Redstone cuts earnings forecasts September 8, 2009 IT and communications firm Redstone yesterday cut its earnings forecasts for the year as it admitted talks with Eckoh Technologies regarding a loan facility had not yet been successful. The firm now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between £5m and £6m, well below its previous forecast of £7.5m-£8m. Redstone, which [...]
STM profits take a battering September 8, 2009 Cross-border financial services provider STM Group yesterday said its first-half profits had almost been wiped out by underperformance at its Jersey office and insurance division. STM saw its interim pre-tax profit fall to £0.18m from £1.43m a year ago, causing broker Evolution Securities to cut its rating on the stock from “buy” to “neutral”. But [...]
SACCapital rehires staff it dismissed in January as it revitalises London arm September 8, 2009 SAC Capital, the hedge fund firm founded by New York billionaire Steven Cohen, is understood to have hired back two London traders it had previously dismissed. The group has welcomed back David Morant and Ben Halfacre this week, nine months after they were let go as the group slimmed down amid precipitous losses for the [...]
Plus Markets dangles a carrot for market makers September 8, 2009 INDEPENDENT stock exchange Plus Markets yesterday announced that it will launch a liquidity scheme as it attempts to attract more equity trading onto its platform. Plus, which has recently gained approval to trade Aim-listed securities, said that the Plus Liquidity Scheme will encourage market makers to direct their reported flow to the exchange by enabling [...]
German trade data starting to improve September 8, 2009 GERMAN exports rose for the third consecutive month in July, widening the country’s trade surplus to €12.4bn (£10.9bn) and raising hopes that a recovery is underway in Europe’s biggest economy. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, exports rose 2.3 per cent in July on the previous month to €68.4bn, while imports remained unchanged at €55.9bn. Economists had [...]
Britons more bullish on jobs and outlook September 8, 2009 BRITISH consumers are more confident about the future economic situation and sentiment about the present has also improved, the Nationwide consumer confidence survey will say today. The survey indicates that all the confidence indices rose during August with the expectations index rising by three points to 94. The present situation index, which has generally been [...]
USconsumers cut borrowing as unemployment starts to bite September 8, 2009 US consumers slashed their borrowings by a record $21.6bn (£13bn) in July, the Federal Reserve said last night. Total US consumer credit fell at a 10.4 per cent annual rate to $2.47 trillion, suggesting that households were shying away from credit amid rising unemployment. Analysts were expecting a much smaller $4bn decline in July after [...]
T-Mobile and Orange plan tie-up in UK September 8, 2009 DEUTSCHE Telekom and France Telecom yesterday confirmed that they plan to merge their UK operations in a venture that will grab the top spot in the UK mobile market. The operators said they were in exclusive negotiations over the 50:50 merger between German-owned T-Mobile UK and France Telecom’s Orange UK business, and that they hope [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT DOES THE T-MOBILE / ORANGE TIE-UP MEAN FOR COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE INDUSTRY? September 8, 2009 OLIVER THOMAS INSURANCE RISK PARTNERS “The merger doesn’t really worry me. There are still a number of service providers, and they all need to work together, so it is not like we are going to see a monopoly as such, like we had with BT. If there was more consolidation and less choice, then yes, [...]
FSA fines Barclays over data September 8, 2009 BARCLAYS has been fined £2.45m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to provide the regulator with accurate reports of its transactions and for weaknesses in its systems and controls. The City watchdog said it had stumbled across “discrepancies” in Barclays’ data while probing an incident of suspected market abuse by a third party. [...]
