FTSE gets a lift after St James’s reports results – London Report October 30, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index yesterday staged a late rally to recover from losses earlier in the day, with wealth management group St James’s Place outperforming after strong results. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index had been in negative territory for much of the day. The late recovery enabled the FTSE to close up by 0.2 per [...]
Barclays share price rises as it sets aside £500m to pay regulators over foreign exchange probe October 30, 2014 Are Barclays' regulatory woes about to reach a conclusion? Investors seemed confident this morning – the bank's share price opened 1.6 per cent higher as it revealed it has put aside £500m in the face of ongoing investigations into Foreign Exchange practices. Barclays is not the only bank to have made such provisions: HSBC and [...]
Fraud squad to probe Tesco’s accounting hole October 29, 2014 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that it would take over from the Financial Conduct Authority in investigating a £263m hole in troubled Tesco’s accounts. The retail giant previously said the profits had been overstated due to erroneous timings in accounting for supplier rebates. It is the latest major case to land on the SFO’s plate, [...]
Deutsche Bank cannot rely on this trading rebound – Bottom Line October 29, 2014 Trading revenues were once the mainstay of many an investment bank, and made up the glamorous end of the City. It is always the traders who get the public’s attention. Who ever complains about City brokers or City auditors? But we might just be seeing the last hurrah for this powerful breed. Earlier this [...]
City Moves for 30 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 29, 2014 Rule Financial Tony Sodhi has been appointed managing principal at the specialist business consulting group. He was most recently head of post trade operations at a niche consultancy, and has also held senior roles at KPMG/Atos and FX IT. Barclays Solomon Soquar has been appointed head of global investments and solutions in the bank’s wealth [...]
Lloyds’ branch closure tight-rope: Antonio Horta Osorio’s balancing act October 28, 2014 Lloyds is chopping 150 branches over the next three years, so it seems an odd time to claim the bank in fact values the traditional high street sites more than the other lenders. But that is exactly what chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio says he is doing. It is a fine line to tread, [...]
US consumer confidence hits seven-year high October 28, 2014 AMERICAN consumer confidence shot up to a seven-year high this month, according to an industry survey published yesterday. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up in the next couple of months, the Conference Board’s findings will provide a boost to retailers across the pond. Respondents to the survey were more optimistic about both the US jobs [...]
Barclay brothers’ Shop Direct taps into smartphone shoppers October 28, 2014 Littlewoods owner Shop Direct yesterday said booming online sales on mobile phones helped to double profits at the business last year. The online retailer, owned by billionaire brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, said nearly half of all online sales were made via mobiles last year. The boom helped pre-tax profits at the group [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 October 2014 October 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com PETRA DIAMONDS Barclays Equity Research reiterated its “overweight” rating despite seasonally weak demand in the diamond industry. The broker maintained its 12-month price target of 290p for Petra and stated that it expected demand to firm up and management to maintain its price [...]
Lloyds branch closures are just the start: The UK is dramatically over-banked October 28, 2014 IT MIGHT be an uncomfortable truth for many to hear, but the UK is dramatically over-banked for the digital age. There are a little less than 10,000 bank branches across the UK, far fewer than the approximately 38,000 in France, for example. But for the UK, this is still too many. Lloyds Bank seems to [...]