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. [...]
MacKenzie makes online sports move May 12, 2011 TALKSPORT founder Kelvin MacKenzie is preparing to go head to head with the commercial radio business he sold to UTV Media for £92m in 2005 by launching an online sports TV channel, Sports Tonight. MacKenzie (pictured), who pitches the web TV channel as “Sky Sports News meets TalkSport”, is soft-launching the venture with an estimated [...]
BT beats forecasts and reveals pensions boost May 12, 2011 BT posted a better-than-expected rise in fourth quarter core earnings due to cost cuts, strong broadband and enterprise sales and showed a huge improvement in its pension scheme. Britain’s biggest fixed-line services supplier, which has been hampered in the last two years by concerns over its pension deficit, said total revenues for the quarter were [...]
Huawei deal puts firm on the UK map May 9, 2011 HUAWEI yesterday announced a deal to enhance the 2G network of Everything Everywhere, a move that brings it closer to realising its ambition of becoming a major player in the UK. The four-year contract with the combined T-Mobile and Orange venture will allow faster mobile services over the network. It will allow Everything Everywhere to [...]
Ofcom may set price BT charges for infrastructure May 3, 2011 OFCOM chief executive Ed Richards says he may be forced to set the price BT can charge rivals to access parts of its infrastructure. The move could have far-reaching implications for the rollout of broadband to rural areas. Richards said he would prefer a “commercial” solution between BT and rivals such as Virgin Media for [...]