Best of the Brokers for 16 October 2015 October 16, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ASOS ASOS is still “overweight”, according to Barclays, but the broker says that while investor confidence remains low, thanks to under-performing the FTSE 250, it believes shares can “materially outperform” as sales accelerate on price investments, margins are unlikely to fall below four [...]
City Moves for 16 October 2015 | Who’s switching jobs October 15, 2015 PEMBERTON The asset manager has appointed Corinna Mitchell as general counsel. She has over 20 years’ experience as a banking and finance lawyer, and was a partner in the London office of Dechert for the past seven years. Mitchell has also worked as a partner at Baker & McKenzie in London, and as a solicitor [...]
Barclays says oil prices are likely to recover before market expectations October 15, 2015 Barclays analysts have come out against the "lower for longer" talk regarding the future direction of oil prices. In a report, they argue current oil prices aren’t high enough to encourage companies to keep producing sufficient quantities of the black stuff in the medium term. And this will make it harder to meet demand for oil [...]
Barclays is teaming up with blockchain startups Chainalysis and Wave as the bank’s bitcoin experiment expands October 15, 2015 Barclays has signed contracts with two blockchain startups in what the bank is calling a “game-changer”. This is one of the first times a major bank has opened up for such a cooperation with blockchain clients, as many bitcoin companies have had difficulties gaining access to banking services. Barclays chief design and innovation officer Derek [...]
Will Square’s IPO be a success with chief executive Dorsey distracted by Twitter? October 15, 2015 Another day, another IPO – this time it's Square, the mobile payments company founded after Jack Dorsey was forced to leave Twitter, which has ended months of speculation by officially filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. Square is looking to raise $275m (£177m) from the IPO. In its filing, Square, which [...]
Bank of England and PRA’s new ring-fencing rules “could cost banks five per cent” of their operating budget October 15, 2015 The Bank of England has today laid out further details about how Britain's biggest banks will have to restructure in order to comply with so-called ring-fencing regulations. From 2019, banks with core deposits greater than £25bn will have to separate their retail activities from the riskier parts of the business. The requirements were first set out in the Financial Services [...]
City Moves for 15 October 2015 | Who’s switching jobs October 14, 2015 BROWN RUDNICK The law firm has appointed Nicola Kerr as a partner in its corporate team in London. She was previously European head of employment at King & Wood Mallesons (formerly SJ Berwin) for over 15 years, and advises on contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. DEUTSCHE ASSET AND WEALTH MANAGEMENT Stefan Kreuzkamp has been [...]
Everything you need to know about the SABMiller and AB InBev deal: What happens next? October 14, 2015 SABMiller's board has given a conditional nod to AB InBev's cash offer of £44 a share, with a partial share consideration of AB InBev shares for stakeholders Altria and BevCo to reduce their tax liabilities. The London-listed brewer has also given its approval to move the deadline for a firm offer back to 5pm on 28 October. [...]
Standard & Poor’s says Wall Street’s banks are leaving European rivals behind October 14, 2015 As the Wall Street banks report quarterly results this week, Standard & Poor's has released a report showing US investment banks are leaving their European partners trailing in the dust. Since the recession, the UK's banks such as RBS and Barclays, have scaled back their investment operations leaving their American rivals like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and [...]
IPO latest: Lloyds spin-off Equiniti expects a market capitalisation of up to £600m after IPO October 14, 2015 Equiniti, the payments technology provider, has added to the current flurry of IPO activity, announcing the price range for its shares will be between 165p and 200p. The price would give Equiniti an initial market capitalisation of between £495m and £600m: the company estimates the flotation to net around £135m, which it plans to use to pay off some [...]