Antofagasta to pay $1bn extra to shareholders March 8, 2011 CHILE-FOCUSED miner Antofagasta revealed a huge special dividend of almost $1bn (£619m) yesterday to share last year’s rewards from booming copper prices and increased production. The firm said pre-tax profit rose 79 per cent to $2.5bn, boosted by an 18 per cent rise in copper production. However, the results missed some forecasts once one-off gains [...]
Tullett blames staff exodus for profit fall March 8, 2011 INTER-DEALER broker Tullett Prebon blamed a “raid” on its US employees by rival BGC Partners for an 11 per cent drop in its full-year pre-tax profit yesterday. Tullett Prebon, the world’s second-largest broking intermediary, said pre-tax profit fell to £139.7m from £157.0m in 2009 while earnings per share fell to 46.4p from 49.2p the previous [...]
British consumers like the iPad 2 but think it is pricey March 8, 2011 LAST Wednesday Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, a revised design for the tablet that will become available in the US next week and in 25 other countries a fortnight later. APPLE CREATES BUZZ IN UK The announcement led to an immediate rise in buzz score in the UK; from +20 on the day of [...]
Hedge funds set to grow March 8, 2011 HEDGE fund investors expect a bumper 2011 with assets likely to reach an all-time high of $2.25 trillion (£1.38 trillion), a survey yesterday found. Net inflows to funds globally are expected to almost quadruple in 2011 to $210bn from $55bn in 2010, the Deutsche Bank Alternative Investment Survey found. The industry managed assets of $1.92 [...]
Man Group wins €1.2bn mandate March 8, 2011 MAN Group has won a mandate to run €1.2bn (£1bn) for German pension fund BVK, as the world’s biggest listed hedge fund firm tries to woo clients after bleeding assets during the crisis. The mandate, first mentioned in Man’s January trading statement without identifying the client, will see Germany’s largest public pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer [...]
Sovereign funds surge 11pc in 2010 March 8, 2011 ASSETS in sovereign wealth funds saw a second year of double-digit growth in 2010, new research showed yesterday. Sovereign wealth funds, held mainly in the Middle East, North African and Asian (MENA) states, grew 11 per cent to $3.98 trillion (£2.45 trillion) at the start of 2011 from $3.59 trillion in 2010. But the investment [...]
Managed account deal is vote of confidence in fund manager March 8, 2011 AS votes of confidence go, this is pretty resounding. The fact that Germany’s largest public pension fund – a byword for caution and solidity – has given Man Group a managed account mandate worth €1.2bn is good for the alternative fund manager’s image. No wonder it is shouting about it. The mandate will provide a [...]
BUSINESS AS USUAL AS BORIS BIKES TO CANNES March 8, 2011 IF you happened to be in Cannes yesterday afternoon, you would have been treated to the sight of a middle-aged, straw-haired man riding a Boris Bike into the centre of town. On closer inspection, you would have spotted that that figure was, in fact, the London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was livening up the MIPIM [...]
Inflation in British stores still growing March 8, 2011 PRICES in British shops rose again in February, despite a slowdown in food price inflation, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed today. Overall prices grew 0.7 per cent compared to January, when they increased by 0.6 per cent on December. Inflation in February rose to an annualised rate of 2.7 per cent, up from 2.5 [...]
VIETNAM LOOKS TO HALT?DOLLARISATION March 8, 2011 VIETNAM undertook measures to save its currency, the dong, from further depreciation yesterday, raising both its refinancing rate and discount rate to 12 per cent, in an attempt to curb 12.3 per cent inflation. Authorities may also deploy fiscal tightening in a bid to rescue the dong and prevent further “dollarisation” (substitution by US dollars).
