Gold surprise at hedge fund Christmas bash December 10, 2012 TIS the season for the annual office Christmas party. Never an event to miss, and especially so for the employees of one particular City hedge fund, who will be pleasantly surprised when they sit down to their Christmas lunch this year. The founder of online bullion delivery company Bullion By Post, Rob Halliday Stein, tells [...]
Rolls-Royce looked at claims over payment in Indonesia December 9, 2012 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) is examining claims that engineering group Rolls-Royce paid millions of pounds to the son of the former leader of Indonesia. Rolls-Royce shares tumbled on Thursday after it revealed that it had handed information to the SFO about claims of malpractice in Indonesia and China. It is understood that Rolls-Royce uncovered [...]
FTSE strikes two month high amid weak trading yet lags euro stocks December 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a two-month high yesterday, fuelled by risk-sensitive stocks, but lagged European peers as wary investors met resistance around previous year highs. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 9.34 points at 5,901.42. The index’s 0.2 per cent rise lagged the German DAX and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300, up 1.1 [...]
First winter snowstorm shuts airports and causes rail havoc December 5, 2012 THE FIRST big snowstorm of the winter forced Stansted Airport to close for around two hours this morning and caused disruption on train routes into London. Stansted re-opened its runway shortly after 8am, having cleared two inches of snow, but the closure caused around 40 cancellations and delays for frustrated passengers for the rest of [...]
What the other papers say this morning December 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Intersnack hungry for KP Snacks The British maker of Hula Hoops crisps, KP nuts and Mini Cheddars is about to be sold to German snacks maker Intersnack, paving the way for a possible disposal of the rest of United Biscuits’ brands, including McVitie’s Jaffa cakes next year. Intersnack, the owner of Pom-Bear crisps [...]
Marshall Wace boosts profits on fund returns December 4, 2012 LONDON-BASED hedge fund Marshall Wace yesterday posted a 20 per cent jump in pre-tax profits led by a surge in income from improved fund performance. The company, set up by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, improved profits from £39.4m to £47.3m for the year ending February 2012 with income from performance fees up ten per [...]
Xstrata exodus continues with Reid departure December 4, 2012 XSTRATA’S long-serving chief financial officer Trevor Reid is to follow departing chief executive Mick Davis out the door of the mining giant when the firm completes its merger with commodities business Glencore next year, it was announced yesterday. Reid, who was poached by Davis in 2001 to help turn the flailing business around, has decided [...]
Crunch week to set the tone for sterling in 2013 December 4, 2012 IT IS a crunch week for the great British pound. The currency will be pushed and pulled by both monetary and fiscal forces. The market has been waiting with bated breath for today’s Autumn Statement, when chancellor George Osborne will outline his fiscal strategy to kick-start the UK’s ailing economy. There is also a chance that [...]
Politicians need to stop moralising – and reform our taxes December 3, 2012 LIKE many people, I loathe the UK tax system. It fails to treat everyone equally and is either extraordinarily punitive or pathetically soft. Scandalously, some big companies pay huge amounts of corporation tax while other similar businesses don’t. The aim must be revolutionary tax reform – all streams of income from labour and capital generated [...]
Hobbs gets the ladies on board without quotas December 2, 2012 NICKY Dulieu, the boss of fashion retailer Hobbs, has managed to recruit a nearly all-female board since taking up the helm in 2008 but insists that imposing quotas is not the way to increase the number of women in the boardroom. Asked whether she was in favour of quotas, Dulieu told City A.M: “I genuinely [...]