Booze query over PVM Oil rogue trader July 5, 2009 PVM OIL’S Steve Perkins, the rogue trader who lost the company £6m last week, may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he went on a dealing rampage. It is understood that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is investigating whether Perkins was inebriated when he used his home computer to make trades [...]
Not too early to talk of green shoots of recovery July 5, 2009 The expression “green shoots” is one you either find comfort in or loathe at the moment. It was coined in 1991 by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, when most of the world was going through an economic recession. Lamont thought he could spot the very first signs of a recovery, but was [...]
Veteran City broker lured to join Oriel July 5, 2009 CORPORATE broking veteran Peter Meinertzhagen has been lured out of semi-retirement to join Oriel Securities, the broker run by his ex-colleague Simon Bragg, as an adviser. Meinertzhagen is best known in the City for advising some of Britain’s biggest companies during his 17-year tenure at the helm of Hoare Govett, now ABN Amro Hoare Govett [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 5, 2009 Canada Life International The wealth management firm has appointed Mark Armstrong as its new head of operations. Armstrong joins from Axa in the Isle of Man, where he was director of technical and proposition support. He has over 20 years of experience in offshore financial services, having also previously worked as finance director at Allied [...]
No sustained rally for FTSE 100 this half July 5, 2009 WHATEVER the second half of 2009 holds for equity markets, it can only be better than the last six months of last year. But market analysts are not expecting the FTSE 100 to rally strongly through the third and fourth quarters, despite the blue-chip index’s strong rally since the depths of 3,500 back in March. [...]
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE FTSE 100 WILL END 2009? July 5, 2009 JOSHUA RAYMOND CITY INDEX4,600. The third quarter could help lift the markets if data all comes in line and momentum in terms of growth of companies’ profitability. I see economic recovery in mid-2010 and equity markets tend to react about six to eight months in advance. MANOJ LADWA ETX CAPITAL4,000. We’ll shoot to the downside [...]
NOMURA QUITS CANARY WHARF July 5, 2009 Japanese bank Nomura has decided to ditch Canary Wharf and locate 3,600 UK employees, including 2,000 former Lehman Brothers staff, in the City. Nomura will today sign an exclusivity deal for the new riverside complex Watermark Place, following months of internal debate about where to locate its London staff. The bank will pay around £40 [...]
DARLING: PAY SQUEEZE FOR STATE SECTOR July 5, 2009 ALISTAIR Darling has hinted at a public sector pay freeze to tackle Britain’s budget black hole. In response to Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred’s call for £5bn savings in wages, the chancellor said: “Public sector pay obviously has got to reflect prevailing conditions, and in particular inflation has come way down.” He said the [...]
Rover report gets delayed July 5, 2009 THE government is set to delay the publication of a report into the collapse of carmaker MG Rover in 2005, pending an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The move, set to be announced by business secretary Peter Mandelson today, follows a four-year inquiry into the company’s collapse, which led to more than 6,000 job [...]
It would be mad to hike capital gains tax July 5, 2009 FOR all of Gordon Brown’s increasingly laughable attempts at dissembling on the matter, there is absolutely no doubt that public spending will have to be slashed after the general election, regardless of who wins. Alistair Darling said as much yesterday, and that was also the implication of the comments from John Hutton, the former defence [...]