The former City men and women among today’s peerage lineup August 1, 2013 There are a few former City types among the 30 new peers welcomed to the House of Lords today. Howard Leigh (Conservative): Senior partner at Cavendish. Leigh is a qualified charterd accountant who set up Deloitte’s M&A group in early 1986 and Cavendish Corporate Finance in 1988. He’s also chaired the Conservative party’s The Leader's [...]
Bank of England holds QE and rates ahead of inflation report August 1, 2013 The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to hold asset purchases and interest rates, as expected. That's given the pound a boost against sterling, the second today after the good manufacturing data released earlier. No change was expected as the MPC awaits the inflation report which is due to be released on [...]
Time Warner beats on earnings and revenues as demand rises for high-speed services August 1, 2013 Media giant Time Warner has beaten analyst expectations, with adjusted earnings per share at $1.69 ($1.64 estimated) and revenues of $5.6bn ($5.58bn estimated) (release). The company said that total revenues grew by 2.7 per cent over the year, driven by growth of 21.8 per cent in business service revenue and 12.5 per cent in residential [...]
Average large US hedge fund holds $1.8bn in assets August 1, 2013 The biggest hedge funds in the United States held $1.47 trillion (£970bn) in net assets and $1.06 trillion in secured and unsecured borrowings as of the fourth quarter, according to the first report on confidential data provided to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Some 823 hedge funds holding over $500m each in net [...]
Regulator closes investigation into KPMG auditing of BAE August 1, 2013 The investigation into the conduct of KPMG as an auditor of British Aerospace/BAE is over. Launched in 2010, the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) was investigating the audits and professional services adviced provided during the period 1997 to 2007. Subsequent investigations have shown that proper assessment of KPMG’s conduct would require consideration of work [...]
Senior Asia economist explains unexpected swing in Chinese manufacturing August 1, 2013 Capital Economics’ chief Asia economist Mark Williams has warned against reading too much into the unexpected swing in the official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) released last night. The PMI data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (NBS) rose from 50.1 to 50.3 – analysts had expected a fall to 49.8 [...]
UK manufacturing is growing at its fastest since March 2011 August 1, 2013 New figures show that the UK's manufacturing sector is growing at its fastest rate since March 2011, as Markit's purchasing manager's index (PMI) rises to 54.6. That's well ahead of expectations of a rise from 52.5 to 52.8. The pound rose sharply by nearly a cent against the dollar to more than $1.52 on the [...]
Eurozone Manufacturing Round-up: Expanding at fastest rate in two years August 1, 2013 Purchasing manager's index (PMI) paints a brighter picture for Eurozone manufacturing in July. The sector is seen to be expanding, and the only big economy to miss estimates is France. Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit said: Eurozone manufacturing made a positive start to the third quarter, with welcome signs of growth returning to the [...]
AstraZeneca profits fall on series of key patent expirations August 1, 2013 British drugmaker AstraZeneca saw sales fall by more than expected (six per cent) in the second quarter on the loss of patent protection on a number of key medicines (release). In the first half of the year, pre-tax profits fell by 38 per cent to $1.086bn, while basic earnings per share fell to $1.47 from [...]
German manufacturing is back to growth August 1, 2013 German manufacturing is looking good, as Markit's purchasing manager's index comes in at 50.7 for the sector. Any number above 50 implies that the sector is expanding. Analysts had forecast expansion, but this beats those estimates. They had predicted a rise from 48.6 to 50.3. Growth will be wafer-thin though with Germany leading the charge [...]