Lots of platitudes but little red meat May 11, 2011 WITH around £1.5 trillion of assets on its balance sheet, HSBC is practically the size of a country. Perhaps that’s why most of the ideas unveiled at yesterday’s hotly-anticipated “strategy day” seem to have been stolen from a Whitehall efficiency review. First there was the £100m saving that will come from a “reduction of paperwork”. [...]
HSBC plans £2.1bn savings May 11, 2011 HSBC is reviewing its US cards business and streamlining its wealth management and retail banking operations as it eyes savings of up to $3.5bn (£2.1bn), Europe’s biggest bank has said. HSBC said the savings would help it reduce the proportion of revenue spent on expenses to 48-52 per cent by 2013 from 61 per cent [...]
Failed take off for float of heli firm May 10, 2011 KREMLIN-BACKED defence firm Russian Helicopters has pulled its joint Moscow and London initial public offering (IPO) after failing to find sufficient demand for its shares, sources close to the deal told City A.M. last night. Russia’s primary helicopter maker had been looking to finalise a price for its shares by today, in a sale that [...]
Triesman takes swipe at unethical Fifa May 10, 2011 THE WORLD CUP bidding process is under fresh scrutiny after further allegations of vote selling were made against six of the men who decide who hosts the tournament. Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman accused four members of world governing body Fifa’s all-powerful executive committee of seeking incentives to support England’s failed bid to stage [...]
Russian Helicopters pulls $2.4bn IPO May 10, 2011 KREMLIN-BACKED defence firm Russian Helicopters has pulled its joint Moscow and London initial public offering (IPO) after failing to find sufficient demand for its shares, a source close to the deal told City A.M. The firm becomes the latest in a string of companies, including some Russian ones, to put their London listing plans on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 4, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BREWER’S FINANCE CHIEF TO RETIRE SABMiller is ushering in a new era after Malcolm Wyman, who has served as chief financial officer for the past decade, announced plans to retire at the annual meeting in July. My Wyman, 64, will be replaced by James Wilson, finance director for European operations. Mr Wilson, 51, [...]
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 [...]