BEST OF THE BROKERS July 7, 2009 MICROGENInvestec Securities reiterate their “buy” recommendation for IT group Microgen, which has issued an upbeat trading statement for the first half of the year. Investec believe that Microgen’s Aptitude branch looks particularly strong, having signed major contracts with blue-chip customers. Full-year earnings are ahead of expectations. WM MORRISONBank of America Merrill Lynch feels that Wm [...]
MYNERS HITS OUT AT EU HEDGE FUND GRAB July 7, 2009 CITY minister Lord Myners yesterday lashed out at a draft European law that will crack down on hedge funds, saying it needed “major surgery” before the UK could support it. In a powerful speech, Myners threw his weight behind London’s hedge fund managers who are aghast at European plans to regulate the industry with an [...]
Economy stuck in stagnation July 7, 2009 THE UK economy did not exit recession in the second quarter as had previously been predicted but is instead now stagnating, according to GDP estimates from a leading think-tank. Figures from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) showed that GDP contracted by 0.4 per cent in the three months to June 2009 [...]
Standing room only: coming soon to an airline near you July 7, 2009 YESJEREMY HAZLEHURSTTHE news that Ryanair is offering standing seating to customers should come as a surprise to nobody who has ever travelled on the carrier. Indeed, it is the logical extension of its ethos, which involves turning aeroplanes into a mix of a fairground and a sardine tin. The idea behind this radical new idea [...]
Higher leverage fuelled banking bonanza July 7, 2009 TODAY’S banking White Paper will contain some nasty surprises. Of that we can be sure. In the main, however, it will amount to a rehash of pre-announced policies. Some of the proposals will be firm; others more hypothetical, relying on global agreement. There will be a call for banks to structure themselves so that they [...]
Four Rio staff held in China July 7, 2009 FOUR workers from Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining group, have been detained by Chinese authorities in Shanghai without explanation. The company said yesterday it is concerned about the arrest on Sunday of the Shanghai-based staff. So far it has not been able to speak to the three Chinese and one Australian passport holder. Rio Tinto [...]
My assistant dresses like a major frump July 7, 2009 DEAR VEXED: My assistant has been working for me for about a year. She’s great, but there’s something that really annoys me about her, even though it’s trivial. Basically, her dress sense is so dowdy it actually makes me depressed. Is there anything I can do about any of this? Susanne, 47, investment banker TOUGH [...]
AIG loses $4.3bn battle July 7, 2009 A FIRM run by former AIG chief executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg did not plunder billions from a retirement fund, a jury ruled yesterday, dashing the bailed-out insurer’s chances of collecting $4.3bn (£2.6bn) in damages. AIG took Starr International, a private company run by Greenberg, to court in an effort to recover millions of shares held [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES RECESSION INCREASES SUICIDE AND MURDERUnemployment and recession add to the death toll from suicide, murder and heart attacks but cut the number killed in road accidents, according to the most comprehensive analysis so far of the health effects of economic downturn. Researchers at Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical [...]
ESPN launching new channel July 7, 2009 ESPN said yesterday that it plans to launch a new channel in August to show its 46 Barclaycard Premier League soccer matches and other international sports programming. The channel, which will be available in standard and high definition, will also carry a range of US sports. Pay-TV firm BSkyB , which owns the rights to [...]