Setback for Phorm after BT opts out July 6, 2009 SHARES in the controversial online behavioural monitoring firm Phorm plummeted 42 per cent to 265p yesterday after BT said it had no immediate plans to roll out the firm’s Webwise Discover service. Telecoms giant BT was a major player in the development of the system, which collects information on users’ online behaviour and targets them [...]
Scrap boosts new car sales July 6, 2009 NEW car sales in June fell at their slowest rate for nearly a year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday, as it praised the government’s scrappage scheme. The number of new cars sold in the UK last month totalled 176,264 – a 15.7 per cent drop on the June 2008 figure, according [...]
Don’t let men pat you on the head July 6, 2009 I WAS shocked recently by the article, “IT Girl Grows Up” where Tamara Beckwith was interviewed and calls her husband a chauvinist, lauding his statement: “You are a woman, you do as you are told.” She responds: “It’s quite nice actually for once to do as you are told.” This is when I dream of [...]
Cattles says it won’t pay bond interest, and remains in talks with its creditors July 6, 2009 TROUBLED British sub-prime lender Cattles yesterday said it would not make a bond interest payment originally scheduled for 5 July, as talks over its bank debt approach a key deadline. Cattles, whose shares were suspended in April, added that it was still in “constructive discussions” with its creditors, and that it would issue a further [...]
UK ad market to be overtaken by China in 2009 July 6, 2009 THE UK looks set to lose its position as the fourth-largest advertising market, according to experts at ZenithOptimedia who significantly downgraded UK advertising spend forecasts yesterday. Publicis-owned ZenithOptimedia estimated that UK ad spend will decline by 10.5 per cent to £11bn in 2009 – having predicted a decline of 8.7 per cent just three months [...]
CITY EYE July 6, 2009 THE sun continued to bathe the City yesterday morning, despite those scurrilous doom-sayers predicting that the bad weather would have returned by this week. Sadly, the heavens did open towards the end of the day.
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 [...]