John Lewis says expects positive second half

LONDON | Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:18am BST
(Reuters) - British retailer John Lewis JLP.UL said on Thursday it expected to trade positively in the second half of the year after posting a 4 percent rise in first-half profit due to a strong performance across the board.

The employee-owned group said underlying pre-tax profit in the six months to July 27 was up 3.9 percent to 115.8 million pounds ($183 million). Group revenue climbed 7.5 percent to 4.2 billion pounds.

Taking into account an exceptional item of 47.3 million pounds following a review of holiday pay policy, which had already been announced, profits were down 38.5 percent.

Apple's shares fall on emerging market concerns

Apple's shares fell more than 5% as investors worried that the firm's latest iPhone models may not help it increase its share in emerging markets.

Royal Mail privatisation 'in the coming weeks'

The government has given formal notice to the stock exchange that it plans to privatise the Royal Mail "in the coming weeks".

It has not decided exactly how much of the service it will sell, but has said it will be the majority.

Employees will be given 10% of the shares, with the rest being offered to institutional investors and members of the public.

The minimum amount members of the public can apply for will be £750.

Morning All,

FTSE100 fractionally higher early on, with retailers mixed

Italian Industrial Production m/m -1.1% 0.3% 0.3%

EUR Industrial Production m/m -1.5% -0.1% 0.7%

GBP 10-y Bond Auction 2.98|1.6 2.58|1.8

Draghi speaks @12:40.

Record number of estate agent workers signals UK house price bubble

A record number of people work in estate agents offices and the sector is growing so fast that it amounted to the fastest growing part of the national workforce in the three months ending in June, according to official figures published on Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics said that 562,000 people are employed in real estate in the UK, the largest number since records began in 1978, with 77,000 joining the industry over the last year – data that added to fears that the country is heading for a house price bubble.

Weak miners helping to drag FTSE100 lower at midday

EU lawmakers give ECB new powers to supervise euro zone banks

(Reuters) - European lawmakers granted new powers to the European Central Bank on Thursday to supervise up to 6,000 euro zone banks, the first step in building the bloc's flagship banking union.

Lawmakers voted to allow the ECB to become the new banking supervisor from 2014, almost a year after EU governments gave their backing to the plan.

CAD NHPI m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%

USD Unemployment Claims 292K 332K 323K

USD Import Prices m/m 0.0% 0.6% 0.2%

Skin, how does one register for the RM flotation?

Plenty of sites are offering it here is a link to Hargreaves Lansdown and 3I

Hi skinny..................this thread seems a bit lonely but has some excelent data on.


Are you this greystone chap?.

No - that would be Greystone :-)

FTSE100 ends session flat after day trading in a tight range