as Conditions Allow

BP also stated that it will go back to its Libyan operations “when conditions allow.” The UK coordinator of the NTC, Guma el-Gamaty, says that his organization has been in contact with major companies with existing Libyan contracts. He said that, “Obviously, as soon as the security situation is sorted, all companies involved in Libya can come back as well as new companies. Initially, energy and construction will take priority, along with services such as water and healthcare, which are absolutely vital to the people. There will be major opportunities in [developing new] infrastructure.”

Potential businesses should not get too excited yet. Those in the know warn that Libya has a long way to go to stabilize, and that investors would do well to wait and see how things play out before launching into any financial plans in the region.

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Forex Gets Social

By Jessie Wilkens on August 24, 2011 in

Not to be outdone by Facebook, Interbank FX, a US trading software provider, claims that it has just managed to combine the finance market with the social media one. They’ve created IBFX Connect, which is a social network for their 30,000 global forex customers.

How IBFX Connect Works

It works as follows. Users coming to the site can trade online, copy other people’s trades and swap tips in a chat room that’s been set up, all free of charge. It allows the finance world to chat about finance and to have a free-flow of ideas much like what users on Facebook find in a social context.

Signing on Users

At the moment, IBFX Connect has seen 2000 traders sign on since its launched last Monday. While the classic message exchange model, this site is actually linked to a trader’s forex account. Posts are automatically posted in a central feed and immediately seen by other users. It is open to all, both those experienced in forex trading and novice traders. The benefit for novice traders, of course, is great, as they can watch what experienced traders say and recommend and learn from their peers.

Users have a number of features to use, including the creation of personal profiles and the ranking of their status based on their success as traders.

Some Issues at Hand

Certainly, this forum is open to issues and abuse. As Javier Paz of Aite said, “A self-interested trader could use the information to be alerted of trades to take.”

A new, social, day may be dawning for those in the financial sphere.

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Banking World, Beware, Says Survey

By Jessie Wilkens on August 22, 2011 in

The banking field may have troubles in the future if bankers aren’t careful. That’s because, as a survey by insurance companies Axa and YouGov showed recently, many students are steering clear of the banking world.

Students Turning Away from Finance

Some of the highest achieving students have explained that they are actively switching their course work to move away from the banking career choices. They are making this choice based on the banker bashing that they hear often and by the bad reputation that has become associated with UK banking.

During the survey of 321 students, they were presented with 15 career choices and banking and financial services ranked among the bottom five.

Survey Rankings

Of the 15 career choices presented to the students during the study, banking and financial services ranked among the bottom five, along with retail, property, engineering and manufacturing, the survey of 321 students revealed. The top three choices included media, entrepreneurship and technology.

Students give various reasons for their aversion to the banking sector, including 33% who said the banking collapse has steered them this way and 40% said they didn’t like the “ethics” of banking companies. More than 50% said the work would be too boring, while 33% thought banking jobs involve too much pressure.

Perhaps Relief to Banks?

Of course, banks may not be trembling in their boots over this information, as thousands of jobs have been cut as of recently. Still, banks may struggle to attract the best candidates and the most potentially successful for the field, if they don’t work to improve their reputations.

As Paul Evans, the chief executive of Axa said, “Our research has highlighted the stark and worrying conclusion that only a small percentage of high achieving 16-18 year olds aspire to a career in financial services. The reputation of the UK financial services sector has clearly suffered greatly over recent years.

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Financial Crunch Felt in the Housing Market

By Jessie Wilkens on August 17, 2011 in

Everyone is feeling the effects of the economy right now. A recent report by property listing website Zoopla.co.uk has found that 40% of properties that are currently up for sale have had to cut their asking price at least once. On average, sellers have shaved 7.1% off of the asking price of current properties on the market.

Even Millionaires Hit

Even Millionaires’ Row has been hit, with 27% of the £1 million-plus homes that are on the market at the moment slashing their asking price.

As Nicholas Leeming of Zoopla.co.uk has said, “Vendors continue to have to lower prices due to weak buyer demand. Sluggish economic growth has hit buyer confidence and tight-fisted lenders are currently making it impossible for swathes of would-be buyers to benefit from the price reductions. For those who can get mortgages, now is as good a time as there has been in over a year to bag a property bargain.”

Sellers Starting to See

Sellers are beginning to understand the market more and to realize that they can’t ask exorbitant amounts. A Rightmove survey recently found that the four weeks ending in the middle of August have shown a slight annual dip in what people are asking for properties. Sellers so far in August have dropped their average asking price by 2.1%.

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Jobless Rates on the Rise, Says Recent Survey

By Jessie Wilkens on August 15, 2011 in

The numbers coming from The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development and consultants KPMG are not promising. Every three months, these two team up to conduct a labor market survey.  This time, the numbers indicate that the number of employers who plan to hire has dropped below the number that does not.

Warnings for the UK Government

Certainly, if this survey of 1000 employers is accurate, it will signal a serious blow to the Government and its attempts to kickstart growth.

The current survey results are for the recruitments in the third quarter of 2011.  As the survey found, and as reported by the Daily Mail, “It has fallen to -1 from +3 in the past three months. Long-term prospects are even worse, with the 12-month employment index falling to -6 from +2 last quarter.”

Survey Results Explained

As Gerwyn Davies, the public policy adviser at the CIPD said, “Together with the public sector redundancies, which will affect one in 20 frontline workers according to our survey, the recent story of an employment revival may become one of an employment relapse.”

Government officials have, of course, expressed skepticism about the report.

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