Gazprom Neft reinstates the chief exec it replaced less than a week ago June 22, 2009 RUSSIAN oil and gas giant Gazprom yesterday did a U-turn over its plans for Aim-listed Sibir Energy, re-appointing Stuard Detmer as chief executive of the firm just days after replacing him with a candidate from its own legal team. Sibir said in a statement it had re-appointed Detmer at the request of the group’s oil [...]
How the Baker Street brigade are taking on the Big Four accountants June 22, 2009 YOU get the impression when you meet him that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward, wants a lot of things – and one of the first is a larger slice of the UK accounting pie. Michaels, at 42 the youngest person to lead the UK’s sixth-largest professional services business, was elected to [...]
History tells us that indices have further upside to come June 22, 2009 FOLLOWING a three-month rally in global equities, stock market indices have eased off as investors face the prospect of a slow and protracted recovery and question whether a correction – of some magnitude, at least – is now overdue. Given the sharp rise in equity prices since March, many investors are now wondering what is [...]
WITCHING WEEK MEANS VOLATILITY June 22, 2009 MARTIN SLANEYHEAD OF DERIVATIVES, GFT LAST Friday saw the quarterly event that is known in the markets as “quadruple witching”. It’s when we have the combined expiry of US index futures, index options, stock futures and stock options, all on the same day. The haunting moniker that is attached to this infamous occurrence suggests a [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 22, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended 2.6 per cent, or 111.88 points, lower at 4,234.05 yesterday as falling commodity prices pressured miners and oil majors. Bucking the trend, Anglo American was the biggest blue chip gainer, rising 4.6 per cent, after rival Xstrata said it wanted talks about a proposed merger of equals. Xstrata shed 6.7 per [...]
NEW YORK REPORT June 22, 2009 US STOCKS suffered their worst one-day loss in two months yesterday, dropping the S&P 500 back into negative territory for the year in a broad-based sell-off, as investors reconsidered the health of the economy. A sharp drop in US crude oil futures and other commodities hit shares of companies sensitive to those prices, including Exxon [...]
Virgin seals 1.3bn deal on birthday June 22, 2009 VIRGIN ATLANTIC splashed out on its 25th birthday yesterday with a $2.1bn (£1.28bn) deal, saying it would take delivery of 10 new Airbus A330-300 aircraft between now and 2012. The birthday goodies will allow the airline to expand while it waits for the delivery of Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner. The planes, each seating up to [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 22, 2009 BELLWAYUBS upgraded Bellway to “buy” after its trading update confirms a stabilising market. The broker has factored in write-downs in 2010 of £54m, and has new earnings per shares estimates of 15.27p in 2009 and 1.19p in 2010. GO-AHEAD GROUPGo-Ahead’s pre-close update has shown the company to be on track for Royal Bank of Scotland’s [...]
New interactive strategy pays off for NetPlay TV June 22, 2009 GAMING firm NetPlay TV yesterday said its losses had narrowed over the past year as its strategy of chasing the live gaming market started to pay off. NetPlay posted a £1m pre-tax loss for the year to December, compared with a £4.4m loss the previous year. Revenue soared by 118 per cent to £19.8m. “The [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs June 22, 2009 AvivaThe insurance group has appointed Jon Bunn as its new corporate affairs and communications director in Europe. Bunn will report to Andy Moffat, Aviva’s director of human resources in Europe. He was previously group public relations director at Prudential, and before that was director of media relations at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. He began his career [...]
