CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 1, 2009 HermesThe fund manager has appointed Saker Nusseibeh as head of investments. Nusseibeh, who will also join the Hermes main board, joins from Fortis Investments, where he was global head of equities and chief information officer for global equities. He was previously managing director of international equities and chief information officer for global equities at TCW/ [...]
GARRETT-COX: DEFENSIVE June 1, 2009 BUSINESS “superwoman” Katherine Garrett-Cox, boss of the giant Alliance Trust, said yesterday she stuck with her focus on defensive stocks in the first quarter. She added a healthy 2.5 per cent to the fund’s assets over the quarter to £2.17bn, aided by a strategy of cutting its cash position from 10.5 per cent to 4.7 [...]
Shoppers keep clicking to boost online revenues June 1, 2009 ONLINE spending continues to be a star performer in the recession, despite the downturn battering the high street, according to a report out today by Verdict Research. Online retail purchases are set to rise in 2009 by 13.3 per cent to £20.9bn. In a stark contrast, overall retail growth is expected to contract by 0.6 [...]
PINEWOOD TAKES ON HOLLYWOOD June 1, 2009 PINEWOOD Studios, where the Dark Knight and Quantum of Solace films were made, yesterday submitted its final planning application to double in size, in a bid to rival Hollywood and cheaper rivals elsewhere. It plans to invest £200m to develop permanent state of the art film facilities – including a Parisian square and a Venice [...]
FSA FACES FURY OVER ITS BONUSES May 31, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) is headed for a showdown with MPs after awarding staff a 40 per cent bonus increase despite admitting to having failed in its regulatory duties in the run-up to the banking crisis. The City regulator doled out staff bonuses last month worth £19.7m, it emerged yesterday, prompting questions from politicians [...]
GM to go bankrupt today May 31, 2009 OVER 50 per cent of General Motors’ (GM) bondholders agreed to a crucial debt-for-equity swap last night, as the moribund carmaker gears up to file for bankruptcy today. Bondholders cast their votes and agreed to the swap, which gives them up to 25 per cent ownership of a restructured GM in exchange for $27bn in [...]
Why the public rejects car firm bailouts May 31, 2009 WE are almost there. Barring a last minute hiccup, General Motors (GM) will enter into bankruptcy today. Like Chrysler, it will be using section 363 of the US code, which ought to allow it to reemerge in a few months having shed assets, liabilities and shareholders, and with the government owning the bulk of the [...]
Q & A : GENERAL MOTORS May 31, 2009 Q.HOW HAS THIS GIANT OF AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES GONE TO THE WALL?A.General Motors (GM) was once the world’s largest company and has for years been seen as a bellwether of the US economy. But, like that other big Detroit car maker Chrysler, it has lost market share in the face of competition from US-based Japanese-owned [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2009 THE SUNDAYSTHE SUNDAY TIMES SKY SAYS NO TO SETANTASports organisations including the Scottish Premier League may be forced to stomach deeper-than-expected cuts to their TV income after shareholders in Setanta failed to stump up enough cash to keep the broadcaster alive. Setanta’s financial position was so parlous this weekend that it asked arch-rival BSkyB for [...]
RBS severs ties with brokers May 31, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has dismissed its corporate brokers Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, thereby distancing itself from the two key advisors of the Sir Fred Goodwin era. RBS has appointed Hoare Govett, the advisor owned by RBS’s ABN Amro unit, according to reports. Merrill Lynch was the advisor to RBS on the takeover [...]