Xstrata’s Glencore directors not independent enough, says PIRC April 19, 2011 A SHAREHOLDER advisory group has recommended that its members vote against the re-election of three non-executive directors at Xstrata on the grounds that they are also nominees of Glencore. The Pensions Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) have said that Xstrata investors should oppose the re-appointment of Ivan Glasenberg, Aristotelis Mistakidis and Tor Peterson on the grounds [...]
Controversial UBS property gets go-ahead April 19, 2011 THE CITY of London awarded planning permission for UBS’s new UK headquarters at 5 Broadgate yesterday, though campaigners lobbying to give the existing block listed status could yet get the decision overturned. The new 700,000 square foot office block would be built by British Land and Blackstone, which own and manage the Broadgate estate near [...]
Vedanta raises stake in Cairn India as a deal inches closer April 19, 2011 OIL firm Vedanta edged closer to sealing its long-awaited purchase of Cairn’s Indian assets yesterday when it snapped up a 10.4 percent stake from Malaysian oil company Petronas for around $1.5bn (£919m). Cairn, which owns 62 per cent of Cairn India, agreed last August to sell up to 51 per cent of the firm, while [...]
Inflows surge at Hargreaves Lansdown April 19, 2011 HARGREAVES Lansdown shrugged off a dismal economic environment to raise funds under management to a record new level of £23.6bn in the past quarter, it said yesterday. A 14 per cent rise in its customer base has brought £1.16bn of net new assets to the stockbroker and wealth manager since December 2010, it said in [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW MUCH GROWTH IS STILL TO COME AT HARGREAVES? April 19, 2011 HALEY TAM | CITI We have a positive view of both the near-term and longer-term outlook at Hargreaves Lansdown. Customer numbers grew 14 per cent year-on-year: impressive versus tough comparatives. Its price to earnings multiple looks high versus peers, but we believe this reflects its excellent long-term structural growth story. JAMES HAMILTON | NUMIS We [...]
Actelion wins proxy support April 19, 2011 ACTELION won new support against rebel investor Elliott Advisors yesterday as voting agency IVOX and Swiss investor representative Ethos Foundation backed its board. IVOX and Ethos separately advised members to reject Elliott’s bid to change seven board members for six of its own choice, and vote for Actelion’s plan to add Jean-Pierre Garnier and Robert [...]
Hedgies hold record capital April 19, 2011 INVESTMENT in hedge funds reached a record high in the first-quarter of this year, US monitor firm Hedge Fund Research said yesterday. Global hedge funds held $2.02 trillion (£1.24 trillion) in capital by the end of March as assets under management rose by $102bn in the quarter. Funds saw $32bn of new inflows, the largest [...]
Wall St’s IBM and Yahoo see strong profits April 19, 2011 IBM has raised its profit forecast, as the tech giant and online search provider Yahoo posted quarterly results ahead of Wall Street projections. Some investors were disappointed that the company did not raise its full-year forecast by a wider margin. “The concern is they didn’t really guide a whole lot higher than they had originally [...]
Co-operative campaign sustaining momentum April 19, 2011 TWO months ago we looked at the impact of The Co-operative’s “good food within easy reach” advertising campaign that launched at the start of the year. We saw that it had had the effect of increasing perception scores for The Co-operative, taking it, almost overnight, from being below the average for the supermarket sector and [...]
RBS to revamp key unit April 19, 2011 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to revamp the management of its global banking & markets investment bank following deputy chief executive Marco Mazzucchelli’s decision to step down after a skiing accident. Mazzucchelli will remain with RBS but will spend more time on “client-facing” roles, according to a source. The reshuffle comes as a bumper [...]
