Global perspective needed for City reputation January 31, 2010 IT’S Monday and, having just returned to the Square Mile after leading a City delegation to the US, I now have to prepare to leave London again on Saturday for the first of two visits to the Gulf. The close proximity of these business visits throws up some major contrasts between these two markets. In [...]
HOW WILL THE MPC RESPOND TO INFLATION AND WEAK GROWTH? January 31, 2010 Michael Saunders | Citigroup “It is by no means a done deal, but we expect that the MPC will decide at the upcoming meeting that improving growth prospects and upside inflation risks require it to suspend quantitative easing – leaving intact the stimulus but not expanding it further.” Peter Dixon | Commerzbank “It is doubtful [...]
Gold firms could increase valuation via a relisting January 31, 2010 ALMOST 30 London gold companies could significantly enhance their stock market valuation if they were to migrate to a different exchange or consider dual listing, Edison Investment Research analyst Charlie Gibson has suggested. Gibson said variations in the categorisation of gold resources in different countries – which change according to the reliability of estimated deposits [...]
Double dip recession and effects of tax crackdown top London business fears January 31, 2010 THE fear of a double-dip economic recession and concerns that the government’s tax crackdown will force talented individuals overseas have topped a list of major worries experienced by business leaders in London, according to a new survey. London’s top financiers and company executives are still fretting over a potential plunge back into recession, the research [...]
Glaxo to shed 4,000 jobs as Asia beckons January 31, 2010 PHARMACEUTICALS behemoth GlaxoSmithKline will reveal 4,000 further job cuts this week, the majority of which are expected to fall in North America and Europe. The redundancies follow 8,000 job losses announced by rival AstraZeneca last week, and reflect the pressures facing the drugs industry as well as a shift of focus away from slower-moving western [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 31, 2010 BlackRock The asset manager has hired Kendrick Wilson, a former Goldman Sachs banker and ex-US Treasury adviser, as a vice chairman. Wilson joined the US Treasury in 2008 to advise then- secretary Hank Paulson on how best to navigate the financial crisis. BlackRock chief Larry Fink said: “[Wilson’s] unique perspective, informed by his vast experience [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 31, 2010 IG Group Arden has increased its target price by seven per cent to 440p. With no loss making days in the last 18 months and bad debt at under 0.1 per cent of revenue in the first half of 2010, IG’s effective risk management underlines the broker’s upgrade to “buy”. IG has strong growth prospects [...]
Longevity risk gets a new benchmark January 31, 2010 A NEW association has formed to transfer longevity and mortality-related risk to the capital markets in the same way that some of the world’s biggest perils, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, are protected against by shifting the risk to investors via catastrophe bonds. The Life and Longevity Markets Association (LLMA), made up of a consortium [...]
Retail fund sales set to smash through the £25bn mark in record-setting year January 31, 2010 RETAIL fund sales are expected to top £25bn in a year for the first time ever. Figures to be released by the Investment Management Association tomorrow will set a new record for sales. The industry surpassed the previous record sales of £17.7bn – set in 2000 – as far back as September, when sales reached [...]
Premier Foods chairman will quit after six years January 31, 2010 THE chairman of Premier Foods, Britain’s biggest food producer, will step down after six years in charge of the embattled company. David Kappler will formally announce his intention to quit at the company’s annual meeting in May. He was brought in to guide the company after it floated on the stock exchange in 2004. He [...]