It’s time to purge the stock market’s noticeboard of PR puff and let activist investors report on what really matters August 12, 2016 It's not exactly needle-in-a-haystack stuff: trawl through the reams of regulatory news announcements on most days and you will spot numerous examples of public relations puff masquerading as crucial investor information. So it’s disappointing that this week has thrown into sharp focus yet another of the perversities of London’s listings regime – and one which [...]
Andrew Tyrie’s claim about banks’ back-door lobbying is holed December 4, 2014 There are few things bankers dread more than being summoned for hours of intellectual flagellation by Andrew Tyrie, the relentless chairman of the Treasury Select Committee. He has scored several notable victories, including a blueprint for regulators to hold reserve powers to break up major UK banks. On his latest target – [...]
BG vote against £12m share award may make a Norwegian blue November 19, 2014 Desperate times call for desperate measures. How else to interpret the crude insinuation from BG Group that its newly anointed chief executive might not join if investors vote down a one-off share award worth £12m? The FTSE 100 oil producer certainly falls into the camp signposted “urgent need”, which explains why the lavish pay [...]
Lord Myners’ report into Royal Mail mustn’t get lost in the post November 5, 2014 It's the privatisation row that won’t go away. Royal Mail’s shares may have performed limply since their post-flotation peak earlier this year, but their initial surge makes it a safe bet that the sell-off will feature heavily during next year’s general election campaign. Two reports – from the National Audit Office and the Business [...]
Tesco firefighter Dave Lewis has no time to pause as results come in October 22, 2014 It's day 53 for Dave Lewis as chief executive of Tesco. Ordinarily, that might be a time for a new boss to pause for breath, but the firefighting engulfing him since his arrival looks like the first act of a much longer-term drama. The word emerging from Tesco’s Cheshunt HQ is that there will [...]
A balance must be struck between accountability and preserving quality in banks’ boardrooms October 8, 2014 The news that two directors of HSBC’s UK operation are stepping down because of proposed bank sanctions provoked a predictable reaction: good riddance, cried one commentator; they exerted no real influence anyway, exclaimed another. Both missed the point. The timing of the resignations of Alan Thomson and John Trueman could not have been more [...]
Why Sir Richard Broadbent could be next to checkout at Tesco after £250m profit overstatement debacle September 24, 2014 Things are always unnoticed until they’re noticed.” Those seven Rumsfeld-esque words could seal Sir Richard Broadbent’s fate as Tesco chairman. Responding to questions about the accounting debacle at Britain’s biggest retailer, Broadbent offered a painful reminder of how quickly events can spiral out of the control of even the grandest of grandees. The [...]
Inside Track: City contingency planning for Yes vote long overdue September 10, 2014 YESTERDAY’S desperate round of campaigning in Scotland by the main Westminster party leaders might have offered a boost – but not to those they wanted to vote No to independence. In the City, the reality check of a Yes vote being a genuine prospect is triggering contingency planning that should have been underway months ago. [...]
So will Andrew Bailey be the lord of the ring (fence)? – Inside Track August 27, 2014 It is surprisingly easy to find bankers with positive things to say about Andrew Bailey, their chief regulator. By the end of the year, though, he could find that it isn’t only the weather that feels chillier whenever he meets bank executives. Already, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) consultation on a new accountability regime [...]
Legal & General’s Nigel Wilson sends slap in the face to Breedon as associates shudder – Inside Track August 13, 2014 Nigel Wilson has hardly put a foot wrong since replacing Tim Breedon, his po-faced predecessor, as chief executive of Legal & General just over two years ago. While investors are happy with the outspoken Geordie, however, his fellow insurance bosses are not – at least not after his latest bombshell dropped yesterday. Confirming [...]
