Shareholders back Lloyds in cash call December 14, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group has hailed its £13.5bn rights issue as a success after shareholders took up more than 95 per cent of the shares on offer. The move came after a rights issue in June last year saw 13 per cent of shares on offer ignored by investors. The latest issue was part of a [...]
Citi appoints EMEA equities boss December 7, 2009 Citi has appointed Mike Pringle as its new head of equities for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to a memo leaked yesterday. Pringle, currently head of EMEA equities trading, joined the US bank in July 2008 from Merrill Lynch where he was in charge of EMEA equity trading for the group’s business in [...]
Autonomy shares drop amid margin concerns October 20, 2009 Shares in Autonomy dropped yesterday after the software firm said that the costs of meeting demand for its new database search product had hit its gross margin in the third quarter. Autonomy – which makes software that searches e-mail, telephone calls and documents for government departments – posted revenue of $191.6m (£116.4m) for the three [...]
Autonomy set to beat expectations once again October 8, 2009 SOFTWARE firm Autonomy said yesterday that it expects to report third-quarter results ahead of market expectations after seeing significant demand for its products. The company – which makes software to help companies search data across phone calls, email, videos and instant messages – said it anticipated reporting revenues of between $191m (£119m) and $193m, ahead [...]
Autonomy on target but shares slump July 16, 2009 SOFTWARE firm Autonomy reported a record second quarter performance yesterday, but shares dropped as some analysts expressed disappointment at the firm’s cautious outlook. The company, which specialises in meaning-based search technology, said that second quarter revenues grew by 55 per cent to £195.1m year-on-year, and profit-before-tax was up 64 per cent to £71.7m. “Despite the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 7, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday Telegraph WIGLEY TO ADVISE ADVENTThe former chairman of Merrill Lynch’s European operations and a respected City figure, is joining the private equity firm Advent International to identify investment opportunities across the financial services industry. Wigley will become a part-time operating partner at Advent, which is sitting on a large cash-pile after raising [...]
FTSE 100 stalls as traders nerves fail on banking sector May 28, 2009 RENEWED jitters over the health of the financial sector hit banks and offset gains by heavyweight oils yesterday, sending the FTSE 100 0.7 per cent, or 28.69 points, lower at 4,387.54. Banks were the worst performing large caps, with Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland down 0.8 per cent [...]
Merrill soars on bet worst could be over July 30, 2008 Shares in embattled US banking titan Merrill Lynch jumped nearly 8 per cent yesterday after the bank agreed to sell a massive debt portfolio at a discount, raising investor hopes it was putting its problems behind it. CEO John Thain has gone back to shareholders to boost the bank’s capital reserves, despite repeated assurances to [...]
Autonomy avoids gloom thanks to banking deals July 22, 2008 Software firm Autonomy yesterday reported expectation-busting figures for its second quarter and was bullish about the second half of the year, sending its shares soaring to an eight-month high. The Cambridge-based company, which develops software for tracking email and phone conversations, said pre-tax profits rose by 85 per cent to £25.4m, exceeding analysts’ expectations of [...]
Wall Street giants hit by SEC probe into short-selling July 17, 2008 American regulators have subpoenaed top investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers shares. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also approached more than 50 hedge funds to obtain trading and communications data. The inquiry aims [...]