BG Group CFO on leave of absence September 10, 2012 ■ BG Group’s chief financial officer Fabio Barbosa is on a leave of absence to undergo medical treatment in Brazil for a recently diagnosed condition. Group financial controller Den Jones will replace him with immediate effect, for what is expected to be the rest of the year. Jones has been with BG Group since 2010, [...]
Libor sparks benchmark rethink September 10, 2012 ■ The Libor-rigging scandal should prompt a wave of new rules for financial benchmark governance, the Global Financial Markets Association said yesterday. The group calls for all systemically important benchmarks to be subject to proper regulatory oversight, with countries working together to set rules. The GFMA set out its recommendations in a letter to regulators [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs September 10, 2012 Norton Rose Liam O’Connell has been appointed a partner within the law firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice. He joins from CMS Cameron McKenna, where he was a partner and head of its commercial regulatory and disputes group. O’Connell specialises in insurance policy coverage analysis, and also has business experience in contingency markets and cyber [...]
Best of the Brokers September 10, 2012 PREMIER OIL Liberum Capital rates the FTSE 250 firm as “sell” from a previous “hold” rating, saying “performance has to improve if this is to add significant value” and saying the firm’s explorations will not reap rewards for several years. Liberum’s Andrew Whitlock adds that performance will suffer in the medium term due to a [...]
FTSE 100 opens flat as investors bide time September 10, 2012 The leading share index opened modestly lower this morning, as investors were cautious ahead of key Eurozone and US Federal Reserve meetings this week. A selection of miners and retailers led the index up. Specialist engineering company Lamprell added nearly five per cent in early deals on news that it signed a joint venture deal [...]
Japan Airlines sets IPO at £5.3bn September 10, 2012 Japan Airlines’ 663bn yen (£5.29bn) initial public offering (IPO) is set to be the second-biggest IPO this year after Facebook. The airline, which went bankrupt in 2010 but has since returned to profit, set the IPO price at 3,790 yen per share this morning. The shares will begin trading in Tokyo on 19 September. In [...]
Business optimism at 20-year low September 10, 2012 Confidence among businesses slumped to a 20-year low in August, according to a survey by accountancy group BDO. The group’s optimism index fell for the sixth consecutive month to 89.1 in August from 93.1 in July. Figures above 95 indicate growth. The index, which measures business performance expectations two quarters ahead, follows more upbeat data [...]
BHP Billiton to close Australian mine September 10, 2012 Global miner BHP Billiton is to close one of its Australian mines as it battles weak prices and rising costs. It said today it would shut its Gregory mine, near Emerald in Australia, from 10 October, as it deemed production at the mine “no longer profitable in the current economic environment of falling prices, high [...]
Glencore lays out final bid for Xstrata September 10, 2012 Glencore laid out its revised final bid to Xstrata this morning, raising the offer but warning it will not improve it further. On Friday, the commodities giant raised the share ratio to 3.05 new Glencore shares for every Xstrata share, up from 2.8 as previously offered. Glencore also demanded that chief executive Ivan Glasenberg be [...]
Retail boss: Red tape is worse than ever September 9, 2012 THE COALITION will today announce plans to exempt hundreds of thousands of businesses from health and safety inspections, as one of the country’s leading businessmen criticised the coalition for taking too long to start tackling red tape. Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said the coalition’s decision to focus its efforts on economic growth after [...]