TAKING STOCK December 7, 2009 EQUITY trading across the London Stock Exchange group dipped sharply in November as the UK’s biggest bourse was hit by turbulence in the global markets and aggressive pricing strategies from rivals. In total 16.4m equity trades worth £149bn were carried out over the month, during which the average daily number of trades fell by a [...]
Sberbank misses profit expectations December 7, 2009 Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, missed its forecast for its third quarter net profit but analysts took heart from slowing bad loan growth which they said could pave the way for a stronger performance in the coming months. The state-run bank posted a net profit of 4.2bn roubles (£87.4m) in January-September, undershooting analysts’ forecasts of 5.1bn [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 7, 2009 Reed SmithThe law firm has appointed Graham Green as a partner in its employment group in London. Green joins from rival McDermott Will & Emery, and has also worked in the employment department at Linklaters. His practice covers all types of discrimination claims, including race, sex, age and disability discrimination, as well as claims over [...]
BIS:low rates increase risk December 7, 2009 KEEPING interest rates low could encourage banks to take bigger risks, according to a study published by The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) yesterday. Its latest quarterly report into 600 listed EU and US banks said there was evidence suggesting that the risk of loan defaults “shot up” when interest rates remained low for long [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 7, 2009 GAME GROUPSinger said it was expecting to see an improvement in trade over the most recent period for Game Group, despite a rather disappointing summer in terms of new software releases. It suggested declines of mid to high single digits in that period, and said performance over the final eight weeks will be key to [...]
Petropavlovsk is only group set to join bluechip FTSE 100 index December 7, 2009 GOLD producer Petropavlovsk, formerly Peter Hambro Mining, is expected to be the only company promoted to the FTSE 100 index when the latest quarterly indexes review is announced tomorrow. Tour operator Thomas Cook Group looks set to be demoted back to the mid caps after a poor run by its shares with the sector hit [...]
Dubai World to sell off overseas assets December 7, 2009 THE Dubai government has confirmed it will not sell any assets to help state-controlled Dubai World meet its debt repayments, while the company’s prize assets will be ring-fenced. The beleaguered conglomerate last week asked creditors for a six-month grace period while it restructured its $26bn (£15.5bn) debt pile. The payment standstill was announced on 25 [...]
Red Flag opens to the public December 7, 2009 Begbies Traynor, the insolvency and recovery specialist, will launch its Red Flag Alert system as a commercial tool to allow companies to measure the financial health of their customers and competitors. Until now, Red Flag Alert has been used internally by Begbies and for media houses to assess the corporate landscape in the UK. It [...]
Aer Lingus November traffic up December 7, 2009 Irish airline Aer Lingus said yesterday that the number of passengers travelling with it for long-haul flights last month was 25 per cent lower than in the same month last year. But overall passenger numbers were up by nearly 5 per cent. The airline also said its November traffic decreased 6.4 per cent to 1.08bn [...]
FORMER MERRILL LYNCH STAFFERS HERALD A TRIUMPHANT BULL RUN December 7, 2009 BANK of America’s integration with fellow banking scion Merrill Lynch might have been fraught with difficulty over the course of the past year, but it seems the powers that be are finally learning the art of tactful compromise. After Merrill’s beloved bovine logo appeared to have been dropped by BoA in favour of a new, [...]
