Ireland’s stricken banks “for sale” says central bank governor November 23, 2010 IRELAND’S banks are up for sale, the country’s central bank chief said today, as the government seeks to cut them down in size after their reckless lending forced the country to seek an international bailout. “They are for sale as far as I am concerned,” Patrick Honohan said. “I have been an advocate for a [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE UK HELP BAIL OUT IRELAND November 22, 2010 RICHARD YOUNG | CONTROLCIRCLE “I’m not sure why we are trying to support an independent country when we have got mountains of debt of our own. There needs to be an underlying trade or political reason to do so.” CHRISTOPHER MILLER | INVESTMENT QUOTIENT “It’s not ideal, but it would be far worse if companies [...]
Investing your love in bricks and mortar November 18, 2010 1 BUDGET Before you start the fun stuff – househunting – make sure you have covered the boring stuff: finances. Work out how much you can afford to put towards mortgage repayments each month, based on your joint net income, and joint outgoings. If, like Kate and William, you are thoroughly modern and are already [...]
Icap revenue up on e-trade November 17, 2010 ICAP, the interdealer broker, said yesterday revenue increased nine per cent to £867m in the first half of the year on the back of its electronic and post trade units. The broker said pre-tax profit also rose by two per cent to £183m and it raised its interim dividend by three per cent to 5.27p. [...]
The Tube boss who is battling to rebuild the world’s oldest network November 17, 2010 It has been a tough few months for the new managing director of London Underground. Mike Brown, a company veteran who returned in March, faces his fourth strike over the axing of ticket office jobs in a matter of weeks. Tube unions RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association say getting rid of 800 ticket [...]
British Land eyes disposal of City assets November 16, 2010 LONDON landlord British Land intends to sell assets in the City financial district as it takes a more trading-focused investment strategy, adding an uptick in its exposure to prime offices may not last long. The company said yesterday its £1bn share in developing 2.1m square feet of prime offices in central London would see its [...]
Cable & Wireless Worldwide says it is happy with current full-year target November 16, 2010 TELECOMS firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide is comfortable with full-year expectations after posting first-half sales and earnings in line with forecasts despite pressure from cuts to UK public spending. C&W Worldwide (CWW), which concentrates on the global corporate market and has a large presence in Britain, said the “satisfactory” results had been held back by [...]
K1 founder charged with fraud for Ponzi scheme November 16, 2010 HELMUT Kiener, founder of German hedge fund group K1, is being charged with fraud, forgery of documents and tax evasion more than a year after he was arrested in a multi-million-dollar investigation. He is accused of having swindled investors out of about €345m (£293.6m) with an elaborate Ponzi scheme, the public prosecutors’ office in Wuerzburg, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 14, 2010 3i Group After the merging of its buyout and capital growth divisions and the departure of several top dealmakers from 3i Group’s buyout team this autumn, the group recently recruited three new members for its senior leadership team. Leader of infrastructure business Cressida Hogg (pictured) will join head of UK markets Alan Giddins and Menno [...]
Land Securities ramps up City development plans November 11, 2010 LAND Securities, the country’s largest listed property firm, posted a 6.7 per cent rise in the value of its net assets yesterday and pledged to accelerate its development work in the City. Land Securities’ portfolio gained 3.4 per cent in value to £9.7bn in the six months to the end of September, and the firm [...]