Blackstone rips past estimates as floats deliver January 30, 2014 WALL Street titan Blackstone shot the lights out with its quarterly results yesterday, shattering analysts’ profit expectations after prospering from a bout of multi-billion deals including the UK float of Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments. The group, which offers an array of private equity and real estate funds for the world’s biggest investors, said pre-tax profits [...]
Inside Track: Pay controversy continues to unsettle European banks January 30, 2014 THERE is a pattern emerging as the bonus season rolls on which threatens the competitiveness of European investment banks, which are already losing their grip on the market to their rivals across the Atlantic. Banks such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, are coming out of the recession sooner than their counterparts. They [...]
Woodford’s impending exit prompts £3bn exodus of cash January 30, 2014 INVESTORS yanked nearly £3bn from fund manager Neil Woodford last quarter – with further outflows predicted ahead of his exit from his firm Invesco Perpetual in May. Invesco, the listed US parent of Invesco Perpetual, yesterday reported that 10 per cent of cash in Woodford’s flagship income funds was pulled by clients between October and [...]
3i sambas out of Brazil market in concerns over economic growth January 30, 2014 THE UK’S oldest private equity group has quit Brazil due to the Latin American country’s deteriorating economic promise. 3i Group, formed in 1945, said it will stop investing in the country and cease raising a Brazilian-focused fund due to slowing economic growth. Its Sao Paulo office, which contains eight staff, is also set to close. [...]
Diageo sales hit after emerging markets slow January 30, 2014 DIAGEO shares slid nearly five per cent yesterday after China’s crackdown on gifting and weak beer sales in Nigeria led to lower than expected sales. The Chinese government’s anti-extravagance measures caused sales of its white spirits brand Shui Jing Fang to drop by 66 per cent as a squeeze on the baiju market prompted rival [...]
Bottom Line: Stick to spirits and ditch the beer hangover January 30, 2014 BARELY a year into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push to crack down on bribery and corruption, and the effects are already being felt round the world. Earlier this month the country’s government hailed a 13.3 per cent increase in the number of people punished under the new regime last year, but Diageo’s Chinese woes imply [...]
Investors back BSkyB despite drop in profits January 30, 2014 INVESTORS remained confident in BSkyB yesterday, despite a 18 per cent drop in half year profits, as Britain’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster added over 100,000 new customers during its second quarter. Shares in Sky closed up 4.4 per cent on the results, which included news of a new deal with HBO to secure exclusive access to [...]
Former Barclays executive Ricci backs new London exchange January 30, 2014 FORMER Barclays investment banking supremo Rich Ricci has seeded a new equity trading exchange based in London. Ricci, who worked alongside former chief executive Bob Diamond to turn Barclays into one of the world’s top investment banks, has invested in Aquis Exchange, which launched in London last year. Ricci, who holds a small stake in [...]
HS2 report will remain secret after rare veto January 30, 2014 THE GOVERNMENT has refused to publish a critical internal report on the High Speed 2 project, in a rare veto of freedom of information rules. The paper from 2011, written by the government’s Major Projects Authority, is thought to have given HS2 an amber/red rating, which means “urgent action is needed” to fix the project. Transport [...]
Facebook now valued at $150bn January 30, 2014 FACEBOOK’S shares hit an all-time high yesterday of $61.03 (£37) following the social networks bumper results on Wednesday, a jump of more than 60 per cent since its initial public offering in May 2012 and valuing the firm at over $150bn. At least 32 brokerages raised their price targets on Facebook’s shares following the fourth [...]
