KPMG appointed as administrators of FirstCity after the company splits in two May 24, 2010 KPMG has been appointed as administrator of FirstCity Insurance Group and its holding company, FirstCity Partnership. Restructuring partners David Costley-Wood and Michael Walker at KPMG have been appointed as joint administrators by the company’s directors and will work to wind-up FirstCity Insurance. Walker said: “We are currently assessing the position and are looking to put [...]
Magazine distributor MMC collapses with huge debts May 24, 2010 MAGAZINE distributors MMC today collapsed into administration with debts totalling up to £700,000. The distributor of magazines including the Spectator has cast a shadow over the industry, with small publishers fearing they could be driven out of business because they are owed cash by MMC. MMC, founded in 1988, was the UK’s largest independent newstrade [...]
Banks publish data for dark pool trading May 24, 2010 SIX big investment banks have published trading volumes for their “dark pools” for the first time, showing them as a tiny fraction of the market, not the major hidden rivals to stock exchanges that some argue. Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley and UBS together executed €596m (£512m) of equity trades [...]
Northern Rock deposits lose savings guarantees May 24, 2010 RHIAN NICHOLSON INTERACTIVE INVESTOR THE government yesterday lifted its 100 per cent guarantee on all variable rate accounts at Northern Rock as the beleaguered bank slowly returns to health. Millions of savers will now have the same protection as depositors with other banks. This covers them for up to £50,000 for individual accounts or £100,000 [...]
Russia’s Orient Express bank plans listing May 24, 2010 ORIENT Express, a mid-sized lender, said it plans to launch Russia’s first initial public offering in the banking sector since the financial crisis struck in 2008. Russia’s banking sector has been hit hard by the global economic downturn, and the deal to raise at least $200m (£138m) would show the level of appetite among investors [...]
Invensys sees better 2011 on strong orders May 24, 2010 ENGINEER Invensys yesterday said it would perform better this year as its markets in industrial systems, railways and appliances recovered, after currency movements helped full-year operating profit rise 2 per cent. “We have emerged stronger and with increased confidence in our growth prospects,” chief executive Ulf Henriksson said. “”Our order book increased by 11 percent [...]
Successful people help the next generation May 24, 2010 CAMERON’S campaign message about the Big Society didn’t exactly electrify the masses. But I wonder if that’s because it’s already happening, and he just had the good sense to hold up a mirror to what the people of the UK are already doing. Last Friday afternoon, I attended an event hosted by the Fredericks Foundation [...]
Equity One buys $250m shops unit May 24, 2010 CAPITAL Shopping Centres is to sell its American arm to US property group Equity One, in a deal worth around $600m (£416m). The British company will receive 4.1m shares and 10.9m joint venture units in exchange for transferring its portfolio of 15 Californian properties to Equity One. Capital, part of Liberty International until a demerger [...]
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg says privacy controls ‘missed their mark’ May 24, 2010 FACEBOOK chief executive Mark Zuckerberg yesterday said the Internet social network will roll out new privacy settings for its more than 400m users, amid growing concerns that the company is pushing users to make more of their personal data public. “Many of you thought our controls were too complex,” said Zuckerberg in an opinion piece [...]
Chloride powers to strong fourth quarter on pipeline May 24, 2010 POWER protection firm Chloride reported results at the top end of expectations yesterday, thanks to a record order book. The results statement made no mention of last month’s takeover bid by US rivals Emerson, with finance director Neil Warner commenting that “the only thing I can tell you is that we’ve heard no more directly [...]
