FIT IN THE CITY December 6, 2010 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT At the time of year when people are most aware of the havoc too much festive excess can wreak on the body, it’s important to separate fact from fiction. 1. Eating late at night makes you gain weight: Eating more than you’re burning off is what makes you gain weight – [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 6, 2010 HSBC Seymour Pierce rates HSBC a “buy” with a target price of 800p. Its buy case is built on the value of customer deposits and revenues from the circulation of global trade flows. It says the group has a competitive advantage in its international retail banking customer proposition and should benefit from trends in global [...]
Punch Taverns urged to make debt default December 6, 2010 PUNCH Taverns, the heavily indebted pubs group, has been urged by a City analyst to default on two securitised loans worth around £2.6bn. The loans, known as A and B, have been securitised against 5,300 pubs. They currently require increasing levels of financial support from the parent company, currently around £43m a year, and yesterday [...]
FSA recruits two new senior advisers to boost banking and risk departments December 6, 2010 CITY watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday appointed two new senior advisers to strengthen its investment banking and risk management expertise. Simon Prior-Palmer, who will advise on investment banking issues, has more than 30 years’ experience, including as managing director of Credit Suisse’s UK investment banking division. Robert Stansbury, who will advise on risk [...]
Sberbank set for record year December 6, 2010 SBERBANK, Russia’s biggest lender, yesterday beat forecasts for third-quarter net profit, helped by a bigger loan portfolio and lower provisions, putting it on course for a record year. “We expect fourth-quarter results to be no worse than in the third quarter,” chief financial officer Anton Karamzin said on a conference call yesterday, adding full-year net [...]
Ministers to demand closer working between Network Rail and train firms December 6, 2010 THE government is expected to order closer ties between train operators and Network Rail (NR) as part of a shake-up of the rail industry due to be unveiled this week. Ministers are understood to be planning to allow train companies and the track and signals operator to share financial risks and rewards from modernisation projects. [...]
Sarkozy signs $20bn in deals on Indian trade trip December 6, 2010 FRANCE’S President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he had clinched deals worth about $20bn (£12.6bn) with India, becoming the latest among a string of world leaders jostling for a share of Asia’s third biggest economy. The business deals, which spanned atomic energy, defence and civil aviation, comfortably bettered the $10bn US President Barack Obama secured on [...]
Saga nets Nestor in a sweetened £124m deal December 6, 2010 SAGA, which specialises in offering services to the over 50s in the UK, said yesterday it would buy Nestor Healthcare for about £124m. Nestor investors will receive 110p in cash for each share, a premium of about four per cent to the stock’s Friday close, the companies said. Under the terms, Nestor will pay a [...]
L’OREAL FAMILY ENDS FEUD December 6, 2010 FRANCE’S richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt (far left), and her daughter said yesterday they had settled a family feud that had led to tax and political funding investigations. Investment analysts said the agreement should end months of feuding that had on occasion raised questions over the long-term solidity of the Bettencourt family as core [...]
Cable: Bonus tax still on agenda December 5, 2010 VINCE Cable yesterday confirmed the government is considering resurrecting Labour’s 50 per cent bank bonus tax. George Osborne is coming under intense pressure from his coalition partners to send a tough message to the City, with Cable thought to be broadly in favour of reintroducing the tax. The business secretary told City A.M.: “The tax has [...]
