BEST OF THE BROKERS July 27, 2010 NATIONAL GRID Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) believes National Grid has delivered a strong operational and financial performance and gives it a “hold” rating. S&P said in the first quarter of 2011, US gas distribution volumes increased by 1.5 per cent and electricity was up 1.3 per cent, but UK gas volumes fell by [...]
CITY HEADS OUT FOR A GLORIOUS WEEK OF RACING AT GOODWOOD July 27, 2010 HORSERACING fanatics in the City have abandoned ship again this week to head over to Glorious Goodwood, running all week until Saturday. Around 100,000 attendees are expected to descend on Goodwood over the course of the festival, with the Tote estimating its potential winnings at £2.75m from 300,000 bets. Schmoozing at the first day of [...]
Former Northern Rock finance chief fined July 27, 2010 THE former finance director of Northern Rock, the bank which nearly collapsed during the credit crisis and had to be nationalised, has been slapped with a fine for mis-reporting mortgage arrears figures. Financial Services Authority (FSA) officials confirmed that David Jones had been ordered to pay £320,000. It also banned him from “performing any function [...]
ARM profit up 167 per cent in smartphone boost July 27, 2010 CHIP designer ARM Holdings posted a 167 per cent higher second-quarter profit, beating analysts’ expectations, helped by increasing demand for smartphones, netbooks and tablet computers. The company, whose designs are in more than 95 per cent of the world’s mobile phones, posted pretax profit of £43.5m on 54 per cent higher revenue of £100m – [...]
Tomkins agrees to £2.9bn bid July 27, 2010 A Canadian consortium has succeeded in its bid to buy car parts maker Tomkins for about £2.9bn, despite one of the company’s main shareholders calling for the bid to be rejected. Pinafore Acquisitions, a vehicle formed by Onex and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for the purpose of acquiring Tomkins, has offered to buy [...]
Deutsche Bank profit holds up July 27, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bank posted second-quarter pretax profit in line with expectations, helped by lower loan loss provisions amid weaker industry trends in investment banking. Deutsche’s corporate banking and securities division, which posted 779 million euros (£653.4m) in pretax profit, and global transaction banking with 478 million euros, accounted for the lion’s share of 1.52bn in group [...]
BP in record £11bn loss July 27, 2010 BP has said it has put aside £20.8bn to cover the costs linked to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That means the company’s loss between April and June was £11bn – the largest in British corporate history. BP also confirmed that under-fire chief executive Tony Hayward would leave the company in October. [...]
UBS beats second quarter profit forecasts July 27, 2010 STRONG equities and currency revenues drove UBS’s second-quarter net profit well above forecasts despite choppy market conditions and client money withdrawals fell to their lowest level since early 2008. UBS improved investment banking performance, although partially helped by a gain on own credit, stood out against weak results at several U.S. rivals in the face [...]
Hayward sent off to Siberia July 26, 2010 BP’S BELEAGUERED chief executive Tony Hayward will stand down in October and is expected to be nominated for a non-executive board directorship with TNK-BP, the group’s Russian joint venture. The oil major is set to announce Hayward’s departure this morning and will reveal that Mississippi-born Bob Dudley, the man in charge of the oil spill [...]
Basel rules overhauled to curb risk July 26, 2010 BANKS face a tough cap on leverage to stop them using off-balance sheet vehicles to hide their borrowings, under sweeping rules agreed by global regulators last night. Institutions will be asked to hold tier one capital equal to three per cent of their unweighted assets, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said. The ratio will [...]