Being the world’s local bank isn’t cheap May 9, 2011 ANOTHER bank, another case of soaring costs. Investors thought it was bad enough when HSBC announced its cost-to-income ratio had hit 58 per cent in the second half of 2010. Gulliver tried to assuage shareholder concern by stating his intention to reduce it to 52 per cent, although he did insist it was a long-term [...]
Decision on Murdoch Sky bid is delayed May 9, 2011 RUPERT Murdoch will have to wait a little longer to get his hands on the rest of BSkyB. The decision to clear News Corp’s impending £7.5bn bid for the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own has been delayed for at least two weeks while details of the concession to spin-off Sky [...]
Social network bosses in line for huge windfall May 9, 2011 LinkedIn’s management stand to make a paper fortune when the firm floats later this month. Co-founder and chairman Reid Hoffman will be the biggest winner. He will reduce his stake from 21.2 per cent to 20.1 per cent, meaning he could be $660m richer if LinkedIn hits the top end of its range. The California-born [...]
LinkedIn hopes to get $3.3bn valuation at IPO May 9, 2011 LinkedIn is hoping to cash in on white hot demand for technology and is aiming for a listing that would give it a market valuation of more than $3bn (£1.8bn). Management at the firm will become overnight multi-millionaires if the share sale is successful. LinkedIn yesterday unveiled its price range of between $32 to $35 [...]
Truce called on National Express rejig May 9, 2011 NATIONAL Express reached a compromise with its activist investor Elliott Advisors yesterday to end its calls for an overhaul of the transport group. The truce prevents Elliott from publicly calling for change at the group for a year, while one of Elliott’s three proposed directors, Chris Muntwyler, will join the National Express board alongside two [...]
Commodities bounce back May 9, 2011 COMMODITY prices bounced back with a vengeance yesterday following last week’s crash with Brent crude oil surging more than $6.77 a barrel in its second largest one-day gain ever. The rebound, which saw Brent crude for June close 6.2 per cent higher at $115.90 a barrel, erased almost a third of last week’s losses. Oil’s [...]
RBS swoops on market-making head at Altium May 9, 2011 THE PARTLY government-owned bank RBS has poached Craig Leppard, head of market-making at Altium Securities, offering him a big uplift in salary to change jobs. Leppard, who joined Altium from Numis Securities, will head up a team at RBS trading in FTSE 250 stocks. His move, which was announced yesterday to Altium staff, will further [...]
Scottish Conservative leader resigns after election disaster May 9, 2011 ANNABEL Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservative party, yesterday announced her resignation from the party following the Tories’ worst ever election result in Scotland. Goldie was the last of the main opposition leaders to step down after last week’s landslide victory for the SNP, with her Labour and Liberal Democrat counterparts Iain Gray and Tavish [...]
Bond holders fear new debt forms May 9, 2011 BOND investors are worried about the surge in banks issuing secured funding such as covered bonds, which push other securities down the creditor pecking order, a survey by ratings agency Fitch has found. Almost 90 per cent of managers responsible for an estimated £2.4 trillion of fixed income assets are concerned that their existing debt [...]
WOULD YOU SUPPORT SCOTLAND’S SEPARATION FROM THE UK? May 9, 2011 JACQUELINE CANSELLA | LLOYD’S OF LONDON “Yes, providing they don’t come back to us if it fails. They also need to stop Scottish MPs coming here. It’s not right they get the benefits of the UK but we don’t get the benefits they have.” JASON WARD | MARKETRESEARCH.COM “Yes. They’ve wanted to stand on their [...]
