FTSE up as UK manufacturing decline slows July 2, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged up this morning as new data showed that the decline in UK manufacturing slowed in June. The manufacturing PMI – a respected survey of the sector – stood at at 48.6, up from 45.9 in May and well ahead of the consensus forecast of 46.5. New orders also rose strongly to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 1, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Esma probes agencies’ views on banks The pan-European markets regulator has launched a probe into the way the big three credit rating agencies evaluate banks to determine if the process is sufficiently rigorous and transparent, its chairman Steven Maijoor told the Financial Times. The European Securities and Markets Authority has begun inspecting Standard [...]
Heritage spends £541m on oil assets in Nigeria July 1, 2012 HERITAGE Oil is spending $850m (£541m) on assets in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, the firm announced yesterday. The firm will buy a 45 per cent in the OML 30 fields from Shell, Total and Eni in a bid to diversify. The firm has endured frustratingly slow progress at its Kurdistan wells, which has weighed [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 28, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Bostock poised to leave M&S Kate Bostock, the head of all of Marks and Spencer’s non-food business, including clothing, is poised to leave the high street retailer. Ms Bostock’s departure could be announced at M&S’s annual meeting on July 10, or possibly sooner. The expected departure of Ms Bostock, who has been with [...]
ADVISERS DEUTCHE BANK June 28, 2012 GLOBAL head NATURAL RESOURCES M&A Nigel Robinson was one of the advisers from Deutsche Bank who advised Veolia. Robinson is no stranger to big deals and is currently also working on the mega merger between commodities giant Glencore and FTSE 100 miner Xstrata. Robinson joined the bank in 2007 as managing director and head of [...]
FTSE led down by scandal-hit Barclays June 28, 2012 The FTSE 100 slipped this morning as miners dipped and Barclays was dented by the Libor scandal while it was confirmed that the UK had lurched back into recession. Britain’s economy shrank by 0.3 pe rcent during the first three months of this year, official data confirmed, leaving the nation in its second recession in [...]
FTSE led down by scandal-hit Barclays June 28, 2012 The FTSE 100 slipped this morning as miners dipped and Barclays was dented by the Libor scandal while it was confirmed that the UK had lurched back into recession. Britain’s economy shrank by 0.3 per cent during the first three months of this year, official data confirmed, leaving the nation in its second recession in [...]
Glencore and Xstrata race to repair merger June 27, 2012 GLENCORE’S merger with Xstrata was on the rocks yesterday as the two firms scrambled to appease irate investors over the share ratio and pay packages linked to the deal. Mining group Xstrata yesterday rewrote its bonus rules for top staff to try and soothe shareholder anger at a £173m payday if the deal goes through, [...]
Ultimatum is the name of the game if you aren’t playing fair June 27, 2012 WHAT are Xstrata’s shareholders playing at? The answer seems to be a game called Ultimatum. It’s a simple experiment that shows why shareholders can’t be relied on to accept that any deal is better than none. Here’s how Ultimatum works. Player G is told he can have £100. He has the option to give an [...]
Boosted by bank and commodity stocks, FTSE breaks its losing run June 27, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading shares bounced back yesterday, snapping a four-session losing streak, with commodity and banking stocks squeezed higher as worries over the global growth outlook were eased by some upbeat US data. Volumes were again low, however, as most investors preferred to remain on the sidelines ahead of a crucial European summit. The FTSE 100 [...]