H&M misses sales forecasts August 17, 2009 Hennes & Mauritz, the world’s third biggest clothing retailer, yesterday reported a bigger-than-expected three per cent drop in year–on–year sales in July. Total group sales were up seven per cent. The group hopes to boost footfall in with the launch of new designer ranges.
Sony Ericsson board shuffle August 17, 2009 Struggling mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson Mobile yesterday announced Bert Nordberg will replace retiring chief executive Dick Komiyama and that Howard Stringer will take over as chairman from Carl-Henric Svanberg. Nordberg, an executive vice president at parent Ericsson, will become co-president from 1 September and take over on 15 October. Stringer, the chief executive of [...]
Japan exits its recession August 17, 2009 JAPAN became the latest major economy to emerge from recession yesterday, as its GDP for the April-June quarter grew 0.9 per cent, after four consecutive quarters of contraction. The news comes after data earlier this month showed that the economies in France, Germany and Hong Kong were growing, indicating that the global slowdown is easing. [...]
RBS to sell asset manager arm August 17, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is preparing to put its asset management business up for sale, including assets that are accessible to clients of Coutts, the private bank that is best known as an advisor to the Queen. A sale of RBS asset management, which creates hedge funds and private equity funds-of-funds using third-party managers, could [...]
UBS tax evasion probe shifts focus to Hong Kong August 17, 2009 THE US government’s probe into tax-evasion by clients of UBS moved to Asia yesterday, after court documents revealed how the Swiss bank helped US nationals avoid taxes using a Hong Kong-based company. Documents filed by Californian UBS client John McCarthy – who last week pleaded guilty to failing to submit an annual report to the [...]
Technical issues hit Dragon Oil August 17, 2009 LONDON-listed Dragon Oil said yesterday it was likely to undershoot its production growth target in 2009 because of technical problems, adding its talks with majority shareholder Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) about a possible takeover bid were ongoing. The Dubai-based company said gross output growth for the full year will likely be below the annual [...]
LEGO BUILDS SALES August 17, 2009 LEGO, Europe’s biggest toymaker, yesterday said its pre-tax profits for the first half had jumped 60 per cent to 684m Danish knoner (£79.3m), thanks to sales of its Star Wars and Lego City range. Lego said its UK sales rose by 20 per cent during the period, despite a softer toy market, as parents turned [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS IT RIGHT FOR THE FSA TO INTERVENE ON THE SUBJECT OF BANKERS’ COMPENSATION? August 17, 2009 SIMON DUCKLIN TMF GROUP“With the tripartite regulatory structure there will always be a lot of finger-pointing over whose responsibility it is to regulate bankers’ pay. If you get different parties involved, things will fall between the cracks, though this issue should be on somebody’s desk.” ALEXANDRA EKPIKEN WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES“On the one hand the [...]
DARLING THREATENS LAW TO CURB CITY BONUSES August 16, 2009 CITY bankers are on a collision course with politicians over multi-million pound bonuses after chancellor Alistair Darling yesterday pledged to intervene to curb excessive pay and risk-taking in the Square Mile. The Treasury is ready to consider legal action on bonuses if they pose a “systemic risk” to the banking system, which Darling and many [...]
The $100m trader in the sights of pay tsar August 16, 2009 British-born Citigroup trader Andrew Hall is fighting to hold on to a $100m (£61m) payout as the US government’s “pay tsar” prepares to cut Wall Street bonuses. The Obama administration’s head of financial services compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, will this week begin to study the pay of the top 25 earners in US banks. One White [...]
