WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
ENERGY-FOCUSED HEDGE FUNDS FEEL HEAT OF MARKET VOLATILITY
Hedge funds focused on energy markets have suffered a rocky start to the year, hit by volatile commodity prices and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. Many funds have been left nursing double-digit percentage losses over the first six months of the year. The average energy commodity fund has lost two per cent since the beginning of the year.
CITY HEADHUNTER SUES NOMURA
A City headhunter is suing Nomura, the investment bank, over fees that it claims remain unpaid relating to its efforts in hiring hundreds of bankers from Lehman at the height of the credit crunch. James Hogarth, who co-founded Hogarth Davies and Lloyd, told the High Court the collapse of Lehman precipitated “the biggest headhunting exercise ever known”.
PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS FOR TOP STAFF AT ITV
ITV’s senior managers will be subjected to psychometric testing as its new chairman and chief executive exert stronger controls over the broadcaster at the beginning of a five-year turnaround plan. A person close to?ITV said: “This is not about people having to reapply for their own jobs, it is about identifying the strengths and weaknesses in people so they can improve their performance as members of a team.”
CRH WARNS OF “SEA CHANGE” IN OUTLOOK
CRH shares dropped to a 12-month low after the Irish building materials group warned that its earnings would be lower than expected. The Dublin-based group said that the stammering recovery in the world’s construction markets would cause earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to decline by 20 per cent.
THE TIMES
HARDLINER HAS EYE ON PRU CHAIR
Leading shareholders in the Prudential were considering last night whether to back Sir Richard Lapthorne, the controversial Cable & Wireless boss, as the insurer’s next chairman. Sir Richard, who has held discussions with investors over the past three weeks, wants the job if he gets sufficient support.
INTERNET PROVIDERS FOR 10M USERS CHALLENGE BLOCK ON FILE-SHARING
Britain’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) are to mount a legal challenge to controversial new laws that will remove those caught repeatedly sharing music and films from the internet. BT and TalkTalk, which have nearly 10 million broadband customers between them, are threatening to derail the nation’s digital plans after beginning a High Court attempt for a judicial review.
The Daily Telegraph
MILTON FRIEDMAN GOT IT WRONG ON PROFIT, HSBC CHAIRMAN SAYS
American free market economics guru Milton Friedman was wrong to assert that companies should focus on shareholder value above all other considerations, HSBC chairman Stephen Green has declared. “Of course you need a profit,” he said, “but it is a by-product, a hallmark of success. It is not the be all and end all. It is not the raision d’etre of business.”
WILLEM BUITER: DOUBLE-DIP RECESSION WON’T HAPPEN DESPITE MARKET
Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup and a former Bank of England policy-maker, said he does not believe there will be a global double-dip recession. He said that the process of fiscal tightening planned in many countries was necessary but unlikely to tip economies back into contraction.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
JURY’S FINAL ANSWER: DISNEY OWES MILLIONAIRE DAMAGES
A California jury ruled against Walt Disney yesterday in a lawsuit brought by Celador International over royalties for the hit game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”.
Celador, which sold the US rights to “Millionaire” to Disney’s ABC network in 1999 after a successful run in the UK, alleged Disney units ABC and Buena Vista Television concealed profits earned on the show to avoid paying licencing fees “through a complex web of self-dealing transactions”.
HEXAGON TO BUY INTEGRAPH
Intergraph, an engineering and software firm, agreed to be acquired by Swedish company Hexagon in a cash deal worth $2.13bn. Intergraph, which is based in Huntsville, Alabama, supplies computer-aided design and software to a industries.