RBS to unveil £2bn sale of its card processing division August 5, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) will today announce the sale of its credit card payment processing business to a duo of private equity investors in a £2bn deal generating up to a £900m profit for the bank. Advent International and Bain Capital are set to buy the Global Merchant Services (GMS) operation, in what is [...]
F&C boss slams £1.6bn property trust merger August 5, 2010 F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT has fired a shot across the bow of rival Ignis Asset Management ahead of a crunch vote on the controversial merger of their property trusts next week. F&C is fiercely opposed to the proposed tie-up between the F&C Property Trust (FCPT) and Ignis’ UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT), which would create one [...]
Numis in FTSE 100 client win August 5, 2010 STOCKBROKER Numis Securities yesterday reached a landmark in its development as it won its first FTSE 100 client, investment firm Alliance Trust. Numis, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary, already has 22 corporate broking clients in the FTSE 250, including property group Savills, Domino’s Pizza and retailer Mothercare. But Alliance Trust is its first [...]
Why I’m bearish about house prices August 5, 2010 ONE of the big lessons of the recession – and of several previous downturns, including Britain’s crisis in the early 1990s and the secondary banking crisis of the 1970s – is just how important property is to modern economies. Bubbles in housing or commercial property are invariably devastating; they almost always take the economy down [...]
Kraft boosted by Cadbury August 5, 2010 KRAFT Foods reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its target for cost savings from the acquisition of Cadbury yesterday, sending its shares up 4.8 per cent. But the largest US food company left its expectation for 2010 unchanged because it plans to reinvest the extra cash from the profit and cost savings into its brands. [...]
Opel offers lifetime warranties August 5, 2010 Opel, the car brand owned by General Motors (GM), will offer lifetime warranties on cars up to 160,000km as the carmaker bids to attract new buyers amidst declining sales. The warranty, which covers the car’s engine, electronic and cooling system, is effective immediately. Opel saw a 40 per cent sales slump last month, despite rolling [...]
Deutsche Telekom sales down August 5, 2010 Deutsche Telekom reported second-quarter results in line with expectations and confirmed its outlook on the back of solid earnings in Germany, its biggest market. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), excluding its T-Mobile UK venture with Orange UK were €5bn (£4.14bn), down 4.7 per cent on sales of €15.5bn, which fell 4.4 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GOOGLE AND VERIZON EYE WEB ACCESS DEAL Google and Verizon have agreed on the outline of a plan covering key aspects of how internet services are carried over communications networks, establishing what could become a financial and operational blueprint for the next phase of the web’s development. US HEDGE FUNDS EMBRACE THE BENEFITS [...]
Barclays set to leave UK if it’s broken-up August 5, 2010 BARCLAYS mounted a staunch defence of “big banking” yesterday as its first-half performance failed to impress analysts, who described the hefty profit boost as “low quality”. Chief executive John Varley used his results speech to warn the government against breaking up large institutions into separate investment and retail banks. Varley argued FTSE 100 companies needed [...]
BarCap makes lion’s share of profit despite revenue drop August 5, 2010 PROFIT at Barclays Capital made up 87 per cent of the banking group’s overall earnings, though much of its £3.4bn profit was due to unexpected one-off items and credit changes. While pre-tax profit for the half had almost trebled compared to the first half of 2009, this includes a £851m gain on its own credit. [...]
