Darling prepares for last throw of the dice March 23, 2010 PUBLIC FINANCES/ECONOMICS l Darling is expected to stand by his growth forecasts of between 1 and 1.5 per cent this for year. In 2011, he expects the economy to grow between 3.25 and 3.75 per cent. Public sector net borrowing will come in around £10bn lower than the chancellor’s £178bn forecast, although it is still [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING FROM THE BUDGET TODAY? March 23, 2010 DAVID TROWBRIDGE | LIQUID CAPITAL “The Budget will be predictable. I’m expecting no surprises, no headlines will be made of it. It is, after all, two months until the general election.” ANDREW TARRY | NYRAS CAPITAL “Alistair Darling will be safe and predictable so that Labour will be re-elected. I don’t expect the market to [...]
Sky worried despite likely revenue boost March 23, 2010 BSkyB could generate additional revenue of more than £700m if it is allowed to sell Premier League football through Freeview. In a move described by Sky as a “sop”, Ofcom is likely to allow the broadcaster to go ahead with a project dreamed up in 2007 codenamed “Picnic”. This would involve setting up a subscription [...]
Volkswagen set to raise £4bn March 23, 2010 GERMAN car giant Volkswagen (VW) is issuing 65m new preferred shares, or roughly half of its authorised capital, in a stock offering worth around £4.04bn. Europe’s largest carmaker said yesterday that the pre-placement of the non-voting stock had already begun for institutional investors. Subscriptions for the new shares are expected to run from 31 March [...]
Pru seeking shareholder liaison boss March 23, 2010 PRUDENTIAL is hunting for a new director of investor relations (IR) at time when a series of tumultuous exchanges have strained the rapport between shareholders and company management, City A.M. has learned. Headhunter Taylor Bennett has been hired to find a replacement for Matt Lilley, who will move over to focus on business strategy. Although [...]
Coventry and Stroud join March 23, 2010 BRITAIN’S third-largest building society Coventry Building yesterday announced a merger deal with Stroud & Swindon Building Society, a move that will create a combined business with an overall asset size of £21bn. Total combined membership will reach approximately 1.5m. The merger will be effective as of 1 September and no branches or agencies of either [...]
F&C tables C-Quadrat €55m offer March 23, 2010 F&C Asset Management, the London fund manager, has officially made an offer for Austria’s C-Quadrat. The offer, submitted to the Austrian Takeover Commission, stands at €12.50 (£11.20) per share – valuing C-Quadrat at €54.5m overall. It is understood C-Quadrat founders Alexander Schultz and Thomas Reiss intend to keep a stake in the fund business. The [...]
Ancelotti: Chelsea won’t sack me March 23, 2010 CHELSEA manager Carlo Ancelotti is convinced he will still be in charge next season, irrespective of whether the team’s Premier League and FA Cup challenges flourish or flounder. It cannot have escaped the self-confessed fan of statistics, however, that Roman Abramovich has dispensed with coaches with better records than his. Ancelotti takes his side to [...]
315p is too low, says Gulfsands Petroleum March 23, 2010 GULFSANDS Petroleum said yesterday that a rebuffed preliminary bid approach received on 18 March was at 315p per share. The board said it was unanimously of the view that the proposal is wholly inadequate, highly conditional and materially undervalues the company. Shares in the group closed down 3.5p yesterday at 326.5p. In a separate statement, [...]
RAB bullish as clients come back March 23, 2010 HEDGE fund firm RAB Capital yesterday confirmed clients are returning to its funds that were battered by the credit crisis, after it swung to a loss in 2009 and cut its dividend. RAB, which specialises in energy and commodities funds and is also well-known for its failed bet on bank Northern Rock, yesterday reported a [...]
