The Festival of Words: From Gyles Brandreth to Anthony Scaramucci – all you need to know about the Fleet Street Quarter festival
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 23, 2011 Little Chef The roadside chain has appointed Graham Sims as its new chairman. Sims is currently chief executive of Qunatilis, a non-executive board member at the UK Border Agency, and chairman of Kensington Consultancy Group. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years at BP, rising from operations manager for Portugal to UK retail managing [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 23, 2011 BG GROUP Nomura rates the integrated natural gas company as a “buy” with a target price of 1750p, ahead of third quarter results on 25 October that could bring downward market revisions on production guidance and earnings per share for 2012. The broker says it is more positive on Brazil after the appointment of Fabio [...]
Chinese manufacturing data starts a busy week October 23, 2011 THIS is set to be a busy week as market participants get to grips with a pile of economic data, US corporate earnings and the second act of the EU summit this Wednesday. CHINA MANUFACTURING PMI The first thing to confront traders this morning will be China’s HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI. This can be a [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD October 23, 2011 PROSPECTS for corporate earnings are dimmer in the coming quarters – even though reports so far this quarter have been relatively bright. Third-quarter reports among the big names have been reasonably solid, with Google, McDonald’s and others reporting strong results. But, unless there’s a turnaround in the outlook for the US economy, the next few [...]
Why so-called corporate social responsibility is not the answer to our problems October 23, 2011 WHAT’S your image of a socially responsible company? One that pledges not to pollute unnecessarily and donates a percentage of its profits to supporting vulnerable communities or habitats maybe? Better still, one that encourages its staff to volunteer their time to achieving this? Certainly one whose aims go beyond making a profit and are clear [...]
An insider’s take on what Mifid 2 means to the UK October 23, 2011 AT A TIME when growth in the UK economy is stalling, any proposal that aims to make it easier for businesses to raise capital should be welcomed. I hope that a single rulebook will improve the regulatory framework for investors but there are many elements of the Commission’s new Market in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid [...]
Angels will help show the City’s power to all October 23, 2011 AS THE geographic and financial heart of London, protests have been part of the Square Mile’s history ever since the settlement was first founded. So while demonstrators pitching their tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral may make for an eyesore – and pose considerable logistical and environmental challenges – it is important these alternative views are [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 23, 2011 Brain drain fears I read Friday’s article by Emma Boon on the merger of income tax and national insurance contributions (NIC) with interest, as a Chartered Tax Adviser and member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. I fear the global nature of social security contributions and its underlying contributory principle (contributions made by an individual [...]
Oil prices in a fierce tug of war October 23, 2011 DIFFERENT VIEWS ON WHETHER THE OIL PRICE IS GOING UP OR DOWN – CRAIG DRAKE IS UNSURE, LIOR ALKALAY IS BULLISH CRUDE prices fell last week on the assumption that the demise of Muammar Gaddafi would have the magical effect of freeing up oil supplies. Gaddafi’s welcome demise is hopefully a sign that Libya will [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD October 23, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● Tomorrow, BG and BP announce third-quarter results. The tide might just be turning for BP – its run of bad news is dissipating somewhat on the news of new North Sea investments. Royal Dutch Shell announces on Thursday. ● Reckitt Benckiser announces tomorrow. The world’s largest producer of household products, which is [...]