Swine flu hits Thomas Cook August 13, 2009 TOUR operator Thomas Cook yesterday admitted it would miss its operating profit target, compounding the gloom in the leisure sector. The group, in which insolvent German retailer Arcandor still holds a 53 percent stake, said it would fall short of its hopes of achieving operating profit of £480m in 2010. Chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said [...]
Citigroup risks Washington’s ire over $100m pay package for energy trader August 13, 2009 CITIGROUP is heading for a row with US pay tsar Kenneth Feinberg over a $100m (£61m) in pay due to be awarded to energy trader Andrew Hall. The Wall Street bank is preparing to argue that Hall’s payout should be exempt from a review of remuneration at bailed out firms, due to be launched by [...]
Waterhouse buys into clearing through OMX August 13, 2009 STOCKBROKER TD Waterhouse (TDW) announced yesterday it has agreed to buy clearing and settlement service house OMX Securities. OMX, which is currently 51 per cent owned by the Nasdaq OMX Group, will continue to operate as a separate business once the deal is finalised, and will rebrand as TD Waterhouse Corporate Service (Europe). “OMX Securities [...]
Buffet’s Berkshire admits slip-ups on derivative risks August 13, 2009 BILLIONAIRE US investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway underestimated the risks of falling stock prices to its billions of dollars of derivatives bets, yet still believes it is valuing the contracts fairly. Berkshire revealed its error in a 26 June letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, one of several pieces of correspondence with the [...]
Activity returns to property August 13, 2009 Activity in the European property investment market inched up to ¤13bn (£11.2bn) in the second quarter, from ¤11.6bn in the first quarter of 2009, according to CBRE. The group said that while it is too early to predict a sustained upturn, there is some expectation that the fourth quarter could see a modest further improvement [...]
Commentator spots a bargain August 13, 2009 Paul Krugman, the Nobel-Prize winning economist and leading commentator on the financial crisis, yesterday paid $1.7m (£1m) for an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, arising suspicions that he believes the US property market has now reached the bottom. The economist agreed the purchase yesterday of the apartment which had an original asking price of [...]
Pawnbroker names new CEO August 13, 2009 British pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond yesterday named Barry Stevenson as chief executive, from 14 September, succeeding Greville Nicholls, who will become chairman. Nicholls replaces chairman Charles Nicolson, who stepped down following a period of ill health. Stevenson was most recently the CEO of garden supply store operator Wyevale Garden Centres. Shares of the company closed [...]
RIG expects to narrow losses August 13, 2009 Aim-listed insurance claims facility provider Resources in Insurance Group, said yesterday that it expects its interim results, which will be announced in mid-September, to show a significant improvement in trading and to show losses reduced by around 50 per cent.
FORGET CANNES: CANARY WHARF’S FILM FESTIVAL IS COMING TO TOWN August 12, 2009 CANARY Wharfers should dust off their finery: there’s a film festival coming to town. OK, so it’s not quite Cannes – there’ll be no red carpet, much to the disappointment of preen-happy financiers, and designer dresses and tuxes are far from obligatory. But the Canary Wharf Film Festival, taking place between 3 and 7 September, [...]
Microsoft and Nokia gang up on Blackberry August 12, 2009 NOKIA and Microsoft yesterday unveiled an alliance which will see Nokia smartphones pre-loaded with Microsoft office, in a bid to challenge the dominance of the Blackberry in the business market. The software and mobile telecoms giants said that they are working together to put MS Office Mobile, MS Communicator Mobile and other services on selected [...]