ABN Amro to sell assets to ease EC fears July 7, 2009 DUTCH state-controlled bank ABN Amro is expected to strike a deal by mid-September to sell some assets to settle European Union competition concerns, the Dutch finance ministry said yesterday. The €70bn (£48bn) purchase of ABN in 2007 by a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain’s Santander and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis saw Fortis agree to [...]
Big Yellow buoyant despite revenue fall July 7, 2009 SELF-STORAGE firm Big Yellow Group yesterday reported a slump in quarterly revenues but said trading conditions were beginning to improve. Store revenue for the quarter was £13.5m, six per cent lower than the £14.3m recorded in the same period last year, but up one per cent from £13.4m in the quarter to 31 March. Wholly-owned [...]
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 [...]