JJB Sports plunges to a huge 43m loss September 24, 2009 EMBATTLED sportswear retailer JJB Sports yesterday reported widening losses for the six months to July, dragging the group £42.9m into the red. JJB Sports said that the losses had grown from £14.8m the year before, as revenue dived by 42.5 per cent to £178.6m. The group also said like-for-like sales were down by 27.4 per [...]
Artio raises $650m as Julius Baer unit floats in New York September 24, 2009 ARTIO Global Investors, the US asset management arm of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, listed on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, gaining nearly seven per cent on its offering price. The asset manager’s stock opened at $27.30 per share, up from the initial public offering (IPO) price of $26 and rose to $27.74 during [...]
European executive wary of making changes to derivatives trading rules September 24, 2009 Forcing privately negotiated derivatives onto exchanges could contradict other EU laws that promote competition in trading and damage risk hedging, an official with the bloc’s executive body said yesterday. Turmoil from the demise of Lehman Brothers bank a year ago and the near-collapse of insurer AIG prompted global leaders to call for tougher rules to [...]
PRIVATE EQUITY MOGUL MOULTON CRASHES THE PARTY FOR ALCHEMY September 24, 2009 IT’S always good to spot a familiar face, right? Well, perhaps not for private equity firm Alchemy, which was co-sponsoring the Investor AllStars awards at the Park Lane Hilton on Wednesday evening. Bigwigs arrived at the hotel to the sight of former boss Jon Moulton happily schmoozing the crowd, just weeks after sensationally quitting the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 23, 2009 HSBC Private BankHSBC has appointed Willem Sels to head up its fixed income strategy for the UK private banking division, focusing on building bond-focused client solutions in sovereign and credit markets. Sels, who in his spare time is an accomplished pianist, holding five Belgian national awards in classical music, joins from Dresdner Kleinwort, where he [...]
BHP boss nets $10m package September 23, 2009 BHP BILLITON’S chief executive Marius Kloppers was paid 51 per cent more this year, the group’s annual report showed yesterday, despite the mining giant’s profits slumping by 62 per cent last year. Kloppers’ remuneration package came in at more than $10m (£6.3m) for the 12 months to June. Last year he received $6.8m. His pay [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE LORD TURNER’S CRITICISMS OF THE CITY HELPFUL OR DAMAGING? September 23, 2009 ALLISTER AUGUSTIN ABN AMRO“It’s good that he’s addressed issues in banking, but it’s counterproductive not to give a solution to the problem. A lot of people are saying that it all very well for him to criticise, when he has already made his money from banking.” TONY COTTRELL ALLIANZ“He’s entitled to get on with his [...]
United profit withstands September 23, 2009 UNITED UTILITIES, the water company, said its forecast for underlying operating profits over the six months to the end of September were in line with expectations, despite cost pressures. United, which supplies around 7m customers across the north west, said revenue growth in its regulated business for the year would be lower than the six [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 23, 2009 MOTHERCARENoble initiated coverage on Mothercare with a “neutral” rating and a 600p target price, saying the stock offers one of the best longer-term growth stories in the retail sector. In the short-term, the broker thinks that synergies from the Early Learning Centre and property restructuring benefits will help to withstand macro headwinds.CARNIVALCharles Stanley upgraded Carnival [...]
National Grid’s UK dominance under threat September 23, 2009 NATIONAL GRID’s monopoly on electricity in England and Wales is set to be challenged by 12 companies, the sector’s regulator Ofgem said yesterday. Equitix, a PFI specialist, and Balfour Beatty, which was yesterday fined for price-rigging in its construction bids, are among those challenging the utility’s dominance. They will be bidding to operate £1.15bn of [...]