Ofwat head to work from London February 28, 2012 Water regulator Ofwat will let its next chief executive work from London after it failed to find a replacement for current boss Philip Fletcher who was willing to work from the company’s Birmingham base. Fletcher has already stayed at the company longer than planned after the initial search for his successor was abandoned last year [...]
AZ Electronics revenues rise February 28, 2012 Speciality chemical materials maker AZ Electronics said yesterday its annual revenues rose to $791.8m (£498.7m) from $682.1m the previous year, while a loss of $90.6m in 2010 became a profit of $125.6m this year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt 16 per cent to $261m. The firm paid a final dividend of 8.5 [...]
LightSquared chief exec resigns February 28, 2012 LightSquared, the telecom startup linked with Inmarsat, said that Sanjiv Ahuja resigned as chief executive and that backer Philip Falcone was named to the board. Ahuja will continue as chairman. The company declined to comment on why he was resigning as CEO. The move comes after LightSquared was denied US clearance to build a wireless [...]
Joblessness to near 3m, warns industry February 28, 2012 WEAK economic growth means unemployment will keep rising into 2013 – and an overhaul of jobs regulation will do little to help, according to the head of a leading employment industry body. Joblessness will rise from 2.67m currently to almost 3m, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) boss John Philpott will say in a [...]
US economic recovery looks weak as manufacturing orders take a hit February 28, 2012 US MANUFACTURING orders were weak and house prices kept tumbling last month, data out yesterday showed – though consumer confidence did rise in February. Durable goods orders fell four per cent in January, the Commerce Department said yesterday – the largest fall since January 2009 when the country was mired in recession. The orders rose [...]
Consumers remain cautious but show signs for optimism February 28, 2012 CONFIDENCE in the UK remained at very low levels this month, according to a survey published today. The GfK NOP index showed consumers feel slightly less negative about their financial situation over the past year, but are still worried about the general economic situation and are more concerned about making large purchases. The overall index [...]
House prices stabilised in January on falling supply February 28, 2012 HOUSE prices stabilised in January, the Land Registry said yesterday, as the market in London and the south east continued to rise much more strongly than the rest of England and Wales. Prices nationwide rose 1.1 per cent in the month, but remain down one per cent compared with January 2011. London’s prices were up [...]
Savers are not using full ISA allowances February 28, 2012 AS the deadline for this year’s ISA allowance approaches on 5 April, research claims that just half of Britons will contribute to the tax-free schemes, with the UK’s total ISA savings falling £182bn short of the combined allowance for the year. Mainly citing financial restraints such as paying off credit card bills, those who do plan [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 28, 2012 Houlihan Lokey Stephen Winningham has joined the international investment bank as managing director, and co-head of European corporate finance in the firm’s London office. Winningham was until recently head of major corporates at Lloyds Banking Group, overseeing the group’s coverage of UK and US investment grade corporate clients. Prior to this, he was global head [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 28, 2012 BANCO ESPIRITO SANTO Nomura has maintained its negative view on Portuguese banks, but sees Banco Espirito Santo as better placed versus its domestic peers against a possible Portuguese debt restructuring. The broker also says it faces a lower shortfall than others against capital requirements for 2012 issued by both the Bank of Portugal and the [...]
