HOW POSITIVE WERE THE FULL-YEAR FIGURES YESTERDAY FROM STOCKBROKER COLLINS STEWART? March 18, 2010 JEREMY GRIME | ARDEN PARTNERS Collins Stewart is delivering ahead of our expectations, with pre-tax profit of £21.8m coming in 15 per cent ahead of our forecast of £19m. It is growing its wealth management arm, has fixed the problems with the UK business and there are signs the loss-making US business may now be [...]
BA and Unite resume talks in a bid to avert strike March 18, 2010 WILLIE WALSH, chief executive of British Airways was last night locked in talks with Unite, the union representing cabin crew in an attempt to avert strikes set to commence tomorrow. Walsh was in talks with Unite’s joint general secretary Tony Woodley for most of the day, but refused to say if progress had been made [...]
Myners: Banks wrong to earn huge margins after hammering customers March 18, 2010 BANKS should not be allowed to continue earning very high margins after “gouging” customers for years, Britain’s financial services minister said yesterday. “The banking industry has enjoyed more public subsidy than any other industry in our economy,” Paul Myners told a hearing held by the Future of Banking Commission set up by Britain’s consumer group [...]
Italy’s Enel plans a €3bn float of its green business March 18, 2010 ENEL, the Italian electricity group, is pressing ahead with plans for its renewables unit that could raise at least €3bn (£2.7bn) in what would be Europe’s largest initial public offering so far this year. The firm said it expected to file for the initial public offering of a minority stake, possibly 30 per cent, in [...]
African Barrick offer closes March 18, 2010 THE world’s largest gold producer Barrick Gold came to the end of its book-building process yesterday for the imminent London share listing of its African subsidiary African Barrick Gold. Market sources said shares in African Barrick would be priced within the 550-650p range, valuing the company at a little more than £2bn. Some have suggested [...]
Deutsche Bahn confirms its £1.2bn bid for Arriva March 18, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bahn, the German rail and bus giant, has confirmed its £1.2bn cash approach for Arriva. Deutsche Bahn said yesterday talks were still ongoing but there was no certainty an offer would be made. Arriva’s shares continued to gain following news of Deutsche Bahn’s move, yesterday closing 10.6 per cent higher at 708p. Arriva said [...]
Bad debt tide begins to ebb for Investec March 18, 2010 SOUTH African bank Investec said yesterday it expects to post a slight increase in profits for the current financial year due to a strong performance from its UK, European and Australian arms, adding that the pace of rising defaults has started to slow. In a pre-close briefing ahead of its year-end at the end of [...]
Tullett Prebon comes out on top after bitter High Court battle with rival BGC March 18, 2010 INTER-dealer broker BGC Partners will have to pay damages and legal costs that could run into eight figures, after a High Court judge yesterday ruled it had unlawfully conspired to recruit ten brokers from rival Tullett Prebon. The ruling ends a bitter legal battle which has been raging for just short of a year between [...]
Savills staff to get £60m bonus payout March 18, 2010 PROPERTY agent Savills is planning a payment of around £60m for staff after a recovery in the UK residential housing market. Savills’ estate agency arm doubled its profit to £6.3m in 2009 with the London market in particular bouncing back. However, pre-tax profit plummeted by almost a quarter across all the company’s operations, including its [...]
Lack of fresh London development to drive a renewed spike in City rents March 18, 2010 THE City of London is currently suffering from a shortage of Grade A commercial property but plans for fresh new build projects remain few and far between, developers warned yesterday. Speaking at MIPIM – the property industry’s annual conference in Cannes – developers said despite projects coming on stream over the next few years, including [...]
