The European sovereign debt bomb is ticking May 17, 2011 JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker, chairman of the Eurozone’s finance ministers, said yesterday that Greece may have to ask investors to either extend the maturities of its bonds or agree to a soft restructuring. This follows on from the Greek foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas saying that the country was open to soft debt restructuring if needed. But in [...]
HP slashes outlook as spends on service overhaul May 17, 2011 Hewlett-Packard has slashed its 2011 profit forecast as it prepares to spend heavily to revamp a troubled division that provides everything from computer maintenance to high-level tech consulting, sending its shares tumbling more than seven per cent. Chief executive Leo Apotheker, who took the helm in September, blamed the division’s “missed opportunities” under his predecessor [...]
Banks are on track to miss Merlin target May 16, 2011 THE TREASURY yesterday gave its support to the UK banks involved in the Merlin agreement, despite preliminary figures showing that the banks are on course to miss targets for lending to businesses. Figures collated for the Bank of England by accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers suggest that since the Project Merlin deal was made between the government [...]
BELSTAFF DIRECTOR ON-BRAND IN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN CAMEO May 16, 2011 NEVER mind the drawn-out takeover struggle by its largest shareholder Peel Holdings – the real action at Pinewood Studios has been filming the next instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, out tomorrow. Cinemagoers hoping to catch Pinewood’s chairman Sir Michael Grade in a cameo in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will [...]
THE TIPSTER May 16, 2011 THE Nikkei was sold off a little on Monday following some disappointing consumer confidence data. The country is still struggling back to normality following the terrible earthquake, but for contrarian investors, Japanese stocks could look good value. Capital CFDs quotes a price of 9,540-9,550 for the Nikkei 225. Mothercare reports its earnings on Wednesday. Its [...]
Top 40 young hedge fund stars named May 15, 2011 ROBERT Sorrell, the son of WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, has been named as one of the brightest people aged under 40 working in the hedge fund industry. The first Financial News 40 under 40 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds rollcall applauds the talents of men and women from all corners of the hedge [...]
LSE cries foul at rival bid for Canada’s TMX May 15, 2011 THE BID threatening to derail the London Stock Exchange’s agreed merger with Canadian peer TMX Group should raise significant regulatory concerns, the chief of the London bourse has claimed. A consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds, known together as the Maple group, tabled a counterbid to the LSE’s offer at the weekend. But speaking [...]
RBS GIVES BACK WITH BORIS BUSINESS DEAL May 15, 2011 GOOD to see that RBS, 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is giving something back, after the bank donated £275,000 to Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s “Business Bootcamps”. The scheme, launched last Friday, aims to help London’s fledgling entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground through a series of bootcamp-style workshops run by business [...]
Industrial output rises less than expected May 12, 2011 Industrial output rose much less than expected in March, official data showed, dousing hopes that the economy may have fared better than initially reported in the first three months of this year. The Office for National Statistics said industrial output rose 0.3 in March after a 1.2 per cent fall, less than half the 0.8 [...]
Gulliver’s off to quiet start at HSBC May 11, 2011 IN the ever changing world of banking, it was the turn of HSBC’s new chief executive Stuart Gulliver yesterday to inform investors of his bank’s strategy for the future. In recent weeks, both Bob Diamond of Barclays and António Horta-Osório of Lloyds Banking Group, have had a turn at imposing their personalities at their new [...]