Greece is fast running out of money May 22, 2011 IT is looking worse by the day for Greece as the debt crisis trundles towards its inevitable and disastrous endgame. A default, however dressed up, can now only be a matter of time: the cash is fast running out. There is growing panic in Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank (ECB), which has emerged [...]
Yell shares surge as it pledges its future to digital media May 17, 2011 YELLOW-PAGES publisher Yell plans to increase its presence in digital media in a bid to counter a chronic decline in its print business. It yesterday posted pre-tax profit of £66.3m, compared with £70.3m last year. Revenue fell 12.4 per cent to £1.9bn. However, while print revenue dropped by 18.6 per cent, digital media revenue grew [...]
The European sovereign debt bomb is ticking May 17, 2011 JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker, chairman of the Eurozone’s finance ministers, said yesterday that Greece may have to ask investors to either extend the maturities of its bonds or agree to a soft restructuring. This follows on from the Greek foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas saying that the country was open to soft debt restructuring if needed. But in [...]
What to do if a hedge fund comes looking for your debt May 15, 2011 WITH bank loans tricky for small businesses to get their hands on, staying in the black is becoming more difficult. While this is terribly stressful for entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers are rubbing their hands together with glee. And if the stereotype is anything to go by those nasty chaps are determined to cut themselves a [...]
GREEK DRAMA COULD LEAVE EURO IN LIMBO May 10, 2011 WHAT a difference a week makes. Last Wednesday, euro-dollar at $1.5000 looked inevitable, as rate hikes were the only focus of the market. This week, all eyes are on the debt problems in Greece, as fears about its exit from the euro have the pair trading much closer to the $1.4000 figure. Greece, which appears [...]
Linklaters names Elliott as senior partner May 4, 2011 MAGIC circle law firm Linklaters has said that Robert Elliott (pictured) will be its new senior partner from October, after David Cheyne steps down from his five-year turn in the post. Elliott has been a partner at Linklaters since 1990, having left the partnership at banking and finance specialist Wilde Sapte to join the restructuring [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 27, 2011 AZ Electronic Materials Mike Powell will join the board of AZ Electronic Minerals on 1 September as chief financial officer. Powell succeeds the company’s current CFO Ken Greatbatch, who will retire on 31 August after reporting the firm’s half-year results. Powell joins from Nippon Sheet Glass, where he has been group finance director for the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 20, 2011 Barclays Corporate Barclays Corporate has appointed Tan Kah Chye as head of trade and working capital, joining from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, where he held the position of global head of trade finance for the past six years. At Barclays, Chye will use his experience in senior trade finance roles in Asia and Europe [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 14, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BOSCH WARNS JAPAN CRISIS WILL SLOW GLOBAL GROWTH The impact of last month’s Japanese earthquake will cut global economic growth by a quarter of a percentage point and could put a big dent in planed increase in car production this year, the head of the world’s largest car parts supplier warned. Franz Fehrenbach, [...]
Retailers at risk of going under are on the increase April 12, 2011 THE NUMBER of retailers at risk of going under shot up for the second consecutive month in March, according to insolvency firm RSM Tenon. The number of companies deemed to be at high risk of insolvency jumped by four per cent in March, compared to the month before, and jumped two per cent compared to [...]