Insolvency down as large firms perform strongly September 29, 2011 FEWER businesses failed in August than in any month since February, Experian revealed today. Experian’s insolvency index shows the rate of insolvencies fell to 0.08 per cent of businesses. That compares to a rate of 0.07 per cent in August 2010. In absolute terms 1,391 firms became insolvent in the month, an increase of 12.37 [...]
Shops braced for rent D-Day September 28, 2011 THE HIGH street is braced for a fresh blow as quarterly rent demands are due today and hard pressed retailers must pay their landlords. Thousands of firms will have to fork out three months’ rent in one go, with many already struggling to make ends meet in the tough consumer climate. The payments total £3.4bn [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS ED MILIBAND RIGHT TO TARGET PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS? September 27, 2011 AARON PAYNE | CONVERGYS “People shouldn’t be penalised for working hard or being creative, or for using private equity firms to try and build their own businesses and drive more wealth for the country. If you target them, you are going to lose that creativity.” MICHAEL STEFAN | HANOVER RESEARCH “It’s a bit unfair to [...]
Southern Cross returns care homes to landlords September 27, 2011 TROUBLED care home operator Southern Cross started to return its care homes to their owners and transfer its back office functions to a new company as it liquidated yesterday. The bankrupt care provider said it would move about two thirds of its 752 homes back to their owners by early November while HC-One, a new [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 26, 2011 Linklaters David Cheyne will stay on at the law firm as a consultant in an active client-facing role, after his term as senior partner comes to an end on 30 September. Cheyne joined Linklaters in 1972 and became a partner in 1980. He was global head of the firm’s corporate department from 2000 to 2005, [...]
Vickers sidelined in Bank resolution regime plans September 18, 2011 THE BANK of England is working on plans to carve up failing banks into “good” and “bad” banks, but has so far shown little interest in the concept of a ringfence dividing wholesale and retail activities, as proposed by Sir John Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking (ICB). The Bank’s quarterly report provides an update on [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 16, 2011 BlackRock Amra Balic has joined the asset manager as the EMEA head of corporate governance and responsible investment. Balic joins BlackRock from Standard & Poor’s, where she was a director in European Corporate Credit Ratings, responsible for corporate governance into the credit ratings process. Prior to joining S&P’s Corporate Governance Services team in 2000, Balic [...]
Businesses need alternate ways to access cash September 15, 2011 REGIONAL DIRECTOR, GE CAPITAL ANY review of economic data at the moment will confirm that the outlook for UK business remains uncertain. That said, there is still evidence that growth is on the agenda for many businesses in London and activity in the transactions market is increasing. This includes interest from both private equity and [...]
Euro chaos as markets reel over rumours September 13, 2011 NERVOUS investors jumped at every rumour yesterday, as politicians failed to calm the spiralling Eurozone crisis and choppy markets. The euro gained against the dollar on reports of an impending “Merkozy” statement between Germany’s chancellor and France’s president. But the single currency slumped back as President Sarkozy’s office denied that any joint statement would be [...]
Vickers: an elegant solution that is looking for a problem September 13, 2011 THE recent – apparently highly-acclaimed – ICB report smacks of an elegantly worked-out solution to problems that other bodies are addressing much more effectively. The ICB is right to seek ways to ensure that taxpayers do not bear the cost of banks’ failures. However, recent parliamentary legislation, together with developments at EU level and arising [...]