HOW DO YOU RATE STANCHART’S LATEST RESULTS? August 3, 2011 GARETH HUNT | INVESTEC While the first half has come in ahead of expectations, we do not expect full year consensus to move… While the headline cost performance was strong, it was flattered by one-offs, particularly in the “other Asia Pacific” reporting segment, which benefited from $86m of cost recoveries… As ever with Standard Chartered, [...]
Taking Aim to pass on your wealth August 3, 2011 WRONGLY written off as too risky by many, investing in a managed Alternative Investment Market (Aim) portfolio can be a powerful weapon in the arsenal of avoiding paying more inheritance tax (IHT) than you need. APATHETIC ADULTS Investec has exclusively released the details of a new study to City A.M. that reveals just one in [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 2, 2011 MACINTOSH RETAIL ING rates the Dutch retails group as a “buy” but cuts its 12-month target price from €25 to €22, after slashing its earnings per share by 25 per cent for 2011, and decreasing them fractionally for 2012. The company’s first-half update last week was dominated by weakness in BelCompany and start-up costs for Steve [...]
HSBC will cut 10,000 jobs July 31, 2011 HSBC is expected to announce a stagnation in group profits this morning and a massive round of lay-offs that could see 10,000 jobs cuts globally. Analysts expect the bank’s full-year pre-tax profits to be around $11bn (£6.7bn), versus $10.9bn last year. Investec predicts a 14 per cent drop in net profit from $4.4bn in the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: ARE BT’S PROFITS ENOUGH TO OFFSET ITS FALLING TOP LINE ? July 28, 2011 MORTEN SINGLETON | INVESTEC The cost-cutting story continues to demonstrate further mileage. Total operating costs before specific items down six per cent year on year, highlighting the success of the continued cost efficiency drive. ROBIN BIENENSTOCK | BERNSTEIN BT’s top line declines continue to highlight the weaknesses facing the company, while cost cutting to maintain [...]
Investec edges up its earnings July 28, 2011 SOUTH African investment bank and asset manager Investec said first-quarter profit was marginally higher, as it battled tougher-than-expected economic conditions and weak debt and equity markets. Investec, which has been boosting its asset management business to diversify beyond lending, said yesterday that its principal banking activities have been under pressure. But the bank said that [...]
ENTREPRENEURS NEWS | IN BRIEF July 24, 2011 MAJORITY THINK GETTING FUNDING IS EASY A sizable 39 per cent of Britain’s entrepreneurs expect conditions for accessing external sources of capital to be “normal” or “easy” in the next 12 months. This compares to 25 per cent who said this six months ago, according to research from May 2011 by Investec Specialist Private Bank. [...]
Stress tests denounced by analysts as backward-looking and inconsistent July 18, 2011 THE EU’s second round of stress tests precipitated a sharp fall in European bank shares yesterday after being slammed as “frustrating” and full of “widespread anomalies”. Analysts were scathing about the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) first ever tests, keeping price recommendations unchanged and saying that the exercise was effectively useless as a tool for distinguishing [...]
POACHERS TURNED GAMEKEEPERS SNARE GOLDMAN WITH BEST BREW July 18, 2011 SHARP-suited, discerning of taste and with a generous disposable income they can easily take elsewhere. Yes, the Goldman crew are a tough crowd – but even the investment bank’s most hard-nosed deal-makers are being won over by the new Italian opposite the Goldman Sachs fortress on Fleet Street, which is gaining a reputation for the [...]
FTSE dragged down by Eurozone and US debt worries July 18, 2011 Banking shares led the FTSE 100 down this morning as the eurozone crisis drained confidence from investors while fears over the US credit rating also cast a shadow. The Greek debt crisis deepened as Eurozone leaders continued to thrash out options to save the country’s economy. Officials proposed a range of schemes for Europe’s bailout [...]