Market calm on bank tests July 26, 2010 EUROPEAN lenders’ credit default swap (CDS) spreads narrowed and the euro was steady yesterday as the market gave a mild thumbs-up to the region’s bank stress test results. The cost of insuring against default on debt issued by key banks fell after the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) said just seven of 91 institutions [...]
German lenders release PIIGS stats but Deutsche Bank is quiet July 26, 2010 GERMAN banks appeared to cave in to pressure from European Union regulators late yesterday as they joined EU peers to reveal the extent of their exposure to heavily indebted Eurozone nations. The banks — Hypo Real Estate, Landesbank Berlin and cooperative banks DZ Bank and WGZ Bank — joined Postbank to reveal their sovereign debt [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAS THE CITY STARTED TO QUIETEN DOWN IN THE SUMMER? July 26, 2010 RACHEL NEWTON | BREWIN DOLPHIN “I think people have become more optimistic as the weather has improved. But until the government’s spending review comes out in the autumn there’s still going to be a lot of uncertainty in the City. In the public sector too, people still seem anxious about spending cuts.” RUSSELL LAMB | [...]
UKFI slashes director pay by 5 per cent July 26, 2010 DIRECTORS at UKFI, the body set up to manage the taxpayers’ stakes in the banks, have agreed to take a voluntary five per cent pay cut, in a nod to the government’s public sector austerity drive. The pay cut for UKFI’s seven board members amounts to a saving of over £20,000 for the Treasury. Robin [...]
Ocado fails to recoup early loss in value July 26, 2010 NEWLY floated Ocado failed to recoup the losses it made in last week’s unofficial, grey market trading, yesterday closing 16p shy of the 180p it floated at just over a week ago. On its first full day of official trading Ocado’s shares started as low as 159.25p before finishing up three per cent at 164p. [...]
Institute of Directors hits out at public interest test for takeovers July 26, 2010 THE Institute of Directors (IoD) has slammed the idea of a public interest test for takeovers which is being considered by the Takeover Panel. The IoD instead argued in favour of a requirement that all bids for major UK-listed companies should be conditional on achieving the support of the shareholders of the acquiring company, regardless [...]
FSA to probe Connaught as debt woes hit July 26, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority has launched a probe into house maintenance firm Connaught. The City watchdog is investigating whether Connaught fully disclosed its dire financial condition to investors ahead of last month’s shock profits warning. The FSA’s move comes as Connaught lost almost 70 per cent of its share value yesterday as it admitted it [...]
ANALYST VIEWS:WHAT DOES TODAY’S STATEMENT MEAN FOR CONNAUGHT? July 26, 2010 DAVID JONES | IG INDEX “Companies have been battered in the past following profit warnings, and there’s always the possibility that they will pull through. It’s hard to see the banks offering to lend Connaught more in the current climate, so its best bet is probably for a large investor to come along and give [...]
GSK explores options with rival Genzyme July 26, 2010 SHARES in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) fell yesterday on news that the pharmaceutical major made an approach for biotech group Genzyme. GSK made the “causal approach” to wards the US based group over the weekend asking to be kept in mind if Genzyme intended to put itself up for sale. Although no discussions have taken place, chief [...]
Lion snaps up French food producer Picard for £1.3bn July 26, 2010 BC PARTNERS has agreed to sell French frozen-food firm Picard Surgeles to rival Lion Capital, highlighting the keen appetite of private equity firms to strike deals in the recession-resilient food industry. The sale of Picard, which has thrived by persuading France’s fastidious consumers that convenience food can be high-quality, is the country’s biggest leveraged buyout [...]
