RBS M&A team to be spun off into boutique advisory unit April 30, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) business will be spun off into a boutique advisory firm run by some of its current staff, the bank’s chief executive for the Middle East and Africa said. “The M&A bankers plan to form a boutique business,” Simon Penney said in Dubai. “It’s not clear as to [...]
Aberdeen profit rises April 30, 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management saw its underlying pre-tax profit rise 14 percent in its first half year after a recovery in client risk appetite boosted assets under management and the funds house improved its fee margins. The UK fund manager said in a statement on Monday its pre-tax profit rose to £162.2m in the six months [...]
Barclays shareholders revolt with a quarter voting against executive pay deals April 27, 2012 Barclays chairman Marcus Agius (pictured) has apologised to shareholders for badly communicating its pay policy to them, and promised higher dividends in future in an attempt to take the sting out of a row over the bank’s remuneration policy. More than a quarter of shareholders voted against remuneration packages including a multi-million pound deal for [...]
Lloyds ends exclusive branch sale talks with Co-op April 27, 2012 Lloyds has ended its exclusive talks with The Co-op to sell 632 branches, allowing it to discuss a possible deal with rival suitor NBNK. Lloyds said the exclusivity period with Co-op ended on Friday, and it will have detailed talks with NBNK if it is satisfied the start-up can get regulatory clearance for a deal. [...]
Credit Suisse hit by shareholder anger over pay April 27, 2012 Almost a third of Credit Suisse shareholders rejected the bank’s pay plan on Friday and UK rival Barclays was braced for a similar revolt as investors vented their fury at executive pay deals and called for a bigger slice of profits. Credit Suisse said 31.6 pct of investors who voted opposed the bank’s remuneration plan, [...]
SUNTORY WHISKY AND CIGAR TASTING COMPETITION April 27, 2012 WIN A SUNTORY WHISKY AND CIGAR TASTING EVENING AT EIGHT CLUB, IN THE HEART OF THE CITY Suntory and Eight Club are offering five pairs of tickets to an exclusive whisky and cigar sampling evening conducted by Zoran Peric and Przemek Zaneap at the club’s Moorgate premises. Address: 1 Dysart Street, London EC2 2BX Tel: [...]
Samsung hits record $5.2bn profit thanks to Galaxy April 27, 2012 Samsung Electronics posted a record $5.2bn (£3.2bn) quarterly profit as it shifted over 20,000 Galaxy smartphones an hour in January-March, outselling Apple’s iPhone in a duel for the lucrative high end of the mobile industry. Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s South Korean group, whose $190bn market value is 11 times that of Japanese rival Sony, sold 93.5m [...]
Honda doubles quarterly profit April 27, 2012 Honda posted a more than doubling in quarterly operating profit, as production recovered from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year, and it forecast a 38 percent rise in global sales in the year ahead as it makes up for lost time. The company, which has lagged a recovery from the effects of disasters [...]
WPP raises full year forecast April 27, 2012 WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, nudged its full-year outlook higher after strong growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America got the group off to a solid start to 2012. Martin Sorrell’s firm said revenues on a like-for-like basis were up four percent in the first quarter and said it now expected full-year revenues to [...]
FTSE lifted by Shell and Barclays boost April 26, 2012 The FTSE 100 opened on the front foot today with gains fuelled by the energy sector after Shell reported encouraging fourth quarter profits. In banking Barclays announced a 22 per cent rise in first quarter earnings, which also helped to inject some momentum into the market. Investors shrugged off yesterday’s bleak news that the UK [...]