FSA clamps down on CFD investors July 3, 2008 Rules forcing contract for difference (CFD) holders to disclose long positions of three per cent have had a mixed reaction in the City. A clampdown by City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has long been anticipated due to fears that investors are using CFDs, which give exposure to a share for a fraction of [...]
It pays to be aware when the pressure is on July 2, 2008 Managers need to take care of stressed staff — especially now, writes Jeremy Hazlehurst When times are hard in the markets, it’s easy to forget sometimes that it’s not only the bottom line that suffers. Managers also ought to be aware that their human capital can feel the pinch as well. As the FTSE has [...]
Games fans lift HMV fortunes July 2, 2008 HMV, the UK’s leading music retailer, reported yesterday a 25 per cent jump in pre-tax profits. The company told investors its recovery is on track after the first year of its three-year turnaround plan. Strong video game sales helped pre-tax profits soar to £56.6m, up from £45.2m in 2007. Games and technology sales rose 7 [...]
Tanfield dives after profits warning July 2, 2008 Electric vehicle maker Tanfield crashed more than 80 per cent after warning its profits would be drastically hit by the economic slowdown. Stunned City investors questioned the management’s credibility after the Tyne and Wear-based company gave no hint of what was to come in a statement issued on Friday in response to its share price [...]
Falling share prices set to fuel activism July 2, 2008 A wave of shareholder activism is expected to hit companies in the coming months as falling share prices galvanise shareholders into action. Tim Stocks, a leading city lawyer at law firm Taylor Wessing, told City A.M. he was already instructing on several activist shareholder cases and expected the numbers to increase rapidly. Stocks, who said [...]
Severn Trent pays penalty for water leaks July 2, 2008 Severn Trent Water was fined £2m at the Old Bailey yesterday for lying about its water leakage rates. Earlier reports had suggested the fine for this unprecedented criminal case could top £70m. And the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), who brought the case against the water firm, had asked the court to make an example of [...]
Dresdner in German deal talks July 2, 2008 Talks between German banks Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank about a potential merger have intensified, fuelling speculation that the two will soon finally confirm concrete merger talks. Teams from both Commerzbank and Allianz, the insurance group that owns Dresdner, have been locked in almost daily discussions on the valuation of each other’s assets. A deal is [...]
Six-star hotel in City July 2, 2008 Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin is set to transform a landmark City building into London’s first six-star hotel. Chernukhin, a former Russian Deputy Finance Minister, was yesterday granted planning permission to redevelop the former Midland Bank headquarters – the imposing Grade 1 listed building situated on Poultry behind the Bank of England – into a luxury [...]
Markets engulfed by turmoil July 2, 2008 The FTSE 100 is now facing a critical point as it teeters dangerously close to plummeting below its March 17th low, a leading strategist warned yesterday. “It is now at a critical point. If it retests these lows then it could go a good deal lower to the 5000 level. This would mark a 50 [...]
City warns: economy to slow further July 2, 2008 The UK economy, already in its weakest state since the early 1990s recession, is set to slow further, top City economists warned yesterday as the UK was hit by a triple whammy of bad economic news. Data released yesterday revealed that the manufacturing sector contracted at its fastest rate in seven years last month, the [...]