Sky directors expect News to pay more June 26, 2011 SOURCES close to BSkyB’s independent directors were last night calling for Rupert Murdoch to pay at least £9 per share to take full control of the satellite broadcaster. The same sources also indicated that a price of up to £10.40 a share, as called for by Crispin Odey, the founder of Odey Asset Management and [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 15, 2011 Advertising Association Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT Retail, has been appointed as president of the Advertising Association, the representative body for marketing communications in the UK, representing agencies, media companies and advertisers. In his new role as president, Patterson will bring the three sectors together to champion the role of advertising and protect its [...]
Just-in-time is on the rocks but not sunk yet June 13, 2011 DURING Japan’s rise, its companies developed the just-in-time method of manufacturing, allowing greater efficiency of production. Following the devastating Tohoku earthquake earlier this year, manufacturers across the world – including Toyota, which pioneered the just-in-time production system – suffered, and continue to suffer, from disruption to their global supply chains. Many companies have bounced back [...]
BT to live trial new wireless broadband May 25, 2011 EVERYTHING Everywhere and BT Wholesale yesterday announced the first live trial of 4G LTE broadband. The project in Cornwall will use BT’s infrastructure and Everything Everywhere’s mobile network to provide superfast broadband to 700 rural premises. The firm says the trial will be used to test the performance of a 4G LTE network outside lab [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 24, 2011 May Gurney Margaret Ford, Baroness Ford of Cunninghame, will become non-executive chairman at the company’s AGM on 7 July 2011. In the interim she will be appointed to the board as a non-executive director, with immediate effect. Gurney, 53, recently retired from Serco as senior independent director and has extensive public company experience, including Grainger [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 24, 2011 BT UBS has upgraded the telecommunications company to a “buy” and has raised its target price to 230p. The broker has raised its earnings per share forecast ahead of consensus, and notes the firm’s positive earnings growth, which contrasts with mobile-driven earnings cuts for other telecoms firms. UBS is also upbeat about BT’s pensions deficit, [...]
London’s new fund queens May 22, 2011 THE TOTAL value of assets under management run by female hedge fund managers has more than doubled to over $200bn (£122.8bn) in the space of a year, according to the latest Hedge Fund Journal and Ernst & Young study. Women managed just $4.5bn in hedge fund assets last year, accounting for just three per cent [...]
FTSE edges down as IMF scandal cast shadow over markets May 16, 2011 The FTSE 100 fell in early trading as the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn threatened to derail crisis talks on eurozone debt. Strauss-Kahn, who denies a sexual assault charge in the US, was a pivotal player in tackling the eurozone debt mountain. A bailout package for Portugal is set to be given the green [...]
BT profits up as pension deficit dives May 12, 2011 BT saw its full-year profits surge as bumper broadband additions helped push pre-tax profits up an eye-watering 71 per cent yesterday. Revenues fell four per cent to £20.1bn as chief executive Ian Livingston continues to spin the wheel of the telecoms super-tanker, with sales growth expected in 2013. Adjusted pre tax profits for the year [...]
Great cost cutting – but show me the growth May 12, 2011 IAN Livingston is incredibly good at cost cutting, which is just as well. The no-nonsense Scot has removed some £2.8bn of costs in the last two years alone. That is exactly what the firm needed after former chief executive Ben Verwaayen, who won a huge amount of business at the expense of margins and profits. [...]