ANZ posts 20pc growth in profits April 28, 2010 Australia and New Zealand Banking, Australia’s fourth-largest lender, posted a 20 per cent rise in core half-year profit yesterday, driven by a sharp fall in bad-debt charges. ANZ posted a profit before one-off items of A$2.3bn (£1.4bn), up from A$1.9bn a year earlier, and raised its interim dividend by 13 per cent to 52 cents [...]
Spain: don’t lump us along with Greece April 28, 2010 SPAIN’S finance minister Elena Salgado insisted her country’s economic situation bore little similarity to the problems in Greece, just hours before Standard & Poor’s (S&P) yesterday issued an audacious downgrade on Spain’s sovereign credit rating. Addressing the Spanish parliament, Salgado said Spain’s economic data has been showing an “improvement” in recent weeks, adding: “[This] is [...]
Barclays clocks largest UK exposure to Greece April 28, 2010 BARCLAYS is likely to be hit the hardest of all the UK banks in the event of a Greek debt default, according to estimates released yesterday. Analysts at Evolution Securities calculated Barclays’ exposure to Greek bonds at €4.6bn (£4.0bn), or 10 per cent of tangible net asset value (tNAV), due to Barclays Capital’s position as [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL GREECE BE KICKED OUT OF THE EUROZONE? April 28, 2010 BILL BLAIN | MATRIX CORPORATE CAPITAL I believe that in three or four weeks’ time the composition of the euro will look very different to how it does today. The internal debate will now be about how to exit Greece from the single currency and quarantine it from destroying the euro, by putting it into [...]
EXPLAINING THE EUROZONE’S SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS April 28, 2010 Q. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CAUSE THE GREEK DEBT CRISIS? A. Having rashly spent its way through the past few decades, Greece’s national debt now stands at around 115 per cent of GDP – exacerbated by a culture of tax evasion in the country. Now that the yawning gap between government income and spending has [...]
Prudential prepares final charm offensive as deal D-day looms April 28, 2010 TIDJANE Thiam must be trying hard to shut out the noise. As Prudential’s chief executive hunkers down to work on the prospectus for the insurer’s gargantuan $21bn (£13.8bn) cash call, grumblings from shareholders continue to fuel rumours of a break-up bid that would see the firm snatched from the brink of a historic deal and [...]
Virgin Media’s sales rise but losses widen April 28, 2010 VIRGIN Media continued its roaring run of form with its fastest ever customer growth last quarter. It surpassed analyst expectations as it added 38,300 net cable customers to solidify its position as the UK’s second biggest pay-TV provider. Chief executive Neil Berkett said the firm had benefited from both record new customers and the lowest [...]
F&C surprises with Thames River buyout April 28, 2010 F&C Asset Management’s shares slumped yesterday after the City fund manager said it would pay £33.6m in cash and shares for hedge fund boutique Thames River Capital. F&C, which will hope to spur growth with the deal after a spell of lacklustre performance, saw its shares slip 3.1 per cent to 63.25p yesterday despite positive [...]
Swedish banking sector buoyed as loan-loss pain eases April 28, 2010 Sweden’s top banks got a lift from the economic recovery and an easing of problem credit in the Baltic region in the first quarter, though growth in core income is expected to be subdued this year. Nordea, Handelsbanken and SEB all posted higher-than-expected profits yesterday, as did Swedbank, which reported on Tuesday. The banks capitalised [...]
Trafficmaster confirms it is locked in takeover talks April 28, 2010 vehicle tracking firm Trafficmaster yesterday confirmed it was in takeover talks with an unnamed party, sending its stock up over 16 per cent. Trafficmaster, which also provides navigation and journey data to drivers in the US and Britain, issued the statement in response to movement in its share price and recent press speculation. The company [...]
