Two more Russians to enter FTSE November 8, 2011 TWO Russian miners are set to join the FTSE 100 next month, reigniting concerns over corporate governance and the composition of the index. Roman Abramovich’s steelmaking group Evraz and gold miner Polymetal will both join the index if the FTSE Group agrees at its next meeting. Evraz, with a £4.7bn market cap, and Polymetal, at [...]
IS THE SALES MISS A PROBLEM FOR STANDARD LIFE? November 2, 2011 BARRIE CORNES | PANMURE GDN The figures are solid if not spectacular. Long term savings net inflows were slightly disappointing with life and pension net inflows at £3,280m, some 16 per cent below consensus. In the UK it is well placed ahead of the introduction of the RDR and pension reform, but is trading on [...]
THE SHOW MUST GO ON SAYS FOREX FINANCIER November 1, 2011 DIGITAL downloads decimating album sales, Russian born tycoon Len Blavatnik poised to swoop on the UK’s last major domestic music label – it’s fair to say the music industry has seen better days. Here to help the sector’s financially challenged artistes make the most of their remaining revenue sources – touring, merchandise and ticket sales [...]
WERE IMPERIAL’S FIGURES IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS? November 1, 2011 TINA COOK | CHARLES STANLEY Imperial Tobacco continues to demonstrate resilience with strength in emerging markets helping to offset headwinds in Spain and the UK. The main positive surprise is a continuation of shareholder friendly actions with a 13 per cent increase in the dividend on a slightly larger than expected hike in the payout [...]
Sanlam to spend £12.3m on taking over Merchant October 31, 2011 CITY stockbroker Merchant Securities saw its shares leap almost 27 per cent yesterday as it said it had agreed an all cash takeover offer from South African investment group Sanlam. Sanlam, Merchant Securities’ biggest shareholder with almost a ten per cent stake, will pay £12.25m to take its shareholding to 75 per cent through a [...]
RBC Capital Markets and City’s shifting sands October 31, 2011 OCCASIONALLY the move of a key employee from one investment house to another inadvertently sums up the varying fortunes of the two groups involved in the transfer. And so it is with James Eves, who has quit UBS after 11 years to join RBC Capital Markets in its pan-European financials team. Eves leaves UBS shortly [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 31, 2011 INVESTEC Goldman Sachs rates Investec “buy” with a 533p target price as it believes the wealth management group has been unjustifiably hurt by risk aversion, despite shifting its business model towards asset and wealth management, which give it more stable income streams and now constitute about half its revenues. About 70 per cent of its [...]
Draghi’s rein at ECB marks the start of new era October 30, 2011 YOU may have missed it if you were busy stressing over Greece and the European debt crisis. So let me just flesh it out. The month of October has been unbelievably bullish for stocks regardless of the mess that Europe still finds itself in and the recession worries everyone keeps talking about. In the US, [...]
Life insurers to see sales fall on tough economy October 30, 2011 ECONOMIC gloom and a tough three months for financial markets are expected to take their toll on life insurers’ third-quarter sales figures due in the coming weeks, analysts said yesterday. Only a few insurers with a foothold in popular niche markets are expected to outperform, but these will see double-digit sales increases, they said. “Figures [...]
Investec bid for Evolution gets yes vote October 27, 2011 SHAREHOLDERS of broker-turned-wealth manager Evolution Group voted firmly in favour of its sale to South African investment group Investec yesterday despite concerns over the real price of the deal. Nearly 95 per cent of shareholders that chose to vote gave the takeover the green light, despite a ten per cent drop in the value of [...]