ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF ASTRAZENECA’S RESULTS? January 27, 2011 MIKE MITCHELL | SEYMOUR PIERCE Revenues are ahead of our expectations, as ex-US revenue growth offset generic erosion, but were flat over the year. We believe growth will be strongly correlated with new product launches and it cannot afford any more late-stage difficulties. We see any share price strengthening as a chance to ‘reduce’ holdings. [...]
Cameron uses Davos stage to defend UK cuts January 27, 2011 DAVID Cameron will today take to the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a defiant message for those insisting the government needs to slow its cuts in light of a fourth-quarter shrinkage of the economy last year. “Those who argue that dealing with our deficit and promoting growth are somehow alternatives are [...]
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR BETTER GENDER DIVERSITY IS CLEAR January 27, 2011 CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, AVIVA THIS year’s World Economic Forum has thrown down a gauntlet to its delegates. The organisers have asked that women make up at least 20 per cent of any corporate team attending debates in Davos. Quotas have always been controversial. As a member of the steering group of Lord Davies’ enquiry into [...]
Trichet and Merkel back euro January 27, 2011 EUROZONE Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday insisted that the euro was not in crisis. Speaking at Davos’ Open Forum, a venue open to the public alongside the World Economic Forum, Trichet insisted that the ECB had a track record of success shown by the fact that average inflation during the period of its [...]
Goldman’s Cohn’s warning makes hedge funds furious January 27, 2011 COMMENTS made by Goldman chief operating officer Gary Cohn in Davos this week have sparked fury among hedge fund investors, who form a large part of Goldman’s client base. Cohn sounded a warning about banking regulation on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum, saying that over-regulation could push dangerous practices into “the shadow banking system”. [...]
Bankers urged to address poverty January 27, 2011 POVERTY and unemployment reared their heads at the World Economic Forum yesterday, with speakers urging the elite audience to bridge a growing gap between booming multinationals and the jobless poor. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the global crisis had led to an “unsustainable” race to the bottom in labour standards in developed nations. Maurice [...]
Diary January 27, 2011 WALKING BOOTS ARE DE RIGEUR A score for good sense at the FT/HSBC breakfast event: six men were settled into white armchairs onstage for a panel debate yesterday, but only one man’s sensibly clad feet stood out. Gao Xiqing, president of China’s sovereign wealth fund, shunned the standard suede or polished leather business shoe. Not [...]
Geithner backs bankers on push for regulation clarity January 27, 2011 THE heads of the world’s biggest financial players met in Davos yesterday to try to mend their relationship with regulators who are crafting tougher rules to prevent another financial crisis. At a meeting on the fringes of the World Economic Forum, the bankers including the heads of JP Morgan Chase, UBS, Credit Suisse and Barclays, discussed [...]
Australia flood costs to soar January 27, 2011 LOSSES from the floods devastating Australia to the Lloyd’s of London market may run to hundreds of millions of Australian dollars, its chairman Lord Levene said yesterday. Asked alongside Davos meetings to estimate the cost of the disaster, Levene said it could leave Lloyd’s underwriters with net losses, but said Lloyd’s’ total bill would not [...]
Davos explosion work of activists January 27, 2011 LEFT-WING activists claimed responsibility for a small explosion yesterday that broke windows at a hotel in Davos, close to where top executives were meeting, but nobody was hurt. “A huge boom went off. The whole ceiling lifted,” said Devin Wenig, chief executive of Thomson Reuters’ Markets division. The main programme at the World Economic Forum [...]
