Aim-listed WorldSpreads gets a boost from overseas July 1, 2010 AIM-LISTED spread betting firm WorldSpreads yesterday announced a jump in pre-tax profits to £2.66m for the year ended 31 March, easily beating the £0.22m it reported in 2009. It was overseas clients that helped to drive performance. WorldSpreads, which has operations in Dublin, London, Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur, saw 41 per cent of trades [...]
RBS sells London’s Cumberland Hotel to US and UK joint venture July 1, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has sold Cumberland Hotel in central London for £215m to a joint venture of US private equity firm Starwood Capital and property investor London & Regional. “The Cumberland sale is the largest hotel investment deal in Europe for over a year,” said Derek Gammage, head of EMEA at CBRE Hotels, which [...]
Hedgies blast EU bonus law as ridiculous July 1, 2010 LONDON’S hedge funds community slammed forthcoming European rules on bonuses as “absolutely ridiculous” yesterday as it transpired asset managers will be caught up in the crackdown on bankers’ pay. The European Union confirmed investment firms, as defined under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFiD), will fall under the scope of its tough restrictions on [...]
Top funds forced to set up pay panels July 1, 2010 LARGER hedge funds may be forced to set up remuneration committees, mirroring listed companies, according to the fine print of the European Union’s directive on banking. The text thrashed out by the European parliament and member countries says: “Credit institutions and investment firms that are significant in terms of their size, the scope and the [...]
Q&A: BEHIND THE BONUS NOISE July 1, 2010 Q.how long has this been brewing for? A.The European Union’s strictures on bonuses are part of a wider directive demanding higher capital requirements from banks and a new attitude to risk-taking. Work began in earnest around a year ago, and MEPs have been explicit in linking the overhaul to the events of the financial crisis [...]
BP is in talks with Chinese to sell assets July 1, 2010 BP COULD be close to securing a deal to shed parts or all of its $9bn (£5.9bn) stake in Pan American Oil to a state-owned Chinese bidder as the embattled oil major faces the worst ever recorded spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It is understood that BP is holding talks with the China [...]
Rogue trader is jailed after costing LCS £2.6m in debts July 1, 2010 A ROGUE trader who cost his employers £2.6m with a series of illegal trades was yesterday jailed for two-and-a-half years. Jonathan Bunn, who worked for Lewis Charles Securities (LCS), bet that HSBC shares would fall, building up a short position of more than 4m shares. The 31-year-old inter-dealer broker tried to cover his tracks by [...]
BAE SET?TO?CLOSE?FACTORY July 1, 2010 BAE Systems is set to close a its factory and design centre in Leicester, with a loss of 260 jobs, and will no longer be able to build armoured vehicles in Britain. The factory closure means that the company is likely to stop building vehicles from 2014. That is when work at its Newcastle factory, [...]
John Wood claims moratorium on drilling will not dent profits July 1, 2010 BRITISH energy services firm John Wood Group said it did not expect the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico to have a material impact on it this year and expects 2010 results in line with expectations. The Aberdeen, Scotland-based company said yesterday that improving bidding volumes gave it confidence that there would be a [...]
RHJ closes on Kleinwort in £225m deal July 1, 2010 ONE of the oldest names in the City, Kleinwort Benson, changed hands for £225m yesterday as buyout house RHJ International acquired the business from Commerzbank. The institution, which traces its roots back to the 18th century, will use a period of private ownership to revitalise its brand by returning to merchant banking. The company will [...]