Struggling miners dent FTSE May 8, 2012 The FTSE 100 dipped this morning as political uncertainty sent shockwaves across the Eurozone while heavyweight commodity stock were dented. A win by socialist Francois Hollande in the French presidential election and chaos in Greece – where no party gained enough seats to form a government – served to sap investor confidence. In London the [...]
Meet this year’s judging panel May 7, 2012 Once again the judging panel for the City A.M. awards brings together some of the best known and brightest minds in the City. Our already excellent panel is this year joined by Katherine Garrett-Cox, chief executive of Alliance Trust. ALLISTER HEATH Allister, editor of City A.M., chairs the judging session. Last year’s session lasted nearly [...]
There’s no need to fear the return of retail investors May 7, 2012 LAST week, I was having a Twitter conversation with viewers about Google’s top three autofills for the search query “I want to buy…” The answers that came back varied depending on which country or state the viewer was in. In the US, people want to buy houses, cars, and, in some places, guns. In Sweden, [...]
Shareholder revolts don’t get much worse than this May 3, 2012 IT DOESN’T get much bigger than this. Fifty-nine per cent of shareholders refused to back Aviva’s remuneration report yesterday, either by voting against it (50 per cent) or abstaining (nine per cent). Of those who cast a ballot, 54 per cent voted against. To illustrate how bad this is for Aviva, we need to put [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 3, 2012 KPMG David Ellis has been appointed as a partner and head of KPMG’s UK reward practice, which specialises in advising companies on how to most effectively pay their executives. He joins from BDO, where he was head of human capital and a partner since 2004. Ellis has also previously worked for Ernst & Young and [...]
FTSE rise fuelled by solid earnings May 3, 2012 The FTSE 100 pushed higher in early deals, recovering some of the previous session’s falls as investors turned their attention to a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting and tomorrow’s key US jobs report. ECB chiefs meet today after a week in which a string of bleak economic data, including manufacturing figures, has cast a shadow. [...]
Strong building output raises growth hopes May 2, 2012 INCREASING orders and rising optimism pushed up activity in the construction sector in April, survey data showed yesterday, countering fears that the sector is dragging down the economy as a whole. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index came in at 55.8, slightly down on March’s 21-month high of 56.7, but still indicating solid growth above the “no [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 2, 2012 Deloitte Kit Dickson has been appointed partner in Deloitte’s information reporting and withholding taxes group, part of its financial services practice. He joins from KPMG’s investment management practice, where he worked with institutional investor clients. He also previously led KPMG’s EU law group. Reyl Overseas The new subsidiary of Reyl & Cie, the Swiss bank, [...]
Oil and banks weigh on FTSE May 2, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue-chip index dipped yesterday, surrendering much of the previous session’s gains as weaker banking and oil stocks outweighed stronger performances from Next and BSkyB, supported by better sales figures. The FTSE 100 closed 54.12 points lower at 5,758.11, or 0.9 per cent lower. Bearish investor sentiment from Europe dragged on the banking sector, with [...]
FTSE shored up by strong blue chip results May 2, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat in early trading as better than expected US manufacturing figures were offset by the bleak picture in the Eurozone. US manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace for 10 months fuelling confidence in the recovery of the world’s largest economy. However, the Eurozone’s manufacturing sector slipped further into decline last month, [...]