CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 5, 2010 Advent International The private equity firm has hired Kevin Beeston, the outgoing chairman of Serco Group, as an operating partner. Beeston will be tasked with helping Advent identify investment opportunities in the business services sector, and will also continue in his role as chairman of Advent’s portfolio company Domestic & General. He has worked for [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 5, 2010 EASYJET Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has given easyJet a “buy” recommendation ahead of the airline’s first quarter reports. Its bullishness, comes despite easyJet’s guidance that its profit before tax (PBT) will be at the top end of its £80m-£95m range. RBS expects a smaller PBT loss of £79m, sharply down year-on-year noting trading is strong. [...]
Why the euro is an economic absurdity May 5, 2010 I REALLY wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to meet Bertrand des Pallieres. This is the man, after all, who lightened the gloom in the middle of the financial crisis with the story that his £80,000 Maserati had been towed, but that he was “too busy” setting up his hedge fund, SPQR, to [...]
GOLDMAN EXECUTIVES KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY May 5, 2010 A RIFLE through the proxy statement issued by Goldman Sachs to its shareholders ahead of tomorrow’s general meeting throws the spotlight firmly back on compensation – and it seems the firm’s executives aren’t the only ones being scrutinised. That’s right – not only are investors being asked to give their thoughts on the pay packages [...]
UK should brace itself for austerity May 5, 2010 RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM OVER the next few months the British electorate will wake up to the reality of what it means to live in a country with a budget deficit of £163bn. The bleak truth is that few will be immune to the tax hikes and spending cuts that will inevitably hit over the next [...]
The gold price continues its march higher as risk falls off May 5, 2010 THE LAST two years have been good for gold. It’s been one of the only assets to march higher during the financial crisis, and is now getting a boost from the sovereign debt problems in Europe. Since Europe’s crisis, investors’ reactions have been to ditch risky assets in favour of perceived safe havens – gold [...]
Play the Greek chaos with limited downside May 5, 2010 SCENES of riots in Athens have filled our television screens and newspapers this week, heightening the sense of chaos that is gripping the country. Against this backdrop of unrest, even the €110bn bail-out package from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union agreed last weekend, has not been enough to calm the market’s fears [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS May 5, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LAUNCHES S&P 500 ETF Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm db x-trackers announced on Monday the launch of its new S&P 500 Index ETF, which is UCITS III compliant. The fund will be listed on various European and Asian stock exchanges from the middle of this month but institutional investors can trade the [...]
THE TIPSTER May 5, 2010 IT MIGHT be worth buying a small tranche of UK banking stocks. For the first time in over a year they have all drifted lower, not because of bad debt issues or sub prime worries, as was the case during the credit crunch, but because of a retraction in global risk sentiment. Spreadex offers a [...]
FTSE 100 hit by falling banks as fears over Eurozone debt contagion continue May 5, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares index shed 1.3 per cent yesterday laid low by weaker banks, as Eurozone debt contagion concerns intensified and Moody’s warned that Portugal’s debt could be downgraded. The FTSE 100 ended down 69.18 points at 5,341.93, a fourth consecutive session of falls, closing at a level not seen since 25 February. The FTSE [...]
