Boss of BDO says bigger is better for the accountant August 11, 2013 Simon Michaels, managing partner of the UK’s sixth largest professional services firm, thinks it is all to play for BY THE end of July, the builders had almost finished with BDO’s London headquarters. The glass-fronted Baker Street building, once the home of Marks & Spencer’s main office, has been revamped to make space for [...]
City Moves for 12 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 11, 2013 Aquila Capital The alternative asset management firm has announced the appointment of Dorothee Goerz as senior fund manager. Goerz has over 12 years’ industry experience, and specialises in value and event-driven investing. She joins from Aremus Partners, where she was a portfolio manager. Prior to that, she was a portfolio manager at Lombard Odier. She [...]
Best of the Brokers for 12 August 2013 August 11, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CINEWORLD With the cinema chain’s results due this week, broker Panmure Gordon has reiterated its “sell” rating on the stock but increased its target price from 238p to 260p. It said while revenues would be up around a fifth versus last yea,r a [...]
London Report: More details of Carney’s policy change are due August 11, 2013 AFTER Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s landmark forward guidance announcement last Wednesday, documents released this week should provide more clues as to how the new policies were agreed. The minutes from the monetary policy committee’s latest meeting, due on Wednesday, are likely to hint at a divide among the members over how comprehensive the [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Stock investors pin hopes on retail therapy August 11, 2013 WALL Street’s spotlight will fall on the consumer this week. Investors will look to earnings from major retailers and data on consumer spending with the hope that the numbers will show that Americans have indulged in some retail therapy in recent weeks. Good news on the shopping front could provide some potential catalysts for a [...]
Worst week ever for US Treasuries August 9, 2013 US Treasuries had their worst week ever on Wednesday as investors pulled out a record $4bn from bond funds, equivalent to 1.3 per cent of assets under management (AUM). Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett called it the “Great Rotation”, referring to the expectation that record-low bond yields will push investors [...]
Zimbabwe opposition party to challenge Mugabe election win August 9, 2013 Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party has filed a legal challenge contesting Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF electoral win in Zimbabwe last week. Historically, few rulings have been made in the MDC-T’s favour and the courts are often accused of being partisan. Mugabe won the election with 61 per cent of the vote giving him another five year term [...]
UBS pays $120m to settle Lehman allegations August 9, 2013 UBS has agreed to pay $120m (£77m) to settle a lawsuit regarding the misleading of investors about the financial state of Lehman Brothers. The settlement will resolve a five year litigation battle regarding the selling of nearly $1bn of Lehman structured notes between March 2007 and September 2008 when Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection. Earlier [...]
M&S Energy rebounds from mis-selling accusations launching cheapest deal on the market August 9, 2013 M&S energy has launched the cheapest energy deal on the market, just days after hitting the headlines for alleged energy mis-selling. The Fix & Save plan comes in at £1,139 per year, and protects customers from price hikes until the end of September 2014. There is, however, a cancellation fee of £50 before this end [...]
Spanish prime minister sets ambitious target for tax reform programme August 9, 2013 Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has set an ambitious target for the implementation of the country's tax reform programme – the end of March 2014. The reform programme was announced at the end of April this year, aimed primarily at increasing competitiveness and flexibility in the Spanish economy and getting rid of "bottlenecks". The priorities [...]