DO POP IN PUB. ALL ARE WELCOME

Morning all. Haven't checked the weather yet!

Jonck, many thanks for the pics of the house and park, will mail you shortly and post the pics later today.


Things looking reasonably positive this morning.





Tuesday's newspaper round-up: Rank, BPB, Next
Tue 03 Jan 2006

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The Rank Group is planning to deliver a substantial return of cash to its shareholders after the sale of its Deluxe film processing business for $750m, says the Financial Times.

Richard Cousins, the recently departed head of the plasterboard maker BPB, is believed to have been approached to become the new chief executive of the embattled catering giant Compass Group, writes the Independent.

Next, the fashion retailer, will tomorrow say that it has halted its dramatic decline in sales as it becomes the first of the high-street majors to announce trading figures for the run-up to Christmas, writes the Telegraph.

London Clubs International (LCI), the casino operator, has submitted an application to open a casino at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s exclusive Park Lane, The Times has learnt.

Shares in the online auctioneer QXL Ricardo were the best performers on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, registering an amazing 1,260 percent rise during the year, leaving the group with a market capitalisation of 210 million pounds, says the Independent.

Smith & Nephew, the medical devices manufacturer, is to appoint John Buchanan, the former finance director of BP, as its chairman in May, says the Times.

Internet retailers and the big discount chains have emerged as the clear winners from the festive shopping season, according to the latest survey from the pollster YouGov, says the Telegraph.

Britain’s blue-chip shares are set for a further bullish year of robust gains, with the FTSE 100 index poised to climb back above the 6,000 barrier for the first time in five years, market strategists are predicting, says the Times

Propex, the online commercial property trading exchange owned by more than 30 blue-chip investors including British Land and the Prudential is planning a 500,000 pound re-launch this month, says the Times.