Fiat net profit beats forecast as Europe lags April 26, 2012 ITALIAN car maker Fiat, which holds a majority stake in Chrysler, said yesterday that revenue from mass market car sales in Europe fell 13.1 per cent in the first quarter, a shortfall that was more than compensated for by booming car sales in the US. Its group trading profit including Chrysler was €866m (£707m), better [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2012 Avoca Capital The European credit investment manager has appointed Stephen Holland as director of sales and marketing. Holland will spearhead Avoca’s growth in North America. Most recently he was business development manager for Abbey Capital, a Dublin-based hedge fund. He has also served as head of sales for Bank of Ireland Asset Management. BlackRock The [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 26, 2012 ITV Liberum reiterates its “buy” advice on the media group, increasing its target from 135p to 140p. The brokers say ITV Family advertising could grow by six per cent for the year, outperforming the market. And a summer of sport will be beneficial to ITV – even though it will not show the Olympics. VIRGIN [...]
Bumper results lift FTSE higher April 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares pushed higher yesterday, notching up a third session of gains as investors digested a big bag of blue chip results, with advances in oil majors outweighing a heavy fall in drugs firm AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 index closed up 29.83 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,748.72 after a choppy session, continuing [...]
Housing data boosts stocks April 26, 2012 US stocks rose for a third day yesterday after upbeat housing data and stronger-than-expected results from companies, including Citrix Systems, overshadowed some high-profile earnings misses. Pending home sales rose to nearly a two-year high in March, sending the Philadelphia Stock Exchange index of housing-related shares up three per cent. Shares of homebuilder Lennar climbed 5.7 [...]
We must campaign with one voice to end financial illiteracy in the UK April 26, 2012 WE NO LONGER live in a world where our financial futures are taken care of by either the government or our employers. Today, we are increasingly expected to take personal responsibility for planning for the long term. If we are to make the right decisions, we need to understand the language of economics, statistics and [...]
Back to the future: Private enterprise has got us racing into space again April 26, 2012 IT TOOK less than one human lifespan, just 66 years, for humankind to go from our first powered flight to landing a man on the moon. But in the last decade we’ve given up on supersonic flight and grounded the space shuttle forever. There are no jetpacks zipping across the City skyline. Whatever happened to [...]
Tackling football too hard over tax nets an own goal April 26, 2012 IT SEEMS that barely a week goes by at present without a dispute between Premier League football and HMRC. High-profile stories have included HMRC sending detailed questionnaires to all Premier League clubs on employment tax compliance, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United settling outstanding image-rights liabilities, the ongoing football creditor case at the High Court [...]
Today Barclays puts its pay report before investors: Are you intending to support it? April 26, 2012 YES Guy Jubb We are pleased that our key concerns over last year’s executive bonuses have been addressed. The decisions demonstrate that robust stewardship engagement by long-term institutional investors does work, especially when it is undertaken in a “comply or explain” governance environment. The result is a much better alignment with pay for performance than [...]
RAPID responses April 26, 2012 Bonus control Andrew Haldane, a Bank of England official, has suggested that bonus deferral and claw-back periods should be extended to 10 years or more for bank executives. While we sympathise with the view that regulation is not sufficient, this proposal is unworkable and counterproductive. Who would work on that basis? 10 years is a [...]
