BEST OF THE BROKERS November 25, 2009 LLOYDS BANKING GROUPCharles Stanley yesterday maintained its “hold” position on Lloyds Banking Group. It said Lloyds has come a long way with its massive cash call to exit the government asset protection scheme. But it said the next two years are likely to be difficult and the group is unlikely to pay a dividend until [...]
Johnson Matthey sees an uncertain recovery for the automotive markets November 25, 2009 FTSE 100-listed Johnson Matthey yesterday said first-half pre-tax profits fell by a fifth and the world’s largest supplier of catalytic converters warned that prospects for a recovery in global auto sales were uncertain. “The timing of a return in consumer confidence and the impact of the expiry of car scrappage schemes will be key factors [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 25, 2009 ElectraThe private equity group has appointed Roger Perkin as a non-executive director. Perkin is a former senior partner at Ernst & Young, where he spent 40 years of his career. He was previously lead auditor to UBS from 1998 to 2005 and has worked for clients including 3i, Resolution and Henderson. He also recently advised [...]
BANKS TO DISCLOSE ALL PAY OVER 1M November 25, 2009 THE government will today announce plans to implement in full the recommendations of the Walker review, paving the way for a massive shake-up of corporate governance and much greater openness over pay at the City’s largest financial institutions. From 2010 onwards, FTSE-100 banks and comparable financial institutions such as large building societies will be forced [...]
Dubai asks for delay over debt November 25, 2009 DUBAI WORLD, the owner of P&O, triggered fury last night after it called for a moratorium on its debt repayments. The announcement sent the cost of insuring Dubai’s sovereign debt against default soaring above Icelandic levels. The emirate was last night judged the sixth riskiest country in the world by the credit markets. The news [...]
There is no such thing as a free lunch in banking November 25, 2009 IT came as a bit of a shock. Britain’s new Supreme Court, which has just been spun out from the House of Lords, dealt the Office of Fair Trading a bitter blow yesterday by ruling against it in its test case against high street banks. Their Lordships ruled unanimously that deciding whether overdraft charges – [...]
WALKER REVIEW: ALL THE POINTS AT A GLANCE November 25, 2009 BOARD SIZE, COMPOSITION AND QUALIFICATION 1. Non-executive directors at banks or other financial institutions will need to go on training programmes.2. The board should provide non-execs with extra support on appropriate issues as and when needed. 3. Non-execs at a FTSE 100-listed bank or life assurance company should give more time to their roles. Several [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 25, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INVESTORS TO SIGN AVTOVAZ AID DEALShareholders in Russian car maker Avtovaz will sign a rescue deal for the near-bankrupt firm at a meeting near Paris this week, Yuri Ushakov, the Russian Prime Minister’s deputy chief of staff, said yesterday. SATYAM SHARES TUMBLE OVER FRESH CHARGESShares in Mahindra Satyam, the fraud-hit IT services group, [...]
Gold jumps to new heights as dollar dips November 25, 2009 GOLD jumped to another record high yesterday, while the dollar dropped to a 15 month low against a basket of currencies after a batch of US data indicated the economic recovery was strengthening. The data, showing positive trends in the housing and labour markets and in consumer spending, helped lift US and European shares while [...]
Vodafone to close final salary scheme November 25, 2009 VODAFONE is set to shut its £755m final salary pension scheme to 4,000 staff, in a fresh round of cost-cutting by chief executive Vittorio Colao. Colao is aiming to offset plummeting revenue at the mobile phone operator. The firm is following the lead of Barclays, Whitbread and Fujitsu, who are also blocking current workers from [...]
