Analysts call for a flight to quality in 2012 stock picks January 2, 2012 EUROPEAN equities look cheap but investors should tread cautiously in 2012, paying premium prices to target high-quality stocks, analysts have said. The market sell-off in the second half of 2011 left many shares undervalued, but investors should target solid companies with a good dividend yield as the market uncertainty and volatility is expected to continue. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CALLS FOR QE TO STAVE OFF EURO DEFLATION A top European Central Bank policymaker has called for “quantitative easing” to be used to boost the eurozone economy if deflation risks emerge across the region. The comments by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, ECB executive board member, are the strongest indication yet that the central bank [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 20, 2011 Barclays Wealth Wellian Wiranto has been appointed as Asia economist at Barclays Wealth’s Singapore office. As a member of the Barclays Wealth global investment strategy group, Wiranto will also focus on interpreting market economics for private banking clients in the region. Prior to joining Barclays Wealth, Wiranto worked at HSBC Bank in Singapore as its [...]
Black’s Leisure looks for new bidders or faces winding-up December 18, 2011 BLACK’S LEISURE faces falling into administrators’ hands and being broken up if the struggling outdoor chain fails to find a buyer this week, putting 2,000 jobs at risk. Black’s competitors Go Outdoors and Mountain Warehouse have both emerged as likely bidders for the company after Sports Direct’s billionaire founder Mike Ashley ruled out a bid [...]
New Olympus filings reveal a £700m hole December 14, 2011 FORMER Olympus chief executive Michael Woodford said he wants to recapitalise the troubled camera and equipment maker within months, after it staved off the immediate threat of being de-listed. Woodford, who is seeking investor support to be reinstated, said: “You have to look at improving the capital structure of the company. Because of the litigation [...]
La Senza on the brink as it calls in KPMG December 13, 2011 LINGERIE firm La Senza has called in restructurers from KPMG as it struggles to manage costs during the high street slump. City A.M. understands the British and European business, which is owned by private equity house Lion Capital, is considering entering administration but other options, such as a company voluntary arrangement or winning new investment, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 12, 2011 Cushman & Wakefield The global property consultant has expanded its EMEA sustainability team by appointing Justy Mathew as sustainability analyst, based in London. He joins from Pensions & Investment Research Consultants, where he worked on corporate social responsibility. Reporting to Andries van der Walt, head of sustainability for EMEA, Mathew will deliver sustainability consultancy for [...]
Asian growth boosts KPMG December 11, 2011 BIG four accountancy firm KPMG today reports a strong rise in annual revenue on the back of increased sales in emerging markets. The practice said revenue rose 10.1 per cent to $22.7bn (£14.5bn) for the year to 30 September. As well as financial services, the results were driven by member firms seeing work grow in [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 11, 2011 KPMG KPMG has appointed Paul Sawdon as UK head of its internal audit practice. Sawdon has been a partner at KPMG for the past ten years, where he has worked on a variety of audit projects, including developing the firm’s extended assurance proposition. He takes over from David Defroand, who leaves to devote himself to [...]
ADVISERS: ROTHSCHILD December 8, 2011 HEAD OF UK FINANCIAL ADVISORY ROBERT Leitão, Rothschild’s head of UK global financial advisory, has led the team advising Cairn during its tortuous deal with Vedanta. He joined the company in 1998 after nine years at Morgan Grenfell & Co, where he was appointed a director in 1995. Leitão has been involved in over 150 [...]