WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 9, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GARDNER TO TAKE CONNAUGHT ROLE Connaught will today announce Sir Roy Gardner as its new non-executive chairman in a move the social housing maintainance group hopes will stabilise the business after a turbulent six months. The group, which mends leaky pipes in council houses and sweeps roads, was hit by the sudden resignation [...]
LDC close to Antler acquisition May 9, 2010 Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) , the private equity arm of the Lloyds Banking Group, is on the cusp of snapping up long-established luggage firm Antler after a lengthy auction process for the business. Antler has been owned by Barclays Private Equity since 2004 and has been on the market since last September. Turnaround specialists Endless [...]
MTG sees profits during first year May 9, 2010 PRIVATE client law firm Maurice Turnor Gardner (MTG) is the first City legal practice to give an indication of the 2009 financial year after the firm reported profits of roughly £2m. MTG, which spun off from “magic circle” firm Allen & Overy (A&O) last year during a restructuring, said that it had emerged as “comfortably [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 9, 2010 BARCLAYS UBS maintains a “buy” rating on Barclays and says revenues in the investment bank are set to grow as newer businesses start to deliver. The sharp negative reaction to Barclays’ trading update last month was on a weaker revenue performance than expected but UBS says the lower revenue was counterbalanced by lower costs. It [...]
Interest rates set to remain in a deadlock May 9, 2010 MONETARY policy should remain on hold this month to provide some certainty to the markets and to give the Bank of England time to fully assess the political situation, a majority of City A.M.’s Shadow MPC say ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee decision that is due at midday today. Only Henderson’s Simon Ward thinks [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 9, 2010 KPMG The accountancy firm has appointed Alastair McLeish as UK head of tax and pensions, effective from 1 July. McLeish joined KPMG’s Birmingham office in 1994 and was subsequently appointed in 2003 as head of the pensions advisory group, which he has built up since to encompass over 350 staff and 20 partners. Former UK [...]
NEWS FROM THE TRADING FLOOR May 9, 2010 FXCM ACQUIRES BRITISH ODL GROUP American foreign exchange broker FXCM last week announced that it had agreed terms to acquire ODL Group, an independent broker based in the UK and across Europe. The combined companies will operate as one of the largest non-bank forex brokers globally servicing over 200,000 live trading accounts with total client [...]
Sterling falls on fears of uncertainty May 7, 2010 STERLING sank to a one year low today as markets reacted badly to the possibility of a hung parliament. The pound fell as low as $1.4596 as investors turned to safer currencies, namely the dollar, for stability. Duncan Higgins from Caxton FX said: “The outlook for sterlng is negative from here. The dollar is the [...]
FTSE panics at the off but recovers some of its losses May 7, 2010 The FTSE fell 6.6 points to 5254.36 this morning as investors woke up to the prospect of a hung parliament. Panic on the opening bell caused the blue chip index to lose 100 points but it later recovered. “Sterling has been the worst affected by the news of the hung parliament but there has undoubtedly [...]
WHAT DOES THE ELECTION MEAN FOR BRITISH BUSINESS? May 7, 2010 DAVID FROST | BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE “At this stage, a hung parliament is not the best result for business. The UK needs strong and decisive leadership at this time of global financial turmoil. It is imperative that we see an early resolution as to who is going to be occupying Number 10 and Number [...]