Braford & Bingley’s bid to defer bond interest could be repeated May 27, 2009 BRADFORD & Bingley (B&B) has said it will not pay interest on £325m of subordinated bonds, fuelling speculation that other nationalised lenders such as Northern Rock might follow suit. The bank said last night that it would not pay interest on three tranches of notes, £150m of floating rate notes due on 30 June, £125m [...]
Margetts: No pay boost for top L&G staff May 27, 2009 LEGAL & General (L&G) chairman Sir Rob Margetts yesterday said no staff at the firm earning over £100,000 received a payrise last year and confirmed all directors waived their bonuses, as he faced shareholders at the group’s annual meeting. He said it “would be inappropriate to make those payments when the company is reducing headcount [...]
Brussels to seize regulatory power May 27, 2009 THE EU is poised to grab control of financial regulation after the European Commission yesterday debuted plans to erect a pan-European supervisory framework with genuine power. Three new bodies are to be created, a European Banking Authority in London, a European Securities Authority in Paris and a European Insurance Authority in Frankfurt. All three will [...]
OPD Group sets out offer terms May 27, 2009 RECRUITER OPD Group yesterday revealed the terms of a cash offer for the firm from a management buyout team led by chairman Peter Hearn and backed by private equity firm Graphite Capital. The 57p-a-share offer values the group at around £15.1m. Hearn and Graphite are supported by chief executive Francesca Robinson and directors Richard Boogis-Rolfe [...]
Outlook tough for Speedy Hire May 27, 2009 TOOL hire company Speedy Hire reported a 29.5 per cent fall in profit yesterday, reflecting the downturn in construction, and said trading continued to be tough, sending its shares down as much by 6.5 per cent to 176p. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell to £33.9m for the year ended 31 March, from £48.1m in the same [...]
Home loans at lowest level since 2001 May 27, 2009 MORTGAGE lending sunk to its lowest level for eight years in April, data showed yesterday. Net lending by the major banks was £2.7bn during April, down from £3.4bn in March – the lowest figure since March 2001, according to the British Bankers Association (BBA). However, the number of mortgages approved for house purchases actually rose [...]
Great Portland pays 18m to exit bet May 27, 2009 PROPERTY group Great Portland Estates yesterday spent £18.2m to buy its way out of an expensive interest rate hedge. The London landlord became the first major property company to pay a hefty break fee to end an interest rate hedge on £190m of debt. It’s thought the move will save the company about £8.5m a [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAS THE GOVERNMENT DONE ENOUGH FOR THE CAR INDUSTRY? May 27, 2009 JOHAN BLEEKER INVESTMENT BANKER“No one really understands huge car companies, and getting good insight is hard. If the government is going to intervene, it should be to call for more transparency in the industry and find out where the help really needs to go.” KEITH RIDGE MARTIN BROKERS“The scrappage scheme is only a £300m investment [...]
Britvic slumps on stake sale May 27, 2009 SHARES in soft-drink maker Britvic yesterday fell by 5.3 per cent to 275p after it emerged its biggest shareholder Permira had dumped its 14 per cent stake in the company. Broker UBS placed the 30.2m shares at 265.5p yesterday – a discount to Tuesday’s closing price – netting Permira around £81.5m. Permira said: “Our strategy [...]
Saudi’s optimism boosts oil prices to a six month high May 27, 2009 THE price of oil hit a six-month high yesterday, as Saudi Arabia said it was optimistic about the prospect of economic recovery. The news that crude oil was trading above $63 a barrel comes as OPEC prepares for an extraordinary meeting today to decide on output levels. Saudi’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday that [...]