Wolseley is confident as profits rise December 7, 2010 WOLSELEY, the world’s largest plumbers and builders merchant, posted a 39 per cent rise in first-quarter trading profit, helped by top-line growth in all regions. The FTSE 100 company said underlying operating profit rose to £159m in the three months to end-October, with like-for-like revenue up four per cent to £3.47bn. “This is a business [...]
Sberbank set for record year December 6, 2010 SBERBANK, Russia’s biggest lender, yesterday beat forecasts for third-quarter net profit, helped by a bigger loan portfolio and lower provisions, putting it on course for a record year. “We expect fourth-quarter results to be no worse than in the third quarter,” chief financial officer Anton Karamzin said on a conference call yesterday, adding full-year net [...]
WOMEN ON BOARDS: HEALTHY FOR BOYS, GIRLS AND THE BOTTOM LINE December 5, 2010 FOLLOWING the formation of the 30 Per Cent Club last month, which aims to get women filling 30 per cent of boardroom seats, shocking new research will hit City bookshelves this week, revealing what we at The Capitalist already suspected: upping the number of women in the boardroom is good for profits. The findings are [...]
TUX-CLAD SOLICITORS FLOCK TO FISH MARKET December 2, 2010 HUNDREDS of lawyers gave their well-worn tuxedos another outing last night as they gathered for the British Legal Awards hosted by Legal Week, with the barristers characteristically out-dressing the solicitors. Catching City of London law society chair Bill Knight sharing a drink with Norton Rose’s Sir David Lewis before the evening kicked off, The Capitalist [...]
BT retail chief joins the board at British Airways December 2, 2010 BT’S head of retail Gavin Patterson is to join the board of British Airways (BA). Patterson, who also has a place on the BT Group board, resigned as a director of Johnston Press last year. BA sales and marketing director Andrew Crawley, who was acquitted during the collapsed price fixing case in May, has been [...]
Wall Street surges as euro panic eases December 1, 2010 THE Dow and the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 posted their biggest gains in three months yesterday as efforts to resolve the European Union’s debt crisis helped push the S&P above 1,200, an important technical level that signals the potential for the rally to continue. The S&P 500 moved out of its recent trading range [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BLUNDER REVEALS CARBON TRADING DATA Europe’s biggest clearing house, LCH.Clearnet, has admitted that “confidential information” about trading in carbon emission allowances, including the names of individual traders, was mistakenly published on the internet. Climate Markets, which provides marketing services for LCH.Clearnet, said the information was placed on its website in error and has [...]
Silverfleet eyes Hunter’s Office chain November 28, 2010 HIGH STREET shoe retailer Office is likely to be bought by Silverfleet Capital after the private equity firm entered exclusive talks with current owner Sir Tom Hunter, a source close to the deal said yesterday. The exclusivity agreement all but scuppers the chances of Blackstone and PAI Capital, who had pursued Office since Sir Tom’s [...]
The sweet seller’s son who wants to hold the chancellor to account November 28, 2010 VISITING Andrew Tyrie’s office is like being called to see the headmaster in an old-fashioned boarding school. The chairman of the Treasury select committee occupies a grand corner office in Westminster’s Norman Shaw North building, the former Scotland Yard HQ that now provides office space for MPs. Appropriately enough, Tyrie begins with a history lesson, [...]
New appointments at HSBC November 26, 2010 HSBC’s chief executive-designate, Stuart Gulliver, announced changes to the bank’s top management and structure today. The changes are the first indication of his planned strategic direction before he formally steps into the chief executive role in January. Paul Thurston, the current UK and Europe chief executive, has been appointed chief executive of a newly created [...]