FTSE tumbles on Tesco share price turmoil as banks take a hit – London Report December 9, 2014 Britain’s main equity index yesterday fell to one-month lows, hit by supermarket retailer Tesco’s fourth profit warning this year. Shares in Tesco at one stage fell as much as 17 per cent to their lowest in around 14 years, wiping some £2.6bn off the firm’s market capitalisation. It later regained some ground to close 6.6 [...]
No banking unit safe from probes December 4, 2014 EVERY part of Britain’s banks will be open to scrutiny by the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), its chief executive Alex Chisholm said yesterday. He denied the body was swayed by politicians and their focus on retail banking. Chisholm insisted his mandate covered any type of anti-competitive behaviour across the whole sector. So far, retail [...]
City Moves for 05 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 4, 2014 Three Crowns The global arbitration law firm has appointed Carmen Martinez Lopez as a partner in its London office. She joins from Covington & Burling, where she was an arbitration partner. Martinez Lopez has particular expertise in the Latin American and Spanish language markets. Armstrong Investment Managers Christopher Sullivan has been appointed director and head [...]
Qatar appoints Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani as new chief for sovereign fund December 3, 2014 Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund yesterday appointed a member of the emirate’s royal family to replace its chief executive. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which manages as much as $300bn (£191bn), including significant stakes in Barclays, Credit Suisse, Sainsbury’s and London department store Harrods, has named Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani as CEO. He will [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Chancellor bids to get banks to pay tax quickly December 3, 2014 Britain's biggest banks will have to pay their taxes more quickly under new accounting rules brought in by the chancellor yesterday, bringing in an extra £3.5bn over the next four years. Lenders which made huge losses in the financial crisis are still offsetting current profits against those costs. The chancellor said he does not [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Shares in RBS, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays fall as chancellor outlines profit measures December 3, 2014 Shares in UK banks dropped in early afternoon trading as George Osborne outlined measures to limit the amount of profit lenders can offset by losses. In his Autumn Statement speech, Osborne said he would limit offests to 50 per cent, and delay relief on bad debts, which he added will raise £4bn for the Treasury [...]
Barclays to place ISS shares worth £300m December 2, 2014 Barclays was last night in the market with 13.5 per cent of the stock in ISS, the cleaning and catering group that floated earlier this year in the largest Danish IPO for 20 years. The bank acted on behalf of shareholders to buy the block in a deal worth around £300m and will be placing [...]
Oil giant BG Group backs down over new chief Helge Lund’s pay pack December 1, 2014 Pressure from shareholders has forced oil firm BG Group to revise its remuneration package for incoming chief executive Helge Lund and reduce his share award from £10m to £4.7m. The company stated that a “significant number” of shareholders had questioned the structure of the original proposed pay package, in particular asking whether it was [...]
Kier Group admits to rival takeover talks December 1, 2014 British construction and property firm Kier Group confirmed yesterday that it had held preliminary discussions regarding the possible acquisition of infrastructure compatriot Mouchel. The Bedfordshire-based Kier said in a statement yesterday that it was in early discussions over a bid but that “there can be no certainty that an acquisition of Mouchel will be completed”. [...]
Macquarie replaces Bank of America as Bowleven’s nomad December 1, 2014 BRITISH oil and gas company Bowleven has hired Macquarie Capital as its new nominated adviser (nomad) on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), following the resignation of Bank of America last week, the company announced yesterday. The Edinburgh-based firm said in a statement that it had appointed Macquarie with immediate effect to act both as its [...]