Bankers dash for the cash in Standard Chartered’s 5k race July 10, 2014 Some 6,500 City workers ran through the streets of the Square Mile last night, not to All Bar One for first dibs on Thursday drinks, but as part of Standard Chartered’s annual 5k Great City Race. The rain held off as teams from firms such as Investec, KMPG, Lloyd’s of London, PwC and [...]
London Report: FTSE spooked by euro market fears and LSE stake sale July 10, 2014 UK STOCKS yesterday retreated, with the FTSE 100 index posting its worst four-day slump since January, as London Stock Exchange (LSE) slid while banks extended losses. The FTSE 100 lost 45.67 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 6,672.37, extending its decline this week to 2.8 per cent. The broader FTSE All-Share Index also slid 0.7 per [...]
Bottom Line: Bank shares are still a white-knuckle ride July 9, 2014 THE ECONOMIC recovery is so firmly underway on both sides of the Atlantic that it almost feels like we are back in a boom. Stock markets in particular have roared back, fuelled by returning confidence and cheap money. But not every sector is feeling the love. Banks are still hideously unpredictable for shareholders. This is [...]
City Moves for 10 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 9, 2014 Regis The global property investor has appointed Syd Taylor as its UK-based chief financial officer. Taylor’s 25 years of experience include director level roles with Rockmount Capital, ING Real Estate, Goldman Sachs and Great Portland Estates. Smith & Williamson Peter Mitchell has joined the accountancy and investment management group as head of banking. Mitchell joins [...]
Best of the Brokers for 10 July 2014 July 9, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BP Barclays has increased BP to “equal weight” from “under weight”, keeping the target price at 600p. The broker thinks management’s commitment to return divestment proceeds to shareholders and potential for solid efficiency savings outweigh any long term concerns. PROVIDENT FINANCIAL Berenberg has [...]
Barclays appoints Matthew Ponsonby as new European M&A boss July 8, 2014 Barclays has shuffled its top dealmaking staff, naming Matthew Ponsonby has the new head of European mergers and acquisitions following the departure of Mark Warham. Ponsonby held the role as co-head until 2013 when he became chief operating officer for banking. Gary Posternack will be global head of M&A.
Diamond adds sparkle to Twitter July 7, 2014 The City’s Twitterati got quite the treat yesterday as it was joined by relative royalty. Bob Diamond swept into the Twittersphere, holding a big fish and adopting the handle @rediamondjr. Surely he hasn’t stepped down from his pedestal to walk among us in the squalid world of 140-character musings, we thought at first – but [...]
Ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond joins Twitter July 7, 2014 Bob Diamond, the former boss of Barclays bank, has joined Twitter using the name @rediamondjr. The ex-Barclays chief, who departed the bank in 2012 amid the Libor scandal, has yet to tweet but is already following three people. Perhaps wanting to build a better relationship with the media that lay much of the blame for [...]
Dividend hike expected for FTSE 350 firms July 7, 2014 DIVIDENDS from FTSE 350 firms are projected to climb by £74.5bn this year, up 4.7 per cent, with an even larger increase expected for the year afterwards. A new forecast by Markit suggests that after a significant rise this year, dividends among the UK’s large listed firms will surge by nine per cent in the [...]
PokerStars boss David Baazov mulls secondary London listing July 7, 2014 The boss of the world’s biggest-listed online gambling group yesterday flagged his interest in a secondary listing in London or New York. David Baazov, chief executive and chairman of Canadian-quoted Amaya Gaming, said the business was plotting a dual listing in future. He added he was weighing floating shares either on the London Stock Exchange [...]