Still some wag left in the tail for US equity fund investors May 4, 2011 WE ARE in the middle of US earnings season and to date first quarter results have been very strong, with positive outlooks for the rest of the year. In its first quarter report, Marsh & McLennan announced yesterday that its net income had increased $77m to $325m. Earnings per share had increased 13 cents to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 3, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESSES FEAR £90BN HIT IN COSTS BOOMERANG The UK’s main quoted companies fear that £90bn of annual costs will return to their books as they recover, washing away savings made during the recession and squeezing profit margins, according to a survey by a leading accountancy firm. Businesses believe that 95 per cent of [...]
UK’s factory growth loses momentum… May 3, 2011 STERLING dropped sharply yesterday as figures showed a marked slowdown in the UK’s manufacturing boom. The pound sank more than a percentage point to $1.647 in the morning session after a purchasing managers’ index unexpectedly dropped to a seven-month low of 54.6. The PMI has dropped over seven points since January’s record high of 61.7, [...]
MAKING UP FOR NEGLECT NEEDS POLITICAL WILL May 2, 2011 FORECASTING the future behaviour of an economy is fraught with difficulties. There are many bodies making economic forecasts and sometimes those forecasts differ markedly. We use the monthly HM Treasury publication Forecasts for the UK Economy: a comparison of independent forecasts, as it compares 38 different forecasting bodies. The average GDP growth figure for 2010 [...]
BP’s Russian partner offers hope of a deal April 26, 2011 OIL giant BP yesterday responded positively to suggestions that it might be able to negotiate its way out of an impasse in Russia with its partners TNK. According to an interview with the BBC, one of the AAR oligarchs involved in the TNK joint venture with BP said yesterday that a sale of TNK’s 50 [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2011 IMS Group The regulatory compliance provider has strengthened its consultancy offering following the acquisition of compliance consultancy MMS in February. Jonathan Mott joins as a consultant from the Financial Services Authority to work with a range of companies in the asset management and securities sector, including hedge fund managers and private equity firms. In addition, [...]
TNK-BP oligarch: ‘we could sell stake to BP’ April 26, 2011 A resolution to BP’s ongoing dispute with its Russian partner TNK-BP may be in sight after one of the tycoons in the joint venture said he and others would be willing to sell their stake to BP. Viktor Vekselberg, one of the oligarchs making up the AAR consortium that owns half of the TNK-BP venture, [...]
HSBC axes its Russian retail banking unit April 25, 2011 HSBC has become the latest international lender to pull the plug on its retail operations in Russia, as foreign banks struggle to crack the dominance of the country’s state-backed giants. The London-based bank’s exit follows that of Barclays, which quit its Russian retail banking operation last month. Barclay’s boss Bob Diamond said at the time [...]
Sberbank heads to US to find investors April 25, 2011 THE CHIEF executive of Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is to tour the United States this week to court potential investors ahead of a privatisation expected to start later this year. Herman Gref and other top managers are visiting the US this week to meet the largest fund managers and institutions. The state-owned lender, which has [...]
All Saints edges closer to sale amid administration fear April 25, 2011 HIGH street fashion retailer All Saints is set to complete a sale to US private equity house Goode Partners by the end of this week, despite fears its creditors could put it into administration. Sources close to the process said the US firm was “leading the deal” to buy all of the ordinary shares in [...]