Death toll from the devastating Haiti earthquake could reach half a million January 13, 2010 THE death toll of the devastating Haiti earthquake could reach well into six figures, the island’s Prime Minister said yesterday. Streets and buildings were filled with the dead as locals and rescue workers began to sift through the rubble last night. A team of 64 British firefighters arrived on the Caribbean island in the early [...]
SocGen profit warning bites January 13, 2010 FEARS that a fresh round of toxic asset writedowns are set to emerge from the banking sector were yesterday fuelled by a profit warning from Societe Generale. France’s second biggest bank warned on its fourth-quarter profits after taking a further €1.4bn (£1.25bn) hit from risky assets. Following the additional writedown, SocGen said it was now [...]
Tories to introduce new booze labels and scrap units system January 13, 2010 A TORY government would introduce legislation forcing brewers to display the exact amount of alcohol on drink labels. Shadow secretary of state for health Andrew Lansley said the “misunderstood units” system would be replaced by new labels detailing the amount of pure alcohol in centilitres on drink cans and bottles. The new labels would also [...]
SEC considers introducing new curbs on high frequency trading January 13, 2010 US SECURITIES regulators are deciding whether rules are needed to curb high-frequency traders, whose lightning-fast computer programmes now dominate equities markets. In a move that could overhaul how markets function, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted yesterday to seek public comment on the rapid trades, the anonymous trading venues known as dark pools, and other [...]
NIESR: Worst slump for 90 years is over January 13, 2010 BRITAIN’S fragile economy finally started to grow in the last three months of 2009, after suffering its worst year for almost 90 years, a leading think-tank said yesterday. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) forecast modest quarterly growth of 0.3 per cent for the fourth quarter of last year, putting the annual [...]
NVM defies private equity drought to boost profits January 13, 2010 NVM Private Equity, the firm behind Cornish pasty maker Crantock Bakery and property group Paladin, beat the buyout crunch last year to raise profits 12 per cent. NVM saw turnover fall by £300,000 to £5.3m but boosted net income from £850,000 to £950,000. The improvement came despite a difficult year for the private equity industry, [...]
Tories set out stall to the City January 13, 2010 BUSINESSES from across the capital met at the London Chamber of Commerce yesterday to hear what the future holds for them if the Conservatives come to power. Shadow minister for the City, Mark Hoban MP, led the discussion on a wide range of economic and regulatory issues. City A.M. columnist Stuart Fraser said whoever wins [...]
Google holds crunch talks January 13, 2010 CRUNCH talks took place yesterday between Google and Chinese authorities after the search-engine giant threatened to quit the country. In a direct challenge to the Chinese government, Google said it would pull out of the country unless it’s allowed to offer “unfiltered” internet searches to web users. Google blamed a series of cyber-attacks, possibly state [...]
Evolution forges ahead with debt capital market launch January 13, 2010 BROKER Evolution Securities expects to complete its debut debt capital markets deal before the middle of the year, as it pushes forward with the launch of its new small to mid cap corporate bond trading business to capitalise on the funding gap left by decreasing lending from larger banks. Evolution’s head of fixed income Guy [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS GOOGLE RIGHT TO PULL OUT OF CHINA? January 13, 2010 MARK PRIOR | BRAVURA SOLUTIONS “I agree with it totally. It’s a breach of Google’s rules. It’s about finding a middle balance. It’s going to be impossible to find a middle ground if they are hacking into people’s accounts.” CLINTON LUTTIG | XL CAPITAL “I agree. I don’t believe in China’s policies in stopping people’s [...]
