Winterflood set to take on the FSA July 18, 2008 Winterflood Securities, the City’s largest small and mid cap stockbroker, is challenging a £4m fine from the Financial Services Authority for market abuse. It is the biggest fine ever imposed on a City firm for market abuse. Winterflood, which has filed an appeal with the independent Financial Services and Markets Tribunal, said it would vigorously [...]
Dawnay firms call in receivers July 18, 2008 Two property companies held by Dawnay Day, the financial services and property conglomerate owned by Guy Nagger and Peter Klimt, have been placed into receivership. It comes as Dawnay Day told its staff this week that redundancies were likely to be made. A spokesman said while job losses are not certain advice has been given [...]
Taxpayers to face £4bn bill for Equitable July 18, 2008 Eight years after the near collapse of Equitable Life and four years after the Parliamentary Ombudsman began an investigation into the insurer, there was finally some hope for the company’s million or so policyholders yesterday. Ann Abraham, the parliamentary ombudsman who led the exhaustive investigation, found the government should apologise to policyholders – some of [...]
HBOS backers face £300m losses on rights issue flop July 18, 2008 HBOS’s £4bn cash-call is today expected to be shunned by shareholders – making it one of the biggest ever failed rights issues. Shares in the bank staged a rally yesterday, rising 5 per cent to 268.25p – but despite clawing back some of the ground lost in recent days the stock still closed below the [...]
Council wage strike tests Brown’s steel July 17, 2008 Hundreds of thousands of local government workers went on strike yesterday in a dispute over pay that paralysed services from education to rubbish collection. The pay dispute is a test of the government’s nerve at a time when it is languishing far behind the Conservatives in the polls and trying to fight soaring inflation by [...]
LandSecs sales hit by crunch July 17, 2008 Land Securities, the UK’s largest developer, said yesterday lettings and asset sales are running at a slower rate than last year, reflecting the on going gloom in the property market. Chief executive Francis Salway hinted that the slump could last for at least another 12 months, as occupiers struggle to cope with the downturn in [...]
Counting on financials to outperform July 17, 2008 We are positive on the financials sector overall – valuations have dropped so far that we expect them to outperform in the long run. But we divide general financials into four different subcategories, and our views on each are quite different. The first is alternative investments. By far the biggest is Man Group – accounting [...]
Nervous fund managers flee equities July 17, 2008 Fund managers are stockpiling cash as the volatile market conditions force them to flee equities, according to a new report. The survey of 191 fund managers, commissioned by investment bank Merrill Lynch, found that 53 per cent were now overweight in cash with 40 per cent underweight equities as investors’ risk appetite neared record lows [...]
Wall Street giants hit by SEC probe into short-selling July 17, 2008 American regulators have subpoenaed top investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers shares. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also approached more than 50 hedge funds to obtain trading and communications data. The inquiry aims [...]
Mutuality stages a comeback as Co-op buys Somerfield for £1.56bn July 17, 2008 Three months ago Co-operative Group chief executive Peter Marks unveiled a bold three-year plan to double the group’s profits. The fortunes of the mutual store group were flagging, with 2007 profits down almost 50 per cent and the group offering little competition to the main supermarket chains. Yesterday, the first phase of Marks’ plan to [...]
