America boosts output as China and Eurozone lag February 1, 2012 FACTORY output expanded strongly in the US in January, according to figures published yesterday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). However, manufacturing output declined in China and the Eurozone, according to data from Markit, though German production increased. The ISM purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the US came in at 54.1 – up from [...]
FACEBOOK: A TIMELINE OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK February 1, 2012 SEPTEMBER 2003 Mark Zuckerberg – then a 19-year old psychology and computer science student at Harvard – launches Facemash, a site where fellow students can rate their classmates JANUARY 2004 Zuckerberg starts writing code for Facebook and registers the domain name thefacebook.com. Six days after the site is launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss [...]
Facebook IPO to give birth to billionaires February 1, 2012 FACEBOOK yesterday submitted papers to become a publicly traded company later this year, putting an end in the week of its eighth anniversary to months of heated speculation. In a rare insight into the mind of the usually tight-lipped social network creator, celebrity geek Mark Zuckerberg included a letter in the filing. “We often talk [...]
ADVISERS: MORGAN STANLEY, JP MORGAN, GOLDMAN SACHS ET AL February 1, 2012 MICHAEL GRIMES MORGAN STANLEY Morgan Stanley has landed the coveted lead left spot in Facebook’s long-awaited initial public offering and the deal is likely to be managed by its co-head of global technology investment banking, Michael Grimes. The lucky banker has been on good terms with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer and former Google [...]
One-off gains push Nomura back to profit February 1, 2012 NOMURA revealed a surprise boost back into profit in its quarterly results yesterday, although analysts said that much of the improvement was down to one-off gains. The bank swung back into the black to book earnings of ¥36.9bn (£306m) for the quarter, versus a ¥42.3bn loss the previous quarter. That was on the back of [...]
Probe censures Deloitte over Phoenix Four advice February 1, 2012 THE UK’s corporate governance regulator has criticised accountancy firm Deloitte’s advice during the controversial 2005 takeover of MG Rover, saying the firm’s conduct “fell short of the standards” expected. Deloitte – and then-corporate finance partner Maghsoud Einollahi – acted as adviser to companies involved with MG Rover and the so-called Phoenix Four directors. The investigation will now [...]
Barclays’ Absa sees earnings rise up to 22pc February 1, 2012 ABSA Group, the South African lender majority owned by Barclays, said yesterday its full-year earnings likely rose by as much as 22 per cent. Absa, which is due to report results on 10 February, said in a statement it expected to report an increase of between 18 and 22 per cent in diluted headline earnings [...]
Banks hit with 60 regulatory changes a day during 2011 February 1, 2012 BANKS and other financial services firms had to deal with 60 regulatory changes each working day during 2011, according to a report from Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance. Regulators around the world announced 14,215 changes in 2011, a 16 per cent increase from the 12,179 announcements in 2010. The report shows that the majority [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD FRED GOODWIN HAVE LOST HIS KNIGHTHOOD? February 1, 2012 DAVID HUGHES | LAING O’ROURKE “I think it’s the right thing to do. He caused the UK economy such a lot of damage that it’s worth it to make a point. He wasn’t solely responsible for the collapse of RBS but he was very instrumental.” ALEX IGEL | EMPOWERED SYSTEMS “Absolutely. I’m a passionate believer in [...]
London office take-up falls but tech firm demand soars February 1, 2012 TAKE-UP of central London offices fell by 27 per cent in 2011 compared to the previous year, as the global economic slowdown continued to take its toll, according to research by Knight Frank. The property consultancy said take-up fell to 10.7m square feet last year. However, this coincided with a fall in supply and doubling [...]