GKN’s driver through the recession retires March 24, 2011 GKN’s chief executive Sir Kevin Smith is to retire at the end of the year, after safely steering the car parts-maker through an industry-wide crash. Sir Kevin, aged 56, led the firm through a massive cost-cutting drive in the wake of the recession, cutting nearly 6,000 jobs to stem annual losses that hit £130m in [...]
Dividend hike as Resolution looks at deals March 24, 2011 BRITISH insurance consolidator Resolution hiked its dividend more than expected, as it focuses more on squeezing cash from its businesses, and said it was still mulling deals outside the UK. Resolution, created to buy underperforming British life insurers and merge them into a more profitable whole, yesterday raised its final payout for 2010 by 15 [...]
Popular and Allianz in link up March 24, 2011 BANCO Popular, Spain’s third-largest listed bank, and German insurer Allianz are creating a joint insurance company to manage over €11bn (£9.68bn) in assets. Popular will book capital gains of €490m from the deal, which a spokesman said yesterday will be used to strengthen its balance sheet. Spanish banks have been under close scrutiny on concerns [...]
Credit Suisse’s Dougan gets £8.67m in 2010 March 24, 2011 CREDIT Suisse boss Brady Dougan took $14m (£8.67m) in pay in 2010, despite the bank’s shares losing a quarter of their value. Dougan’s fixed pay doubled to SwFr2.5m (£1.7m) and was topped by a SwFr10.2m bonus, making him one of the world’s highest-paid bankers for the second year. But Dougan’s total pay of SwFr12.8m was [...]
Evolution says it won’t make a bid for Panmure March 24, 2011 BRITISH investment bank Evolution Group, which last year decided against making a formal bid for rival Panmure Gordon, said the thought of making a new attempt on Panumre was not on its mind. In the company’s first public statement on the matter since the original bid fell through, chief executive Alex Snow said: “Panmure is [...]
CWW tanks after warning on its profits March 24, 2011 CABLE & Wireless Worldwide’s (CWW) shares plummeted more than 14 per cent to 54.2p yesterday after shocking the market with a profit warning. It downgraded its expectations for core earnings next year on weaker-than-expected demand for voice services and anticipated lower prices for data services. It said it does not expect to increase its Ebitda [...]
BT’s High Court action against DEA to close March 24, 2011 BT and TalkTalk’s High Court action against the Digital Economy Act (DEA) will end today, with a judge expected to rule on whether it is unfair in six weeks time. The firms are arguing that the legislation is unfair and was rushed through parliament. A judge has been hearing submissions from relevant parties over the [...]
M&C Saatchi sees profits leap as it grows abroad March 24, 2011 M&C Saatchi yesterday reported a 25 per cent increase in full-year profits as it opened its first agency in Russia. The advertising giant said it will open a Moscow office, taking the number of countries it operates in to 19. The Russian move is a joint venture with EMCG, one of Russia’s leading independent agencies. [...]
Retailers and mining stocks power rebound in the FTSE March 24, 2011 RETAILERS were among the top performers in a rally in Britain’s top share index yesterday that took the FTSE 100 back to levels last seen just before the earthquake in Japan. Results from Kingfisher and Next showed how some retailers can overcome tough trading conditions in the UK. Kingfisher, which hiked its dividend and reported [...]
Wall St advances on earnings hopes March 24, 2011 US stocks advanced yesterday as optimism about upcoming earnings and investor buying of the quarter’s top performers lifted the S&P 500 above a key technical level. The S&P 500 broke above its 50-day moving average at 1,305, leading investors to believe the market may have absorbed the worst of the pullback due to Japan’s earthquake [...]
