CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 6, 2009 LUUPTory MP Michael Howard has joined independent global mobile financial provider LUUP as chairman. The former home secretary is retiring from Parliament to develop an international business career. The position adds to his current business profile as chairman of Northern Racing, deputy chairman of Entrée Gold and a non-executive director of Helphire group. Tenon RecoveryTenon [...]
Not all banks were given state handouts August 4, 2009 ANOTHER day; another row about banking profits, bonuses and the future of the City. The nationalised Northern Rock’s numbers were poor as expected – but for some reason, the pundits are more concerned with banks that are doing reasonably well. And not any institution: they couldn’t care less about Standard Chartered, a well-managed group which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 4, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BMW EYES TIE-UP WITH PEUGEOT FOR MINIBMW is examining whether to share platforms with PSA Peugeot Citroën for its Mini small car, it emerged yesterday, as the German premium carmaker returned to profit in the second quarter on the back of cost-cutting. Norbert Reithofer, BMW’s chief executive, said the company was talking to [...]
Advertising insolvencies double August 4, 2009 Almost 300 companies in advertising and broadcasting went out of business in the 12 months to June 2009, according to research by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The figure includes 211 firms in the advertising sector, a 50 per cent increase year-on-year, as more firms went into insolvency than in other media sub-sectors. The broadcasting sector lost [...]
Seymour Pierce on top of Aim advisers August 2, 2009 STOCKBROKER Seymour Pierce continued to dominate the small cap advisory sector over the past three months of the year, the latest Aim adviser rankings from financial data provider Hemscott show today. Seymour Pierce added six new stockbroking clients over the period despite a wave of recent small cap insolvencies and delistings from Aim, taking its [...]
Arcandor’s banks push for the sale of stake in UK travel group Thomas Cook July 30, 2009 THE leading banks of insolvent German retailer Arcandor are pushing for a sale of the group’s stake in travel operator Thomas Cook, of which they hold 43.9 per cent as collateral. Arcandor filed for insolvency in June after its request for state help failed. Chief executive Karl-Gerhard Eick has been keen to find ways to [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 30, 2009 Cazenove CapitalAsset manager Cazenove Capital has appointed Marcus Gregson as non-executive director. Prior to his retirement, Gregson was the founding chief executive of HSBC Private Bank. He also held the position of managing director of private banking at Royal Trust Bank. He is currently non-executive director of a number of companies, including Sand Aire and [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 29, 2009 Kreab Gavin AndersonTom Grimmer has joined communications firm Kreab Gavin Anderson as managing partner, China. Grimmer will be based in Beijing and will advise multinational companies as well as Chinese corporations with international growth plans. He has worked and studied in Asia since 1985, previously working as senior communications advisor, Asia Pacific, to Credit Suisse [...]
EU banks face new debt woe July 27, 2009 EUROPE’S banks are set for renewed pain due to rising levels of consumer debt defaults linked to credit card loans, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday. The IMF estimates that seven per cent of Europe’s £1.5bn in consumer debt will turn sour, with the UK set to be particularly badly affected by its reliance [...]
Hotel firm failures rocket July 27, 2009 The number of UK hotel businesses becoming insolvent jumped by 120 per cent since June 2008, but the rate of failure is beginning to slow, according to a report out today by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. London hotel chains have so far defied the gloomiest of predictions by dropping room rates to attract volume demand. Hotel insolvencies peaked [...]