Ex-Olympus chief slams shareholders December 15, 2011 THE WHISTLEBLOWER in Japan’s Olympus scandal, ex-chief executive Michael Woodford, blasted Japanese shareholders yesterday for failing to stand up for him, amid signs that domestic and foreign investors are split over his campaign to be reinstated. Woodford, an Englishman who was a rare foreign CEO in Japan, went public with his concerns over crooked accounting [...]
Market gains on strong factory data December 15, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as signs of strength in the economy and higher-than-expected profit at FedEx outweighed warnings about Europe. The US equity market continued its familiar back-and-forth rotation between optimism about the US economy and fears Europe’s debt crisis could spark a global recession. Lately the fear trade has been winning, but FedEx boosted [...]
Old Mutual leads modest FTSE rally December 15, 2011 BRITAIN’S blue-chip index staged a modest rebound in thin volumes yesterday, with battered insurers and oil stocks boosted by some short-covering ahead of today’s futures and options expiries. Life insurers regained most of the ground lost the previous day, rising 2.9 per cent, with Old Mutual jumping 11.4 per cent on hopes the planned $3.2bn [...]
Don’t lock the world out of London: New rules send the City back to the dark ages December 15, 2011 THERE is a well-used phrase in management, that it is better to make a wrong decision than none at all. The exception must be Mark Makepeace, chief executive of the FTSE Group, who this week ruled all listings in London from next month must have a 25 per cent free float In enforcing this, he [...]
Nokia’s Lumia has made me see it in a new light December 15, 2011 I HAVEN’T always been Nokia’s biggest fan. Earlier this year I might have said its tie-up with Microsoft was not so much a case of rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic as sending a diving team to the bottom of the ocean to drape bunting over its rusting shell. I might have said it was duller [...]
Europe’s responsibility deficit is out of control December 15, 2011 DAVID Cameron spoke of ending a “responsibility deficit” yesterday. He wasn’t talking about the Eurozone, but he could have been. Its steadily-compounding financial disaster is an epic tale of failed responsibility, the consequence of spending without thought to the consequences. And yet lazy references to “PIIGS”, while they point rightly to the dysfunctional choices made [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 15, 2011 All hail shale I wholeheartedly agree with Matt Ridley [In America, the shale gas revolution is creating jobs and growth, yesterday]. The country would be much richer for letting the shale gas industry compete on a level playing field with subsidised green energy. Crucially, doing so would spark much-needed industry in the north-west. Many people [...]
City can bounce back after their first defeat December 15, 2011 IT has been a tough couple of weeks for Manchester City after being dumped out of the Champions League by Napoli and then tasting defeat for the first time in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Monday night. They didn’t perform badly in either game, though, and Roberto Mancini will be desperate for his [...]
Act Of Kalanisi too big at 16/1 for the in-form Newland yard December 15, 2011 CHAMPION trainer Paul Nicholls sends a powerful team to Ascot tomorrow headed up by Big Buck’s who looks impossible to oppose in the Lough Derg Long Walk Hurdle (2.30pm). The eight-year-old is looking for his 14th consecutive win, but we’re not going to get rich backing him at 1/4. Nicholls also saddles the well-fancied Prospect [...]
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA December 15, 2011 OAKLEY STREET, CHELSEA Price: £4.2m A five bedroom, three bathroom townhouse in Chelsea. This period property features a double reception room, open plan kitchen/dining area with wine cellar, sitting room, master bedroom with en-suite, four additional bedrooms, a study, family shower room and patio garden to the rear. Contact Wilfords London on 0207 361 0400 [...]
