Bankia shares down 10pc after results delayed May 16, 2012 Shares in recently nationalised Spanish bank Bankia tumbled 10 per cent after it delayed first quarter results, raising fears the government will have to plough more cash into the struggling lender. Bankia lies at the core of concerns about Spanish banks’ problems after a 2008 property crash. Some believe Spain or Europe will have to [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 18, 2012 Baroda Pioneer The asset management firm has appointed Jaideep Bhattacharya as its managing director. He joins from UTI Mutual Fund, where he was previously group president and chief marketing officer. Bhattacharya has also held senior roles at ICICI, the Indian bank. VTB Capital Peter Stonor has been appointed global head of infrastructure and transport for [...]
HGCapital sells SHL for $660m July 3, 2012 PRIVATE equity group HgCapital has sold employment consultancy SHL to larger rival Corporate Executive Board for $660m (£420.6m), having quadrupled the value of the firm within six years. HgCapital, which bought the firm for £100m in 2006, has sold out from SHL after helping to almost double the firm’s revenues and treble its earnings. HgCapital [...]
How UK business can match Team GB’s performance August 19, 2012 A WEEK since the Olympics closed, some commentators are already talking post-Games blues. But this is our honeymoon period, our chance to capitalise on a successful fortnight of the UK at its best. We’ve witnessed an amazing journey. An east London wasteland has been transformed – 1.5m cubic metres of contaminated soil was painstakingly cleaned, [...]
A cautious welcome for Kay’s stock market plan July 23, 2012 BUSINESS organisations yesterday gave a cautious welcome to a government report that recommends reducing “short-termism” in stock markets by cutting cash bonuses for executives and improving communication between shareholders and companies. In his report Professor John Kay also backs the creation of a new institutional investors’ forum that would allow disparate shareholders to work together [...]
Insurers fear industry will miss deadline May 22, 2012 MORE than a third of UK insurers fear the industry will miss the deadline to comply with the forthcoming Solvency II reforms, according to research carried out for Deloitte by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Insurers also said uncertainty over the final draft of the EU directive – which will lift capital requirements – has increased costs. Rick [...]
Clubs warned as profits plunge to an 11-year low May 30, 2012 ENGLISH football has been told to take “corrective action” after operating profits in the Premier League plunged to the lowest levels for more than a decade despite ever-increasing revenue. Operating profit in the top flight fell to £68m for the 2010-11 season, down £117m from its 2007-08 peak and the smallest figure since 1999-2000, according [...]
Microsoft said to fancy $1bn social network June 14, 2012 ENTERPRISE social network Yammer could be snapped up by tech giant Microsoft in a $1bn deal announced as soon as today, according to reports. Set up by former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks in 2008, Yammer is used for private communication within organisations, unlike public microblogging tool Twitter or friends-based social network Facebook. Microsoft’s step [...]
Fund platforms hit by FSA plan to ban rebates June 27, 2012 PLANS to make investment platforms more transparent are set to cost investment firms millions, though companies said yesterday they are prepared for the upheaval. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) wants to ban providers from paying to have their products included on platforms, meaning investors would pay fees directly. The rules would mean the end of [...]
Clubs spending less on football transfers July 6, 2012 The number of international football transfers and their cost has plummeted over the past six months, according to data from governing body Fifa’s Transfer Matching System (TMS). There have been nine per cent fewer transfer deals completed, and their financial value has fallen by just over a third, it said. Over 11,500 international transfers were [...]