City Moves for 4 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 3, 2015 SHEPHERD AND WEDDERBURN Katie Russell (pictured right) and Caroline Shand become partners at law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, as it bids to strengthen its position in employment and in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. Having trained at Shepherd and Wedderburn, Katie spent over six years working in the City before returning three years ago. [...]
Eurozone’s woes dragged over the Pond – New York Report December 3, 2015 Disappointment at Mario Draghi’s statement on Eurozone quantitative easing spread across the Atlantic yesterday as the S&P 500 suffered its biggest drop since late September. The European Central Bank move triggered a spike in the euro that caught investors by surprise, forcing them to shift positions that hit most asset classes. At the same time, [...]
The US buyback frenzy should worry investors everywhere December 3, 2015 Twenty-five years ago, when I first started in the City, I remember share buybacks being viewed as a sign of weakness, a policy of last resort once all other growth options had been exhausted. To be fair, it was already a more established trend in the US, corporates there having shifted from a predominantly “retain-and-invest” [...]
How David Cameron can expand London’s Heathrow Airport without breaking his third runway pledge December 3, 2015 As the week draws to a close, there is some consternation that the anticipated government ruling on airport expansion, with ministers due to decide whether or not to reject the Airports Commission’s recommendation for a third runway at Heathrow, has – for obvious reasons – been deferred. Many business leaders have voiced their frustration. In [...]
City beware: The Serious Fraud Office has got its mojo back December 3, 2015 There have been times when the performance of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has left many, especially those in the City, with the impression that it is not fit for the purpose for which it was designed. Critics have had no shortage of ammunition: the SFO’s history is littered with controversy, criticism and setbacks. The [...]
As Opec members gather in Vienna, has the group now lost its influence as the world’s oil cartel? December 3, 2015 Norbert Ruecker, head of commodities research at Julius Baer, says Yes All eyes are on today’s Opec meeting as oil markets have seemingly hit a pothole, with prices dropping more than 4 per cent this week. However, it seems that Opec’s influence as an oil cartel is waning, along with prices. Although the meeting is [...]
Morrisons drops out as pharma boosts FTSE 100 – London Report December 3, 2015 The FTSE 100 index closed up last night, buoyed by pharmaceuticals that were given a boost from a Morgan Stanley note supporting AstraZeneca. The UK’s top blue-chip index closed up 0.4 per cent, at 6,420.93 points. Shire led the pack higher, closing 2.35 per cent up at 4,745p per share, while GlaxoSmithKline ended the session [...]
Cantor Fitzgerald, Investec, UBS: Best of the Brokers for 03 December 2015 December 3, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Cantor Fitzgerald has remained a “seller” of Mothercare stock with a target price of 135p, despite the company more than doubling UK profits in the first half. It believes it will struggle to meet the lower end of management’s 2019 underlying pre-tax profit [...]
How to overcome the SME alt fi knowledge gap December 3, 2015 There has been much talk about the dearth of traditional bank loans to SMEs since the credit crunch, with the conventional narrative increasingly detached from reality as market confidence and conditions improve. But this jaded dialogue has disguised another issue: the rapid and seemingly unrelenting decline of the small business overdraft. In fact, a [...]
Like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, should you go public with your giving? How big donors should use specialist advisers to vet their charities December 3, 2015 With Mark Zuckerberg announcing that he will give 99 per cent of his Facebook shares (currently worth about $45bn) to worthy causes over the course of his lifetime, there is an expectation that other wealthy individuals will follow in his philanthropic footsteps. There can certainly be benefits for companies that openly back good causes. [...]
