UK goods trade deficit stable May 15, 2012 Britain’s goods trade deficit stayed largely unchanged in March despite a rebound in exports to countries outside the European Union as overall import values also grew to a record level, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade deficit inched down to £8.56bn in March from £8.59bnin February. Economists had forecast [...]
Rusal earnings fall by 84pc as metal takes hit May 15, 2012 RUSAL, the world’s biggest aluminium producer, yesterday posted an 84 per cent drop in first-quarter net profit as metal prices fell. Net profit, which included its share of earnings in Norilsk and non-cash items, slumped to $74m (£46m) in the three months ended March from $451m a year earlier. While global aluminium consumption in the [...]
Queen of Wall Street quits as JP Morgan clears the decks May 14, 2012 JP MORGAN cleared out the entire senior team in its chief investment office (CIO) last night after Ina Drew, one of Wall Street’s most powerful women, quit the bank over $2bn (£1.24bn) in hedging losses. According to an internal memo seen by City A.M., Achilles Macris, who led the trading desk that placed the bank’s [...]
Channel 4 ups UK investment May 14, 2012 CHANNEL 4 yesterday posted an annual pre-tax profit of £44m, down 19 per cent, as its share of viewing declined slightly. But revenues climbed by £6.2m to £941.4m, boosted by profits from box office success The Inbetweeners Movie, prompting the broadcaster to increase its budget for UK commissions by £5m to a historic high of [...]
DIMON: I WAS DEAD WRONG May 13, 2012 In an extraordinary mea culpa, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said yesterday that he had been “dead wrong” to deny rumours that the bank could lose billions on a botched hedging strategy, a scandal that is likely to force several of the bank’s senior executives to quit. “I was dead wrong,” said Dimon in [...]
Borrows set to reign at 3i after Queen leaves May 13, 2012 TOP City rainmaker Simon Borrows is set to be named this week as chief executive of 3i, Britain’s oldest private equity firm. Borrows, who joined as chief investment officer last summer, will take over from Michael Queen, who in March announced his intention to step down. The promotion of Borrows will surprise few in the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 13, 2012 Rule Financial Pauline Parker has joined the provider of business and IT services to investment banks as head of its application managed services division. She joins Rule Financial from Temenos, the banking software solutions firm, where she served as a business consultant. Parker has also previously held the posts of Midas solutions director at Misys [...]
Fourth quarter disappoints for Superdry brand May 10, 2012 JULIAN DUNKERTON, chief executive of SuperGroup, yesterday insisted the brand remained strong and “was looking forward to the future” after reporting disappointing fourth quarter sales. The owner of the SuperDry fashion label posted flat like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 29 April, blaming challenging retail conditions and poor weather in April. Last month SuperGroup [...]
Tullett Prebon cuts more jobs as it waits for trading recovery May 10, 2012 THE WEAK global trading market has forced interdealer-broker Tullett Prebon to cut another 60 jobs. Terry Smith’s firm said it has cut 140 jobs this year, rather than the 80 redundancies it had pledged in March. Tullett, which posted revenue of £305m for the four months to April, flat on last year, said two thirds [...]
IHG: still room at the Inn for the Olympics May 9, 2012 INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) has said it continues to see “strong demand” in London ahead of the Olympics, as the world’s largest hotel operator posted better than expected first quarter profits. Chief financial officer Tom Singer said roughly 20 per cent of the rooms it was obliged to contract to Locog, the Olympic Games committee, [...]