Centrica issues £840m notes to finance recent acquisition costs October 14, 2013 FTSE 100-listed energy firm Centrica yesterday said it is issuing two bonds totalling $1.35bn (£840m), to pay for previously announced acquisitions and refinance existing debt. The new facility is made up of $750m in four per cent senior notes due 2023 and $600m-worth of 5.375 per cent senior notes due 2043. Centrica – which owns [...]
YouGov lifted by fresh contract wins and Middle Eastern growth October 14, 2013 ONLINE market research agency YouGov reported a 13 per cent rise in profits to £6.8m for the year to July, on the back of a number of new contracts from Barclays, Blackrock and ITV. Revenues from the pollster jumped eight per cent to £62.6m boosted by growth emerging from the company’s Middle East operations, which [...]
US joins UK in probing foreign exchange trades October 13, 2013 THE US is set to join Britain’s regulators in investigating possible market manipulation in foreign exchange, it emerged yesterday. The inquiry is the latest in a series of markets to be investigated, in a round of probes that kicked off with the Libor investigations. Those probes, which are still ongoing, have found three banks so [...]
Shanghai victory keeps Djokovic’s No1 hopes alive October 13, 2013 WORLD No2 Novak Djokovic has kept a glimmer of hope of ending 2013 at the top of the rankings, after beating Juan Martin Del Potro yesterday to retain his Shanghai Masters title. The 26-year-old Serb, a six-time grand slam winner, won a compelling match 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3). Djokovic has now won 20 straight matches [...]
JP Morgan reports loss following scandal costs October 11, 2013 Banking giant JP Morgan has announced a surprise loss in the third quarter, following legal expenses of $7.2bn (£4.5bn). Net loss was at $0.4bn (17 cents a share) whilst revenue was $23.1bn (£14.5bn) versus $26bn last year. The bank is still in $11bn settlement talks with US regulators over mis-selling of mortgage-backed securities pre-the financial [...]
Barclays to face energy fix claims as watchdog brings court case October 10, 2013 BARCLAYS yesterday rejected claims its traders manipulated US energy markets, as an American regulator filed court documents in the latest stage of its bid to fine the bank. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) wants the bank to pay $435m (£272.5m) in civil penalties for allegedly manipulating the market from November 2006 to December 2008 to increase [...]
Bank sticks to Carney’s rules as interest rate is held again October 10, 2013 THE Bank of England held the benchmark interest rate at 0.5 per cent yesterday for the 55th consecutive month, with no changes to quantitative easing. With the Bank’s monetary policy committee seemingly sticking to the forward guidance policy laid out by new governor Mark Carney in August, there looks to be little scope for upset [...]
Inside Track: Independent analysts don’t always say what you want October 10, 2013 FOR several months now I have been arguing that an understanding of the new issues market would be enhanced by the presence of independent analysts, writing research about companies coming to market ahead of the first day’s trading. Most of the recent London flotations have gone ahead with no research from any bank that is [...]
City Moves for 11 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 10, 2013 Smith & WilliamsonThe financial services company has announced the appointment of John Rugman as head of valuations. He was previously at PwC, where he was director of its UK regional valuation team. PwCRichard Horne has joined the professional services firm as a partner in its cyber security practice. Horne previously spent 12 years at Barclays, most recently [...]
Liberum wins another broking mandate after employee raid October 9, 2013 LIBERUM, the investment bank and research house, has won its second new broking client in the wake of its hiring of 14 people from Espirito Santo in July. Workspace, the office rental group focused on new and growing companies, said yesterday it had appointed Liberum as its broker alongside Investec, the South African bank. The [...]