BILL OF THE WEEK January 31, 2010 PICCADILLY Circus restaurant Criterion had a boost last week from these well-heeled diners, racking up £2,396 on a lengthy business lunch. Our foodies enjoyed a feast of foie gras, king scallops, fillet of beef and venison, though as usual, they paid more attention to sampling the restaurant’s liquid fare than its grub. They drank two [...]
RBS Sempra sale derailed by bank laws January 31, 2010 PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s proposed changes to US banking legislation could have derailed the sale of RBS Sempra to JP Morgan Chase. The banking giant is now only interested in buying the branches of the company that operate outside of the US. The two are now working on a deal that could see RBS sell its [...]
This is a year for old-fashioned stock picking January 31, 2010 Just the other day, I was sent some research on global trends over the next decade. While it made for interesting reading, many players are indicating that the year at hand will be more about stock picking rather than trying to chase trend money. Michael Browne, portfolio manager at Sofaer Global Research, says that if [...]
Amazon battle over web prices January 31, 2010 AMAZON.COM has removed all e-books published by Macmillan from its website after a dispute over pricing, according to media reports. Amazon’s website, as well as the site for its Kindle e-reader, yesterday showed titles published by Macmillan available only through third parties. Publishers are widely seen to be demanding more control over prices of their [...]
New Look eyes March flotation January 31, 2010 HIGH street retailer New Look could announce plans to raise up to £2bn through a flotation on the stock exchange as early as this week. The board met to discuss an IPO or a sale last week to provide an exit for private equity groups Permira and Apax Partners. The duo, along with founder Tom [...]
Hedge funds launch attack on Endemol January 31, 2010 BIG Brother producer Endemol is involved in a fracas with a powerful group of hedge fund owners. The hedge funds, which own Endemol’s £1.9bn debt, have accused the television giant of financial engineering to avoid breaching its loan agreement. The spat broke out over a complex scheme in which Endemol was buying back its own [...]
Avatar climbs to new heights at the box office January 31, 2010 THE 3-D movie phenomenon “Avatar” moved further into rarefied territory at the worldwide box office during the weekend, surpassing the $2bn (£1.25bn) mark days after it broke the record held by “Titanic”. James Cameron’s sci-fi spectacular has grossed $2.039bn after seven chart-topping weekends of release, distributor 20th Century Fox said yesterday. The film last Monday [...]
Santander’s UK profits up January 31, 2010 SPANISH banking group Santander is expected to unveil a 27 per cent jump in profits from its British operations this week. Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley will report pre-tax profits of £2.2bn, up from £1.6bn, according to analysts. The overall group is predicted to report a marginal rise in pre-tax profits from [...]
HSBC strategists fly east to drive growth in Hong Kong January 31, 2010 HSBC has underlined its focus on the Chinese market by moving a team of around a dozen strategists to Hong Kong along with its global head of strategy, Antonio Simoes. Simoes will work closely with chief executive Michael Geoghegan, who received a hero’s welcome on his first day at the bank’s far eastern office last [...]
More than 17,000 top City jobs lost since recession took hold January 31, 2010 MORE than 17,000 of the City’s top financiers lost their jobs in the past two years, a new report shows. The figures, based on Financial Services Authority data, show that redundancies, insolvencies and early retirement wiped out around 10 per cent of the highest-ranking employees in Britain’s financial-services industry. The figures refer only to individuals [...]