Nuclear risk threatens supply chain March 20, 2011 With nuclear uncertainty hanging over Japan, supply chains reliant upon technological components made there have been severely disrupted. Japanese exporters have suffered, while companies reliant upon the country are weighing up their exposure and searching out alternative suppliers. These are uncertain times for technology companies across the world. Sony, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and many other Japanese [...]
Former Lloyds chief Eric Daniels tipped as next Aviva chairman March 17, 2011 ERIC Daniels, the former Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, is a candidate to become the next chairman at insurer Aviva, City A.M. learned yesterday. Daniels, who stepped down as Lloyds’ chief executive at the start of March, is one of about five candidates approached by Aviva about taking a non-executive board position. The new director [...]
Topaz eyes a London listing to raise £311m March 16, 2011 DUBAI-based oilfield services firm Topaz Energy and Marine plans to raise $500m (£311m) in a London listing. The firm, which is part of Oman’s Renaissance Services, is likely to power into the FTSE 250 if the listing is successful, with a market capitalisation of $1.7bn. Topaz has set a price range of 170p per share [...]
Openreach hires new chief exec March 15, 2011 BT’s local access network business, Openreach, has promoted Olivia Garfield to chief executive, taking over from Steve Robertson who has led Openreach since it was founded in 2005. Garfield has been a director for the group covering strategy and regulation since 2005. In her new role as Openreach CEO, she will be in charge of [...]
Jeremy Hunt defends role in clearing News Corp bid March 13, 2011 JEREMY Hunt, the culture secretary, was yesterday forced to defend his role in News Corp’s bid for BSkyB, after an alliance of media companies accused him of acting in an “unprecedented manner”. The alliance, which is made up of BSkyB and News Corp rivals like BT and the Telegraph Media Group, said the culture secretary was wrong [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 10, 2011 City Asset Management Independent discretionary investment manager City Asset Management has appointed Chris Green, formerly of Optimal Wealth Management, to its financial services team as a financial wealth planner. The appointment is part of City Asset Management’s ongoing expansion. Green brings more than 20 years’ experience as a pension and investment specialist to the role. [...]
Vodafone and BT get boost March 8, 2011 Vodafone and BT Group saw their shares surge yesterday after a broker upgrade. They also saw exceptionally high volumes, after getting a boost from a note on the telecoms sector from Morgan Stanley in which they were upgraded. The broker said: “Telecoms is our preferred defensive sector. It offers greater potential for a positive growth [...]
FTSE nudges higher as late rally boosts stocks March 8, 2011 A late afternoon rally nudged Britain’s top share index into positive territory yesterday, as investors eyed geopolitical turmoil in the Arab world and favoured defensive stocks. The FTSE 100 closed 0.98 points firmer at 5,974.76, having flirted with the key psychological 6,000 level earlier in the session after Kuwait’s oil minister said OPEC was considering [...]
FTSE finishes flat despite late rally March 8, 2011 Investors concerned over the long-term impact of Libyan violence shied away from risky stocks and left the FTSE flat today. Aside from a brief rally mid-morning when Kuwait’s oil minister said OPEC was considering boosting production, the FTSE 100 spent much of the day declining. However, a brief rally at the end of the day [...]
BT advertising war boosts UK broadband March 6, 2011 FIERCE competition between Sky and BT is the most likely explanation for the unusually high growth in the UK broadband market last year, according to analysts at Enders. It enjoyed an “exceptionally strong” final quarter of last year, adding 397,000 new customers, beating some forecasts by around 100,000. Enders says the most likely cause is [...]