Verizon profits slump in crunch July 27, 2009 US telecoms giant Verizon yesterday said second-quarter profit fell 7.2 per cent hurt by higher costs and less demand among business customers pinched by the crunch. Profits fell to $3.16bn, or 52 cents a share, in the three months ended 30 June, down from $3.4bn the same period a year earlier. To counter slowing sales [...]
BISCHOFF TO TAKE CHAIR AT LLOYDS July 27, 2009 SIR WIN Bischoff will succeed Sir Victor Blank as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, the bank announced yesterday, prompting criticism from some quarters. Bischoff, former chairman of Citigroup, will be paid £700,000 a year without shares or a bonus and will assume the role on 15 September, long before next year’s annual meeting, the deadline [...]
FTSE 100 books 11th day of gains July 27, 2009 THE FTSE 100 rose for the 11th session in a row yesterday as investors remained optimistic over the recent flow of strong corporate news and reassuring economic data. The index matched its longest sustained run on record, last seen between late December 2003 and early January 2004. The FTSE 100 was up 9.52 points, or [...]
Nomura in Fed securities role July 27, 2009 THE New York Federal Reserve yesterday named Japan’s Nomura Securities International as a US primary dealer of Treasury securities, effective immediately. The addition of Nomura, a unit of Nomura Holdings, increases the number of firms that deal directly with the US Federal Reserve to 18. Primary dealers are required to bid at Treasury auctions, and [...]
Hypocrisy at the heart of banking policy July 27, 2009 PATHETIC. That is the only way to describe Alistair Darling’s ridiculous, stage-managed, utterly fake “row” with Britain’s top banks yesterday. It is the mark of a desperate, dying government that it feels obliged to resort to such a ridiculous piece of make-believe, rather than engaging in proper policy-making. To demand of the banks that they [...]
SEC bans naked shorting July 27, 2009 THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday moved to make permanent an emergency rule aimed at reducing “naked” short selling, which was partly blamed for bringing down big US banks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns last year. Naked short selling is the practice of selling a stock short without first borrowing the security as [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 27, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES COMPLEXITY IS KEY TO OVERCOMING RECESSIONLord Mandelson, the business secretary, will today announce the allocation of £150bn to fund companies’ advance manufacturing development projects in areas such as aerospace, nuclear engineering components, electronics and microchip designs. Most of it will come from the £750m cash pot set aside by ministers this year to [...]
Pace triples first-half profits July 27, 2009 British set-top box maker Pace tripled first-half pre-tax profit and said yesterday it was firmly on track to meet its expectations for the full year. The company, which makes devices for BSkyB, Comcast and Canal Plus, posted adjusted pre-tax profit of £34.3m on revenue of £526.5m for the six months to end-June, up from £231.1m.
Anglo American to plug its debt July 27, 2009 Miner Anglo American will bailout its platinum subsidiary with a 50 per cent increase in lending to £1.6bn after a slump in the price of precious metals. Anglo Platinum, which is 80 per cent owned by Anglo, said yesterday its net debt had increased by one third to £1.4bn in the first six months.
Lansdowne halts cash for fund July 27, 2009 Lansdowne Partners, one of the UK’s largest hedge fund managers, has stopped accepting investments for its oversubscribed £4.4bn Lansdowne UK equities fund. The move comes as the hedge fund industry is poised for a record year as investors look to reallocate cash to the most prominent brands.
