Fitch affirms France’s AAA rating December 14, 2012 Fitch Ratings this morning affirmed France’s AAA rating, although it maintained its negative outlook. Fitch is the only ratings agency to maintain its AAA rating on the Eurozone’s second-largest economy. While the agency said that the prized rating was underpinned by France’s “wealthy and diversified economy”, Fitch did highlight the “material” risks arising from the [...]
G4S snaps up South African cash solutions group December 14, 2012 Security firm G4S said this morning it would acquire South African company Deposita for £8.2m. The London-listed firm will acquire an 87 per cent stake in the retail cash solutions company for ZAR114m (£8.2m) post debt restructuring. The acquisition of Deposita, which was founded in 2004, will “significantly” strengthen G4S’s position in the South African [...]
Downgrade threat to UK debt rating December 13, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne attempted to play down the importance of the UK government’s credit rating yesterday, just hours before Standard & Poor’s became the third and final major agency to put the country on a negative outlook. S&P’s verdict came at the end of a day that had seen Osborne tell MPs he is open [...]
Crispin Odey boosts Ashley’s hopes of a £39m bonus pot December 13, 2012 CRISPIN ODEY, the influential hedge fund tycoon and Sports Direct investor, said yesterday he was fully in favour of the retailer reintroducing a bonus scheme that could hand its founder Mike Ashley a £39m windfall. Odey Asset Management is Sports Direct’s second largest shareholder after Ashley and holds a 6.58 per cent stake in the [...]
Euro leaders reach late night bank union deal December 13, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) will monitor the largest Eurozone banks, the EU’s leaders announced yesterday, in a compromise which represents a major step towards a new banking union for the currency area. And after late-night meetings, Britain secured voting rights which it hopes will safeguard its position as a major centre for Eurozone finance. [...]
Ashley’s naked ambition could help him win Sports Direct vote December 13, 2012 A man prepared to offend thousands of hardened Geordie football fans by renaming their place of worship the Sport Direct Arena (now plain old St James’s Park again) won’t be too bothered about entering into a renewed battle with City institutions over executive pay. But more than a handful of other executives will be interested [...]
What the other papers say this Morning December 13, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Fed begins bank stress tests The US Federal Reserve is carrying out its first ever system-wide stress test of bank liquidity in a move that could force banks to change their funding sources. Known internally as “C-Lar” – the liquidity version of the Fed’s annual “comprehensive capital analysis and review” – the examination [...]
Bank bonus cap rule edges closer December 13, 2012 MEPs yesterday issued a draft proposal to cap bankers’ bonuses. They want to ban banks from paying bonuses of more than an employee’s basic salary and if a supermajority of shareholders disagree, that cap can be raised to two-times the salary. The measure will be voted on in the New Year, before passing to the [...]
Deutsche charges to hit profits December 13, 2012 Deutsche Bank said yesterday that its radical restructuring plan would hit fourth-quarter profits “significantly” as the bank gets on with cleaning up its balance sheet, but there was no cause for investors to be alarmed. “This is not seen as a profit warning, this is a guidance … to make you aware that we have [...]
Nasdaq cancels some trades December 13, 2012 Stock exchange operator Nasdaq OMX is cancelling a series of premarket trades that resulted in wild price swings in a number of stocks yesterday, including Citigroup and Hewlett-Packard, the exchange said. Nasdaq said in a statement it is cancelling trades in nine stocks in which trades occurred at prices that marked a swing of 10 [...]
