CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 21, 2012 DFJ Esprit The cross-stage venture capital firm has appointed Peter Keen as its a new venture partner, specialising in medtech and life science investments. Keen joins with 28 years’ experience in the sector. He was co-founder of Chriscience Group, chief financial officer of Arakis, and is currently non-executive director of Horizon Discovery and Q-Chip. Jefferies [...]
Evidence of revolt at every single level May 20, 2012 THE shareholder spring has sprung. Since proxy season started, we’ve become accustomed to the sight of investors giving directors a bloody nose. I’ve decided to crunch the numbers to see just how rebellious the buy side has become. A win is a win. Just three firms have been voted down at their annual meetings in [...]
Thai food giant mulls £2.5bn Birds Eye offer May 13, 2012 A THAI food firm has emerged as the latest suitor in the £2.5bn battle for the frozen foods group behind Birds Eye. Charoen Pokphand Foods, Thailand’s largest agribusiness firm, is preparing a bid for Iglo, which has been put up for sale by buyout firm Permira. The first deadline for bids was on Thursday when [...]
Investors back StanChart pay May 9, 2012 STANDARD Chartered headed off a shareholder revolt over director pay yesterday despite criticism from advisory group Pirc. Only 7.4 per cent of shareholders voted against the bank’s remuneration report even though Pirc said last week that the award for the head of the investment bank, Mike Rees, was too high. Standard Chartered notched up a [...]
FTSE rise fuelled by solid earnings May 3, 2012 The FTSE 100 pushed higher in early deals, recovering some of the previous session’s falls as investors turned their attention to a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting and tomorrow’s key US jobs report. ECB chiefs meet today after a week in which a string of bleak economic data, including manufacturing figures, has cast a shadow. [...]
Unilever sales lifted by price hikes and emerging markets April 26, 2012 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever beat forecasts with an 8.4 per cent rise in first-quarter sales yesterday, helped by price hikes and emerging market growth. The Anglo-Dutch maker of brands like Dove and Knorr is battling high input costs from rising commodity prices such as crude and vegetable oils, and slow growth in developed nations. It [...]
Bumper results lift FTSE higher April 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares pushed higher yesterday, notching up a third session of gains as investors digested a big bag of blue chip results, with advances in oil majors outweighing a heavy fall in drugs firm AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 index closed up 29.83 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,748.72 after a choppy session, continuing [...]
FTSE lifted by Shell and Barclays boost April 26, 2012 The FTSE 100 opened on the front foot today with gains fuelled by the energy sector after Shell reported encouraging fourth quarter profits. In banking Barclays announced a 22 per cent rise in first quarter earnings, which also helped to inject some momentum into the market. Investors shrugged off yesterday’s bleak news that the UK [...]
Unilever buoyed by price hikes April 26, 2012 Consumer goods giant Unilever warned of a tough economic environment and higher inputs costs as its price hikes and emerging market growth helped first-quarter sales beat forecasts with a 8.4 per cent rise. The Anglo-Dutch maker of brands like Dove and Knorr is facing slower growth in developed nations while competition from key rivals is [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 23, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EX-CALPERS CHIEF ACCUSED OF FRAUD The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Federico Buenrostro, former chief executive of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, and a friend of fabricating documents designed to show that $20m in fees paid by Apollo to Arvco, a “placement agent”, for help securing the pension fund’s investment had [...]