CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 24, 2010 Matrix Group Matrix Group has expanded its investment banking business after appointing Paul James as chief operating officer (COO) of the investment banking arm. James moves into the role with immediate effect and joins after 20 years experience in investment banking. He was most recently COO of global banking and markets HSBC and has previously [...]
Race for M&S chair takes on new urgency May 23, 2010 ROGER CARR has ruled himself out of the running for the role of chairman at Marks & Spencer (M&S), while it is believed current chairman Sir Stuart Rose may quit earlier than expected. Carr, who announced his departure from Cadbury in February, is said to be looking abroad for his next corporate post. His withdrawal [...]
Profits rise as Post Office eyes sell off May 20, 2010 ROYAL MAIL boosted its full-year operating profit 26 per cent yesterday, while its unions reacted angrily to Lib-Con plans to inject private cash into the state-owned operator. The company raised its operating profit by £83m to £404m last year despite a series of strikes by postal workers last autumn. The business put its improved performance [...]
MAN FROM THE PRU IN SPOT OF PULP FRICTION May 20, 2010 SEASONED investors will be familiar with the mountain of paperwork that traditionally accompanies any City deal, but it does rather take the biscuit when recipients are actually forced to order waste-disposal skips in order to get the documents off their hands. Yet this, ladies and gents, is the position which stockbroker Charles Stanley finds itself, [...]
Cable eyes Post Office privatisation May 20, 2010 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable is reviving plans to privatise the Royal Mail, after the previous government shelved similar proposals in the face of backbench rebellion. City A.M. understands that today’s coalition agreement will include a pledge to “inject private capital” into Royal Mail, in a bid to modernise the archaic postal service. The Liberal-Conservative government [...]
Land Securities kick-starts City building boom May 19, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest property company Land Securities has unveiled a massive City of London development push after predicting a run on office space. The company said it was in talks to build a skyscraper popularly known as the “Walkie Talkie” on Fenchurch Street (pictured) as a shortage in prime City offices loomed. Chief Executive Francis Salway [...]
Fewer CEOs getting the sack May 18, 2010 TURNOVER rates for executives moving out of senior positions remained high last year despite a drop in the number of chief executive officers (CEO) forced from their posts, according to new research. Data from management consultancy group Booz & Company, showed that CEO succession rates at roughly 2,500 large companies continued at 14.3 per cent. [...]
British Land back in black after property market picks up May 18, 2010 BRITISH land has returned to profit after the value of its property portfolio increased. The developer and landlord posted profits of £1.13bn for the year to 31 March. The company had suffered two years of heavy losses, including £3.93bn in the previous year. Its property portfolio, which includes the Broadgate Estate in the City, rose [...]
Pru in urgent push to seal AIA takeover May 17, 2010 HARVEY MCGRATH, Prudential’s experienced chairman, describes the group’s intention to buy the largest pan-Asian insurer for tens of billions of dollars as a “shock and awe” deal. London was indeed stunned when it awoke to weekend reports of a $35.5bn (£24bn) swoop on AIA. But since then it is Prudential’s management that has looked shellshocked, [...]
My corporate jet is easyJet: meet the platform boss taking on the LSE May 17, 2010 HE TALKS LOUDLY and moves fast. Alasdair Haynes, the chief executive of the pan-European trading platform Chi-X Europe, cuts a larger than life figure. The boss of the trading platform, which has grabbed a 30 per cent share of FTSE 100 trading from long-established rival the London Stock Exchange (LSE) since it was set up [...]