When black bowler hats gave way to red braces October 26, 2011 THE BIG Bang set the City on a course of profound expansion, not just of wealth, but of people and culture and even location. Twenty-five years after deregulation, London’s financial and legal districts are full of the sort of people that would have made the bowler-hatted old boys of the post-war period shudder. Women, foreigners, [...]
City backing for Bramson’s cuts at F&C October 25, 2011 THE CITY took an upbeat view of F&C Asset Management after its new chairman wielded the axe on its back office functions. Shares closed up 2.65 per cent as Edward Bramson, the activist investor who took the post in February after winning a bitter boardroom battle, announced plans to nearly treble cost-savings to £33.2m by [...]
Post-It maker 3M falls short of forecasts October 25, 2011 3M, the US maker of Post-It notes, has warned that the Eurozone crisis is threatening its business as its quarterly profits fell well short of market expectations. Shares in 3M have fallen 3.8 per cent after it said weaker demand for electronics and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis had hit its sales and it would have [...]
UBS profits better than forecast despite scandal October 25, 2011 Swiss bank UBS reported a better-than-expected third-quarter net profits but warned the tough trading conditions that hit its investment banking income looked set to continue unless the global economy improved. The bank said its core wealth management business had held up well despite a trading scandal which had lost the bank 1.8bn Swiss francs (£708m) [...]
ROTHSCHILD GIVES STAFF ITS TURKEY OF A BONUS October 23, 2011 EVERY little helps, as the Tesco slogan goes. So the price-conscious supermarket giant will be pleased to learn that the competitively remunerated London employees of Rothschild receive daily luncheon vouchers for the sum of £3 that can be refunded in any of its stores. But Rothschild’s solicitous attempts to ensure its workforce is well fed [...]
Earnings rise at Microsoft October 20, 2011 MICROSOFT matched market expectations for its first-quarter earnings yesterday, turning a solid performance despite weakness in the PC market that hit sales of its flagship Windows software. The software giant’s strong foothold in the business market helped insulate it from the slowdown in consumer spending, and it said it had set a new record for [...]
Inquiry call amid Dexia asset sales October 20, 2011 BELGIAN politicians have demanded an investigation after documents emerged showing crippled bank Dexia was warned last year over its “fragility”. The Green Party called for a parliamentary inquiry after letters emerged showing Autorité de contrôle prudentiel (ACP), the French regulator, wrote to French arm Dexia Crédit Local (DCL) in August and September last year to [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 20, 2011 Sovereign Capital The UK private equity buy and build specialist has appointed Rob King as investment manager to execute its buy and build growth strategy. Prior to joining Sovereign, King spent four years in the investment banking division of Rothschild, working on private equity-backed and plc mid-market deals across sectors including business services and healthcare. [...]
Debenhams in buy-back October 20, 2011 DEBENHAMS is to launch a share buy-back after yesterday posting a rise in profits. The department store chain saw pre-tax profits lift by 10 per cent to £166m in the year to 3 September. Revenues rose 4.2 per cent to £2.2bn over the year. However, like-for-like sales, excluding VAT, fell by 0.3 per cent, while [...]
Rise in retail sales fails to lift outlook for struggling high street, analysts say October 20, 2011 SALES of laptops and video games gave a surprise lift to British retail sales in September, supporting hopes that the economy posted at least some growth in the third quarter, without changing an overall dire outlook. The Bank of England has warned of a tough winter ahead, predicting that growth will be close to zero [...]