UK blames bankers for crisis June 7, 2009 83 per cent of Britons lay the blame for the economic crisis at the banking industry’s door, a survey by market analysis firm Datamonitor has shown. 82 per cent also said they blamed the government and the Financial Services Authority, with the majority of those feeling that the lack of regulation was symptomatic of a [...]
IS ANDY HORNBY THE RIGHT MAN FOR ALLIANCE BOOTS? June 7, 2009 GAVIN GEORGE ERNST&YOUNGAlliance Boots will be looking at the top heavy-weight contenders for the role. But the problem is there aren’t that many experienced retail chief executives who are available on the market. Despite HBOS, Hornby’s reputation remains undiminished in retail circles. JOHN STEVENSON KBC PEEL HUNTHornby’s Asda background definitely lends itself to the Boots [...]
GPE executives get big bonuses while slump hits profits June 7, 2009 GREAT Portland Estates, the West End property group, has handed out a total £1.3m in executive bonus payouts, despite sinking to a £436m pre-tax loss last year. The property group is expected to face clashes when it meets shareholders at its annual meeting next month. Since the downturn bonuses have been in the spotlight as [...]
Alliance Boots woos HBOS’s Andy Hornby June 7, 2009 FORMER HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby is poised to become the new chief executive at high street giant Alliance Boot, giving him the chance to restore his reputation. Andy Hornby resigned from HBOS in October 2008, waiving a £1.6m bonus after the bank’s near collapse. Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina has been running Alliance Boots as [...]
HAS THE UNCERTAINTY RUFFLED THE MARKETS? June 7, 2009 JAMIE DANNHAUSER LOMBARD STREET RESEARCHThe current political uncertainty has had very little immediate impact on the economy. It will be interesting to see whether the Tories will choose to use spending cuts or higher taxes to address the UK’s growing fiscal deficit. But so much of the growing deficit is structural that it will be [...]
Sterling falls on political uncertainty June 7, 2009 WITH all the uncertainty going on in Downing Street, economists and currency experts have been trying to predict what it all means for the value of sterling over the next few months. “The situation means that the investors are a bit more worried and so they’re less likely to buy British assets, which will have [...]
EMERGENCY STOP FOR CHRYSLER SALE June 7, 2009 THREE Indiana state pension and construction funds asked the US Supreme Court to block Chrysler’s sale to Fiat yesterday, as they seek to appeal the sell-off. The news comes after a US appeals court gave the sale the green light last month. If the deal goes ahead, Fiat will own 20 per cent of Chrysler, [...]
Darling squares up to EU over regulatory powers June 7, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling faces a fight with European counterparts tomorrow over his opposition to any new pan-European regulator having executive power over the UK’s financial institutions. Darling is in favour of an EU-wide supervisory body that would identify and warn of systemic risks in the European banking sector. But at tomorrow’s Ecofin meeting of European [...]
BoI offers share savings refund June 7, 2009 The Bank of Ireland has refunded up to €20,800 (£18,183) to staff who took part in a share savings scheme that left them out of pocket following the collapse in its share price. The scheme launched in late 2003 and allowed staff to build up a fund that could be used to buy shares at [...]
Starwood in IPO for toxic plays June 7, 2009 A fund affiliated with US private equity firm Starwood Capital Group has filed for an initial public offering of up to $500m (£313m) to invest in toxic assets, according to a regulatory filing. Starwood Properties Trust , created in May, plans to invest in commercial mortgage-backed securities sold under the U.S. government’s public-private investment program, [...]
