Alliance Trust gets a year to show results as Elliott Advisors gives 12 months’ notice April 28, 2015 Investment firm Alliance Trust has been put on 12-months’ notice by activist investor Elliott Advisors to show results or be forced to change its strategy. In a vicious battle over the past month, both sides have been rallying support among shareholders, with Elliott pushing for three new directors to join the board, and Alliance [...]
Ex Morrisons chief Dalton Philips pockets £1m bonus April 28, 2015 Former Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips, whose last year in the role saw the supermarket cut its dividend amid large losses, is being given a £1m bonus for 2014/15. This comes on top of his base salary of £850,000, and other benefits including his pension. In total, Philips will take home almost £2.1m. [...]
Elliott Advisors: The activist US hedge fund shaking up Britain April 27, 2015 Elliott Advisors is the UK subsidiary of a much larger American group, which began life in 1977 when it was established by Paul Elliott Singer. Its British arm has a reputation for activism which is not always welcomed by companies’ executives, as the hedge fund analyses performance and pushes for changes to squeeze better returns. [...]
City Moves for 27 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 26, 2015 Nexus Underwriting Management Group Stuart Rouse has been appointed chief operating officer and chief financial officer (CFO) at the underwriting firm. He has previously served as CFO of Fusion Insurance, CFO of Towergate Underwriting, chief operating officer of Towergate Financial, CFO of Aspen’s managing agency and its insurance division, and latterly group chief operating officer [...]
Sainsbury’s to shed 800 store jobs in bid to save £500m in supermarket price war April 23, 2015 Sainsbury’s is set to axe 800 jobs in stores as part of a shake-up aimed at saving £500m over the next three years to better position itself in the ongoing supermarket price war. The supermarket chain said yesterday that it plans to remove department and deputy managers from certain stores in order to invest [...]
Tesco results: Three things you need to know after today’s annual loss announcement April 22, 2015 Tesco's results are out and there's a lot to take in – market reaction had been mixed this morning, initially up and now largely flat. Here are the three key things you need to know about Tesco this morning after shock losses at the supermarket. 1. How huge? This huge To put Tesco's £6.38bn loss [...]
Tesco set to report record loss. Is new boss Dave Lewis the man to lead a turnaround? April 20, 2015 Dave Lewis arrived at Tesco with the nickname “Drastic Dave” – earned after he streamlined Unilever UK in 2007, cutting 40 per cent of costs and 300 jobs. When he took up the role of Tesco chief executive in September he had every reason to live up to that moniker. Facing a £263m accounting error, [...]
Morrisons on hiring spree for shop floor while axing head office staff April 16, 2015 MORRISONS is axing hundreds of roles in its head office while simultaneously going on a hiring spree for its shop floor as part of radical shake-up under new chief executive David Potts. The ailing supermarket chain, which reported a £792m pre-tax loss last month, said 720 jobs will be cut in Bradford to create a [...]
Morrisons share price falls as new boss David Potts cuts jobs at head office to hire 5,000 shop floor staff April 16, 2015 Morrisons is cutting hundreds of roles in its head office while simultaneously going on a hiring spree for its shop floor. The troubled supermarket, which last month revealed full year losses of £176m and brought in a new chief executive after Dalton Phillips left under a cloud, is expecting to make 720 head office roles [...]
Best of the Brokers for 15 April 2015 April 14, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com WM MORRISON Shore Capital said it welcomed the speedy shake-up in management under new chief executive David Potts and reiterated his “buy” rating with a target price of 200p. He said Morrisons was on track to become a more “shareholder-friendly” stock before its [...]