CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 20, 2012 Rowanmoor Pensions Rowanmoor Pensions, the independent small self-administered scheme provider and self-invested personal pensions operator, has appointed Martin Stead as a regulated consultant in its consultancy team. Stead joins from AXA Wealth, where he was a financial planning manager in the company’s Bancassurance division. Prior to AXA Wealth, Stead was a corporate relationship manager at [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 20, 2012 Today At this morning’s results for Bluetooth technology firm CSR, investors will be looking at how much value the company’s acquisition of peer Zoran in August last year brings. CSR is guiding that revenue for the first quarter will be between $230m and $250m (£145m and £158m), but analysts have a more cautious forecast of [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 20, 2012 SCHRODERS Citi downgrades the asset manager from neutral to “sell” and increases its target price on the stock to £13.70 from £13.10, after a year-to-date rally of 18 per cent in the value of its shares. The broker says that Schroders – and fund managers in general – need to see near-term fund flow recovery [...]
Keir wins £100m nuclear contract February 20, 2012 British construction group Kier has won a £100m contract from France’s EDF to prepare the ground for construction of a new nuclear power station in the west of England. Kier said in a statement on Monday that the contract to carry out site works for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is due [...]
S&P warns Japan over debt February 20, 2012 Standard & Poor’s warned it could lower Japan’s sovereign rating if the economy expands less than expected or if public debt continues to grow, as the country’s unpopular government struggles to win support for higher taxes. The ratings agency affirmed its AA- rating on Japan with a negative outlook, but also warned that higher taxes [...]
Italian police seize $6 trillion of fake US bonds February 17, 2012 Italian police announced today they had seized about $6 trillion (£3.8 trillion) of fake U.S. Treasury bonds in Switzerland, and issued arrest warrants for eight people accused of international fraud and other financial crimes. The operation, co-ordinated by prosecutors from the southern Italian city of Potenza, was carried out by Italian and Swiss authorities after [...]
US inflation rises February 17, 2012 US petrol prices jumped 0.9 per cent in January, pushing overall consumer prices up at their fastest pace in four months and offering a reminder of the risks energy costs could pose to the economic recovery. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 per cent, according to figures from the Labor Department is unlikely to ring [...]
Murdoch announces launch of The Sun on Sunday February 17, 2012 Rupert Murdoch has announced his intention to launch a Sunday edition of The Sun newspaper “very soon”. The new publication has been rumoured ever since the News of the World was forced to close in July 2011 and it is believed that several mock-ups of ‘The Sun on Sunday’ have already been produced, suggesting its [...]
German President resigns over home loan scandal February 17, 2012 GERMAN President Christian Wulff resigned this morning after state prosecutors asked parliament to remove his legal immunity over accusations that he accepted favours. He has been hit by a scandal over a home loan that he accepted while leading the state of Lower Saxony. “The developments of the past few days and weeks have shown [...]