Barclays fails to live up to expectations April 27, 2011 BARCLAYS yesterday unveiled a disappointing set of results, prompting its shares to dip 3.26 per cent as investors lost faith in chief executive Bob Diamond’s (pictured) ability to deliver on an ambitious 13-15 per cent returns target. Pre-tax profit dropped to £1.66bn, nine per cent down on the first-quarter of 2010, with the corporate and [...]
Protium: Picking a solution out of thin air April 27, 2011 THE toxic assets that make up Barclays’ so-called Protium portfolio are aptly-named. Protium is the most common isotope of hydrogen gas, and the bank was plucking a solution out of thin air when it used a barely-disguised accounting trick to push $9.8bn of toxic assets off its balance sheet. Little wonder the manoeuvre has failed: [...]
Conoco earnings fall short of Wall St expectations April 27, 2011 CONOCOPHILIPS yesterday reported higher first-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations as its oil and gas production and refining results disappointed. Conoco’s production, which missed the company’s and Wall Street’s targets, was hurt by civil unrest in Libya, a temporary shutdown of the Trans Alaska Pipeline system in January and asset sales, Conoco [...]
FTSE flat as investors await news of Fed’s monetary policy April 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index ended flat yesterday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s news conference which could provide clues on the Fed’s future plans for its monetary policy. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 1.2 points or 0.02 per cent at 6,068.16, having hit a 9-week closing high on Tuesday. Volume was only 87.6 [...]
Barclays profit drops April 27, 2011 Barclays said its profit fell nine per cent from a year ago as it took a hit on the value of its own credit and income at its key investment banking arm dipped. Barclays reported a pretax profit of £1.66bn for the January-March period, just below forecasts and down from £1.82bn a year ago. Adjusted [...]
Barclays faces protests over food speculation April 26, 2011 BARCLAYS could see its annual meeting today disrupted by a group of protestors complaining about it speculating on food prices. The World Development Movement says it will protest against Barclays “pushing up the price of staple food”. Barclays Capital told City A.M. it acts “as an intermediary for our clients.” Protesters say banks are “profiting [...]
FTSE closes at two-month high despite light volumes April 26, 2011 aBRITAIN’S FTSE 100 closed at its highest level in over two months yesterday, albeit in light volumes, as earnings from the US and Europe supported gains ahead of results from UK companies such as ARM and BP. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed up 0.9 per cent at 6,069.36, with volumes still thin after the four-day [...]
HSBC axes its Russian retail banking unit April 25, 2011 HSBC has become the latest international lender to pull the plug on its retail operations in Russia, as foreign banks struggle to crack the dominance of the country’s state-backed giants. The London-based bank’s exit follows that of Barclays, which quit its Russian retail banking operation last month. Barclay’s boss Bob Diamond said at the time [...]
FTSE slips as earnings news dominates April 21, 2011 The FTSE pushed downwards at the close for the Easter break despite a strong start boosted by a positive round of US results last night. The FTSE 100 closed down 3.96 points or 0.1 per cent at 6,018.30, having jumped 2.1 per cent over the day to close back above the 6,000 level for the [...]
Newcastle hard knocks fail to deter dignified Hughton April 20, 2011 IF football’s marketing men want an antidote to the bad examples set by Wayne Rooney snarling into the nearest TV camera and managers furiously haranguing officials, then they could do far worse than Chris Hughton. The former Newcastle boss was dignity personified when unceremoniously dumped by the Tyneside club in December, despite hauling them back [...]