CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 28, 2012 First Reserve The leading global investment firm dedicated to the energy industry has appointed Alex T. Krueger as president, the next milestone in its senior management succession plan. Krueger has been with First Reserve for thirteen years, most recently serving as managing director in London. He was previously co-head of the company’s buyout funds. Krueger’s [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 28, 2012 OLD MUTUAL After the sale of its Nordic operations, Deutsche Bank has reinstated coverage of the bank with a “buy” rating and target price of 190p, seeing the valuation as attractive despite a 45 per cent rally since December. HENDERSON GROUP Investec has upgraded the fund manager to “buy” with a target price of 149p [...]
Video conferencing: Beyond the office March 28, 2012 IN all aspects of business, employees are increasingly demanding greater freedom of choice as to how and where they work. And giving employees this freedom of choice makes sense for a business – if work can be carried out from any number of locations your company can be more efficient with lower overheads and so [...]
FTSE dented by miners March 28, 2012 The FTSE 100 was pegged back by miners in early trading as the index lost some of the momentum built up over recent weeks. Nagging doubts over the rate of growth that can be sustained in China continued to cast a shadow over the sector and the price of copper fell. Steelmaker Evraz warned over [...]
UK GDP revised down March 28, 2012 The UK’s economic growth for the last three months of 2011 has been revised down to a contraction of 0.3 per cent. The first two estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a contraction of 0.2 per cent. The ONS blamed the revision on the transport and communications [...]
Thomas Cook sees lift in UK bookings March 28, 2012 Thomas Cook said its performance in Britain had improved in recent weeks as a new advertising campaign and improvements to its website boosted bookings. The company, which secured a 200 million pounds ($319m) rescue package from its banks last November, said online bookings of mainstream holidays had seen a substantial uplift and were up 19 [...]
Dominos presses on with expansion plans March 28, 2012 Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm Domino’s Pizza UK reported a rise in first quarter sales, helped by a recovery in Ireland, and said it was sticking with plans to open 72 new stores in 2012, including 12 in Germany. Domino’s, which operates the British and Irish franchises of the global delivery brand, said on Wednesday [...]
Icap trading buoyed by commodities March 28, 2012 ICAP, the world’s largest interdealer broker, said it was trading in line with market expectations, with a strong performance at its commodities and energy arm helping offset tougher conditions on its credit markets side. “ICAP is on track for a robust performance for the year despite the demanding economic environment,” chief executive Michael Spencer said [...]
Lloyds of London reports £516m loss March 28, 2012 The Lloyd’s of London insurance market crashed to its second-biggest ever annual loss last year after absorbing claims from major natural catastrophes including Japan’s Tohoku earthquake and heavy floods in Thailand. Lloyd’s, which traces its origins back 324 years to a London coffee house where merchants insured ships, made a loss of £516m in 2011, [...]
Ronson attacks politics of envy March 27, 2012 PROPERTY tycoon Gerald Ronson launched a scathing attack on the political establishment yesterday, hitting out at the “hypocrisy and envy” that is driving public opinion. In one of the most outspoken public critiques yet from a senior British business figure, Ronson said that our society is being “fuelled by the continual negativity of envy” and [...]