Law giants hit by M&A drought July 5, 2010 ■ Linklaters’ revenues down by 8.8 per cent ■ Allen & Overy’s revenues contract by 4 per cent ■ Clifford Chance is set to reveal a 5 per cent sales drop THE UK’s largest law firms have suffered a blow from a two-year M&A drought that has forced them to look beyond Britain’s shores for [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 4, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES UK GOVERNMENT BOND MARKET STRONG, SAYS DMO The UK government bond market has been one of the best performing of the year because the country is safely outside the troubled eurozone and has its own currency, according to Robert Stheeman, chief executive of the Debt Management Office. He points out that gilts have [...]
Ukraine is set to receive a $15bn IMF stability grant July 4, 2010 THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to grant Ukraine $14.9bn (£12.3bn) to stabilise its ailing economy. The “preliminary co-operation agreement” is good news for president Viktor Yanukovich, but is only offered on the basis his coalition government delivers upopular economic reforms, such as increasing the price of natural gas. Final approval would not be [...]
Like football, financial services is truly global July 4, 2010 THE ENGLISH team may be out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but there is no question that, when it comes to finance, we are in the premier league. However we cannot ignore the fact that our rapidly developing counterparts are becoming more important on the global stage and challenging Europe’s competitiveness. That [...]
Williams serves up record ace tally in battling victory July 1, 2010 DEFENDING champion Serena Williams is hoping to find an extra gear for her sixth Wimbledon final after being pushed hard in yesterday’s last-four tussle with Czech upstart Petra Kvitova. After being broken for the first time in this year’s tournament, Williams drew on her considerable battling qualities to force a tie-break that proved to be [...]
Zvonareva fights back to reach first Grand Slam final July 1, 2010 RUSSIA’S Vera Zvonareva has vowed not to even contemplate the odds of beating defending champion Serena Williams in Sunday’s final. And that is probably just as well, because punters are unlikely to be flocking to back the 21st seed against the world No1, despite a gritty comeback win over Tsvetana Pironkova. Zvonareva had to recover [...]
The Gaul the world loves June 30, 2010 I’VE visited a lot of restaurants in London: flashy ones, rustic ones, refined European ones, rooftop ones, flamboyantly ethnic ones and ones that closed after not very long at all. My favourite, on many levels, is Sketch – less a restaurant than a pleasure dome. I love that an eccentric man greets you and speaks [...]
BP boss calms Russian fears June 28, 2010 TONY HAYWARD, the embattled BP chief executive, yesterday launched a campaign to reassure top Russian officials of the group’s stability. Hayward, who met with government figures, is on a charm offensive to reassure the Kremlin over BP’s local operations. A number of concerns have been expressed by the country’s government over the future of the [...]
The boss of the world’s number one caterer is drawing up plans to grow June 28, 2010 It is no exaggeration to say that Compass and its chief executive Richard Cousins has elevated the term low-key into something of an art form. A modest three-storey red brick building in Chertsey, Surrey, is home to the biggest caterer in the world. Cousins, a 51-year-old father of two who rarely gives interviews, is the [...]
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will float in the future June 24, 2010 THE world’s biggest social networking site will float at some point, according to its founder yesterday. However, he would not put a time-frame on the listing of the firm, which has been privately valued at over $1bn (£670m). He also said Facebook is poised to surpass 1bn users. The only major markets where the site [...]