CITY TOUCH TOURNAMENT August 13, 2009 ELEVEN City firms lined up yesterday at the HAC Royal Artillery Ground to compete in the ETF City Touch Tournament, organised by ETF Securities in association with Harlequins rugby club in order to promote Rugby League in the heart of the City. After a nailbiting afternoon of action, Morgan Stanley (in dark blue, playing against [...]
EUROPEAN PAIR LEAD RECOVERY August 13, 2009 FRANCE and Germany made a surprise return to growth in the second quarter of 2009, official data showed yesterday, making them the first of the major economies to exit the worst post-war global recession. Figures from Eurostat showed that Western Europe’s two largest economies both grew by 0.3 per cent in the three months to [...]
Observer gets its first offer August 13, 2009 INVESTMENT boutique Capital Ideas has launched an audacious bid to buy the embattled Observer newspaper from Guardian Media Group (GMG) for a nominal sum, with a view to turning the brand into a weekly news magazine and website. In the first of what is sure to be a number of bids to emerge for the [...]
VW in 3.3bn Porsche deal August 13, 2009 VOLKSWAGEN (VW) agreed to buy a 42 per cent slice of the sports car arm of Porsche yesterday, in another key step towards combining the German carmakers into a European automotive giant. VW said it would pay up to €3.3bn (£2.84bn) this year for an initial stake in the debt-ridden Porsche unit, ahead of the [...]
The big kick-off is a blackout for some August 13, 2009 WITH the football season starting in earnest tomorrow, ESPN, the Disney-owned broadcaster, is proudly trumpeting its coverage on all four pay television platforms, BSkyB, Virgin Media, BT Vision and Top-Up TV. ESPN, which has taken over the rights to 46 live Premier League matches from the now defunct Setanta, agreed deals with all the main [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 13, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES YANZHOU DIGS DEEP IN BID FOR FELIXChina’s largest takeover bid for an Australian company was formally launched yesterday when Yanzhou Coal Mining made a recommended cash offer for Felix Resources worth just over A$3.5bn (£1.78bn). The offer is pitched at A$16.95 a share, valuing Felix at A$3.33bn, but shareholders will also receive A$1 [...]
Krawcheck buys BoA stock August 13, 2009 SALLIE KRAWCHECK bought just over $1m (£603,000) of Bank of America (BoA) stock, just over a week after becoming head of global wealth and investment management at the largest US bank, it emerged yesterday. Krawcheck is one of five internal BoA candidates in the running to eventually replace chief executive Kenneth Lewis, according to a [...]
Psion posts loss, keeps dividend August 13, 2009 British technology group Psion posted a first-half loss, but maintained its dividend and forecast a slight improvement in second-half revenue. For the first half, adjusted operating loss from continuing operations was £1.1m, compared with a profit of £3.8m a year ago. But chief executive John Conoley said: “The sales force, particularly France, Germany and the [...]
London oil market no soft touch August 13, 2009 Claims by US politicians that oil speculators enjoy a light touch regulatory environment in London which allows them to influence crude prices were countered yesterday by new data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US watchdog. It said investors have a bigger influence on the West Texas Intermediate oil benchmark on US exchanges than [...]
FSA hits back as MPs attack August 13, 2009 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) yesterday hit back at MPs, after all three political parties rounded on the City regulator over its rules on executive pay. FSA chief executive Hector Sants said it was not the watchdog’s job to wage war on bonuses for social reasons, and that politicians should bring in laws to cap [...]