James Murdoch has finally yielded to shareholder pressure and stepped down as chairman of BSkyB, saying he feared becoming a "lightning rod" for the business. His carefully–worded letter to the board made references to the phone–hacking scandal at News Corporation which toppled him, but did not name his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire directly.
As an investor myself, I have always been interested in diversification coupled with investment added value. Diversification can mean spreading the risk of your equity portfolio between different shares and markets. It can also mean investing in all kind of other things ranging from art and antiques, to property, en primeur wine, classic cars, flawless diamonds and even rare shotguns or haute couture – right through to classic watches. I can’t think of a z right now.
The UK economy has shown a few signs of improvement in the first three months of this year, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said. The latest quarterly economic survey by the business lobby said that domestic orders and exports were all higher from the previous quarter.
For the eight month in a row the number of Spanish jobseekers in March increased to 4.75 million. In February the Spanish jobless rate stood at 23.6% according to EU figures released on Monday. This comes as the budget minister Cristobal Montoro delivered his government's 2012 budget to parliament which included €27 billion of spending cuts and tax increases.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the German economy is not only out of recession but is forging ahead. It so happens that my wife is German and she has a modest German investment portfolio and a small UK one. She is inclined to point out to me that German equities, across the board, have risen over 19% this year. It is early April so we are 3 months in. This is a strong performance by any measure.
Avon Products Inc yesterday rejected an offer of £6 billion from beauty products company Coty Inc. The share price rose 15% on speculation that a higher bid would result in the sale of the company. Avon is best know for its beauty products that are sold door to door by Avon representatives.
