WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 24, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FEARS FORCE IMMIGRATION CAP RETHINK Senior Conservative ministers are forcing a rethink on the party’s flagship immigration policy to make it more business-friendly after warning that a rigid cap on migrants could damage the British economy. Theresa May, home secretary, will next week launch a consultation on the migration plan, with a promise [...]
Cowdery buys Axa’s UK arm in £2.8bn deal June 24, 2010 RESOLUTION will reshuffle the leadership of its insurance consolidation project after agreeing to pay £2.8bn for the British life and pensions businesses of French group Axa yesterday. Axa’s UK arm will be merged with Resolution’s existing holding, Friends Provident, to create Friends Life. Trevor Matthews will stay as chief executive but David Hynam, Graham Harvey [...]
Credit Suisse rejigs its top management June 24, 2010 CREDIT SUISSE has named Eric Varvel as its investment bank chief executive as part of an overhaul of the bank’s executive board. Varvel, who was serving as the unit’s acting chief executive, will officially step into the role next week. He assumed the role last September when it emerged that the investment unit’s chief Paul [...]
Oracle revenues jump as Sun unit boosts profits June 24, 2010 ORACLE posted quarterly profit that exceeded Wall Street projections yesterday, as its recently acquired Sun Microsystems hardware division added to earnings. The company said Sun added more than $400m (£268m) to Oracle’s operating profit, excluding items. Oracle posted profit, excluding items, of 60 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended 31 May, handily [...]
BAT shuffles top staff as chief exec Paul Adams retires June 24, 2010 BRITISH American Tobacco said its chief executive Paul Adams will retire next February, to be replaced by chief operating officer Nicandro Durante. The world’s second biggest cigarette-maker said yesterday 53-year-old Durante, who has worked for the company for 29 years, will take over as chief executive designate in September. A number of other staff shuffles [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 22, 2010 EASYJET JP Morgan Cazenove said it believes that easyJet’s share price performance is being overshadowed by Stelios’ disagreements with the board over strategy. JP Morgan said that until such time as these are seen to be resolved permanently it expects share price performance to remain muted. JP Morgan downgrades its rating on the airline to [...]
BUDGET HAS CALMED THE BOND MARKET June 22, 2010 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOV HEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI YESTERDAY, chancellor George Osborne produced the most fiscally austere and severe budget in post-war UK history. Britain is embarking on its sharpest budget deficit reduction crusade since the 1940s with the aim of cutting the structural deficit by 8 per cent of GDP over the next five years. [...]
Pru chairman fights to woo City investors June 21, 2010 PRUDENTIAL chairman Harvey McGrath faces a testing encounter with Henderson Global Investors this week as he tries to save his job following the failed bid for AIA in Asia. McGrath, who has spent the past fortnight speaking to shareholders after the $35.5bn (£24bn) takeover of AIG’s Far Eastern arm collapsed, is due to visit four [...]
Sainsbury’s supermarket to shuffle top jobs June 21, 2010 J SAINSBURY became the latest supermarket to shuffle its management team yesterday, in an attempt to cement its plans for long-term growth. The UK’s third-biggest grocer has promoted chief financial officer Darren Shapland to the post of group development director, overseeing business development and group strategy. Mike Coupe, currently trading director, will become the group’s [...]
Kewill profits buoyed by cost cuts June 21, 2010 Software firm Kewill posted an 80 per cent increase in full-year pre-tax profit, helped by cost controls and revenue growth in Europe, but said it expected tough economic conditions to continue in the short term. Kewill, which received an approach pitched at 130p per share in May, said talks were continuing. However, chief financial officer [...]