City Moves for 16 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 15, 2014 Seddons The law firm has recruited James Ward as a partner in its private client team. He was most recently at Lee Bolton Monier-Williams, where he was a partner in its private client division. HSBC Private Bank The private bank has made two senior appointments. Paul O’Donnell joins as head of UK domestic. He has over 25 [...]
Best of the Brokers for 16 January 2014 January 15, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com WETHERSPOONS Brokers at Numis have increased their target price on the stock to 925p and put an “add” rating on the stock due to a faster rate of expansion at the pub chain and falling swap costs. The pub plans to open eight [...]
A DIY investment price war could be on the way January 15, 2014 Imagine if Sainsbury’s or Tesco made you pay to enter their supermarkets and buy their milk and bread, but promised that the milk and bread would be much cheaper than before. That slightly dystopian vision is what occurred to UK money management industry last year, after regulators decided the relationship between suppliers and distributors was [...]
Why Barclays is feeling bullish about Tullow Oil January 15, 2014 This morning, Tullow Oil announced it made "significant" oil discoveries in Kenya in 2013. But the exploration company also warned that production stutters in Ghana will probably push down its average production for 2014. Barclays, however, is optimistic about Tullow's future. In a note following the statement, it reiterated its rating of Tullow's stock as [...]
Slump for Asos despite stellar Christmas sales January 14, 2014 ASOS shares slid yesterday despite the online fashion retailer posting another set of glowing results, boosted by sales in Europe and a surge in UK customers clicking online in the run-up to Christmas. The retailer’s shares fell as much as seven per cent before closing down three per cent yesterday, with analysts pointing to an [...]
More banks join bid to cut hours for junior staff January 14, 2014 CREDIT Suisse yesterday became the latest investment bank to tell its interns and junior employees to take more time out of the office, after increased worries that young staff are pushing themselves dangerously hard. The giant Swiss bank has told junior staff they should try not to come into work on Saturday, in an effort [...]
Out in the City G3 Awards name some of our top diversity champs January 14, 2014 THE CITY hasn’t always been a place praised for its diversity but thanks to the Out in the City/G3 Readers Awards, it’s proven itself to be more inclusive than you might think. The shortlist for the awards – which recognise outstanding commitment to promoting equality and diversity in relation to the LGBT community – was announced [...]
Europe’s banks are losing share of M&A deals January 14, 2014 AS GLOBAL merger and acquisition activity looks like springing back into life after a six-year downturn, it’s worth noting that the likely benefactors among bank advisers to these mega deals are likely to be increasingly American. While the likes of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch find themselves set [...]
The funds that could see big gains this year January 14, 2014 But if you want your investments to do well, avoid 2013’s winners WITH the FTSE 100 nearing an all-time high and the S&P 500 rising by 29.6 per cent, 2013 was a bumper year for equity investors. Those who had backed a fund manager investing in small British companies or Japan – last year’s big [...]
What happened to the Great Deleveraging? January 14, 2014 Back in the gloomy days of 2010, the phrase bandied around by many US economic forecasters was the appropriately foreboding ‘great deleveraging’. This was an epoch-defining moment when US consumers would stop splurging on nice things like cars and TVs and hunker down to pay back their debts for decades to come. The only problem [...]