Lord Myners’ report could finally ease pressure on Vince Cable over Royal Mail December 17, 2014 Vince Cable knew what he was letting himself in for when he asked Lord Myners to oversee a review of the British government’s privatisations. So the business secretary will, I suspect, be relieved that the independent-minded former City minister has concluded that taxpayers were less short-changed from Royal Mail’s initial public offering (IPO) [...]
Upstairs downstairs: KPMG bosses Simon Collins and Jane McCormick pop on aprons and serve up for staff December 17, 2014 Bosses over at KPMG were taken down a few pegs yesterday. UK chairman and senior partner Simon Collins (left) donned a hat and a “trainee” badge to serve up skinny cappuccinos and hazelnut lattes to staff. Meanwhile head of tax and pensions Jane McCormick (right) was peddling cupcakes to people at their desks. No careers [...]
City Moves for 17 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 16, 2014 Savills Richard Saunders has been appointed associate director in the real estate adviser’s City office. He has over 10 years’ experience in dilapidations and joins from Malcolm Hollis. Saunders’s previous clients include property companies, investors and corporate occupiers. Cluff Natural Resources Andrew Nunn has been appointed chief operating officer at the natural resources investing company. [...]
Bank of England stress test results: Lenders braced to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on IT improvements December 15, 2014 Britain's biggest banks are set to spend the next year pushing through major revamps of their IT systems, as stress tests have revealed problems in their ability to gather data on their own loan books. The lenders have been built up over decades from mergers of smaller banks, leaving them with a range of outdated [...]
City Moves for 16 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 15, 2014 Vail Williams Nina Epstein has been appointed senior management surveyor at the commercial property adviser. She joins from DTZ, where she worked in its property asset management/business development division. Epstein has also held roles at Cushman & Wakefield, LaSalle Investment Management, and CB Hillier Parker. Aviva Investors Mark Connolly has been appointed chief investment officer, [...]
KPMG’s record breaking sales fuel more hiring December 9, 2014 Big four accountant KPMG International today announced record-breaking revenues for its worldwide network of $24.82bn (£15.8bn) for the fiscal year ended 30 September – a six per cent increase year-on-year. The Americas delivered the strongest growth over the year, with revenues rising eight per cent to $8.51bn. The Europe, the Middle East and Africa region [...]
Black Friday UK 2014: Retailers return to black after a frenzied day of spending December 8, 2014 The shopping frenzy created by Black Friday last week helped push retail sales back into growth in November as shoppers flocked online and into stores to snap up a bargain. Like-for-like retail sales rose by 0.9 per cent compared with November last year, when they increased by 0.6 per cent. This was also an improvement [...]
Best of the Brokers for 08 December 2014 December 7, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CAMBIAN GROUP Numis reiterated its “buy” rating, following the firm’s acquisition of Woodleigh Community Care for £63m. The broker noted that Cambian’s management believes that it will be able to roll out Woodleigh’s hub-and-spoke model to other parts of its learning disability services. [...]
New car sales set to overtake pre-recession levels next year December 4, 2014 NEW CAR sales are showing no signs of hitting the brakes after increasing for the 33rd consecutive month in November. November new car sales reached 172,327, up by eight per cent on November 2013, according to figures released yesterday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. In the year-to-date new car sales have raced ahead [...]
Wages start to climb as talent pool is used up and employers chase jobseekers December 4, 2014 The long squeeze on workers’ wages is coming to an end, as recruiters today report that employers are competing harder for talent. As unemployment dives and the economy recovers, more employers are chasing fewer jobseekers, pushing up salaries. However, the intensity of the pressure will ease – the pace at which hiring is growing slowed to [...]