Santander chief expects three year chill on profits September 29, 2011 SPANISH bank Santander expects it will take three years for profits to return to normal as higher regulatory and funding costs bite while the credit cycle gradually improves. The Eurozone’s biggest bank expects its return on equity (RoE) to improve by between three and six percentage points over the next three years and sees profits [...]
Commodities on track for dire quarter September 29, 2011 COMMODITIES, which are on course to close on their worst quarter since 2008 amid concerns over a global slowdown, gained some breathing space yesterday after the German parliament backed plans to expand the Eurozone’s bailout fund. Copper – often seen as a bell-weather for economic growth – as well as other industrial metals have been [...]
Alexon rescued after pre-pack deal with Sun Capital gets the go-ahead September 29, 2011 FASHION retailer Alexon has become the latest casualty of the economic downturn, going into administration before being sold to private equity firm, Sun Capital Partners. The so called pre-pack administration with KPMG, which secures continuing employment for Alexon’s staff of about 2,700, was agreed yesterday after the firm failed to secure additional funding, leaving it [...]
Thomson Reuters to issue notes September 29, 2011 MEDIA conglomerate Thomson Reuters has announced it will offer $350m (£223m) of 10 year notes to refinance borrowings used to repay a recently expired bond issue. Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities, JP Morgan Securities and RBS Securities are the joint book-running managers for the offering. The offering is expected to close on 5 October, the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 29, 2011 BlackRock Simon Beresford and Neil Purvis have been appointed to help develop the investment fund’s UK defined contribution business. Beresford (pictured) joins as chief operating officer of the firm’s Peterborough DC administration centre, moving from the Nationwide Building Society, where he was head of mortgage administration. Purvis, previously head of HR at the firm, takes [...]
FTSE falls on worries of China and copper losing momentum September 29, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index fell back yesterday, bucking firmer trends from both US and European equity markets and under pressure from big falls by heavyweight miners on lower copper prices amid concerns over future demand. Traders highlighted some anxiety over growth from major metals consumer China ahead of official September PMI numbers, due out on [...]
Barclays is top of the league for complaints September 28, 2011 BRITISH customers made more complaints about Barclays than any other banking brand in the first half of the year, according to data released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday. Barclays was the subject of 251,563 complaints, with 53 per cent of closed cases upheld in customers’ favour, the regulator’s figures showed. Next on the [...]
John Laing plans FTSE push with £155m rights issue September 28, 2011 THE infrastructure fund arm of project management group John Laing is planning to raise up to £155.8m through a capital raising that could push it into the FTSE 250. John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), which raised £270m in an initial public offering last November, said yesterday that it would issue 148.4m new shares at 105p per share. It [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 28, 2011 Kleinwort Benson Mouhammed Choukeir has been appointed as chief investment officer at the private bank, effective from October. Choukeir moves from Morgan Stanley, where he was head of multi-asset class investing in the wealth management division. Prior to that, he was a fixed income and foreign exchange portfolio manager with Morgan Stanley, having originally joined [...]
Man Group leads FTSE fallers after shock asset fall September 28, 2011 Hedge fund Man Group has ended the day almost 25 per cent, the biggest one-day plunge in its share price since November 2008, after shocking the markets with the scale of asset outflows over the past three months. UK stocks closed lower as confidence bled out of the market in the last hours of the [...]