Why this one bank is still cheery after Shell’s profit warning January 17, 2014 Shell dealt something of a blow to investors this morning, as it issued its first profit warning in 10 years. The fourth quarter of 2013 was never going to be a good one for the oil giant, with almost a fifth of its LNG portfolio down for maintenance. Then high exploration and refining costs, fuel [...]
BlackRock’s results benefit from bull run for equity markets January 16, 2014 THE WORLD’S largest money manager BlackRock yesterday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, benefiting from strong markets and a flow of new money into its exchange-traded funds. The New York-based company said fourth-quarter net income, a measure of profits, rose 24 per cent to $841m (£514.68m) while revenues increased nine per cent to $2.8bn. BlackRock has [...]
Sants joins Church for finance taskforce January 16, 2014 THE CITY’S former top financial regulator Hector Sants, who resigned from Barclays in November citing stress and exhaustion, will lead a new taskforce set up by the head of the Anglican Church. Sants will work with credit unions and the financial sector to support community financial services.
City Moves for 17 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 16, 2014 Baker Tilly The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Rob Donaldson as head of corporate finance. He previously held roles at KPMG Corporate Finance. Aldermore The bank has made two appointments to its asset finance team. Emma Irving joins as head of materials handling from BNP Paribas. Nova Everidge joins as head of new business [...]
Say goodbye to the Bank of England’s first governor as he disappears from the £50 note this April January 16, 2014 Sir John Houblon will be disappearing from the £50 note this April. From then on, you'll only be able to get £50 notes featuring Matthew Boulton and James Watt. The pair were responsible for accelerating the progress of manufacturing steam engines during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their famous Boulton & Watt engines were responsible [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 16 January 2014 January 15, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Payday lenders to create database After repeatedly saying that it was impossible to create a database for payday loans the UK’s largest payday lenders are clubbing together to set one up. Wonga, Quick Quid, Mr Lender and ThinkFinance have all signed up to provide information to a real time credit-reporting system run by [...]
Fund price war looms as Hargreaves cuts fees January 15, 2014 FUNDS group Hargreaves Lansdown yesterday unveiled a tariff for customers using its investment platform – the opening salvo in an looming price battle between fund supermarkets. The FTSE 100 group, based in Bristol, said customers will pay 0.45 per cent a year on the first £250,000 they invest and 0.25 per cent on investments of [...]
Co-operative comes out top in Stonewall survey January 15, 2014 THE CO-OPERATIVE has scooped top spot in a Stonewall study into how well private sector employers support gay, lesbian and bisexual staff. The research, which saw housing company Gentoo named overall top employer when including both the public and private sectors, also praised Accenture, EY and IBM for their engagement, support and attitude towards sexuality at [...]
Tullow climbs on new Kenyan oil discoveries January 15, 2014 FTSE 100-quoted Tullow Oil’s share price edged up yesterday, after mixed updates unveiled new discoveries in Kenya alongside mammoth exploration write-offs that startled analysts. The oil explorer said it made “significant oil discoveries” at the Amosing and Ewoi wells in Kenya and updated its estimate of discovered resources in the basin to over 600m barrels [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Tullow Oil’s mixed bag of corporate updates? January 15, 2014 BRENDA KELLY | IG There has been a major pullback with Tullow over the past couple of years, so yesterday’s rise in share price came off quite a low base. The new discoveries are positive for the company but lower oil prices continue to weigh down on the stock. 2014 production guidance was a bit [...]