Ineos set for Swiss move as tax fears rise April 11, 2010 CHEMICALS group Ineos has confirmed it will shift its tax residency from the UK to Switzerland in a move it believes will save the company £400m over the next four years. Ineos, the largest privately owned company in Britain by turnover, said it had received the thumbs-up for the relocation from its lenders, including state-owned [...]
FTSE 100 hits one-month low as Greek deficit fears weigh April 22, 2010 The London Report FTSE 100 hits one-month low as Greek deficit fears weigh BRITAIN’S top shares fell to a one-month closing low yesterday after news that Greece’s deficit widened more than expected hit investor sentiment, sending commodity and bank stocks into reverse. A downgrade of Greece’s debt rating from Moody’s Investors Service added to investor [...]
FTSE drops after Spain downgrade April 28, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower yesterday, extending the previous session’s steep falls, after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating to AA, overshadowing strong corporate earnings. The FTSE 100 index closed down 16.91 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,586.61, after it tumbled 2.6 per cent on Tuesday — its biggest one-day [...]
British banks facing further disappointments on revenues March 15, 2010 UK banks will likely see more revenue disappointment before rebuilding their profitability, Seymour Pierce said yesterday, adding that consensus expectations for banking income growth were far too optimistic. The brokerage said it was on average 10 per cent below consensus revenue expectations for 2012 for the sector, with the greatest disappointment likely at Royal Bank [...]
Government’s Lloyds stake sees a profit March 24, 2010 STOCK in Lloyds Banking Group, 41 per cent state-owned, is trading above the government’s average investment per share on at least one measure for the first time since the credit crunch. Most analysts say a government sell-off is highly unlikely before the general election expected in early May, with parliament expected to be dissolved just [...]
Virgin steps up bid to buy RBS branches March 21, 2010 VIRGIN Money is stepping up its plan to bid for 320 Royal Bank of Scotland branches with a book value of around £2bn. The firm confirmed it has hired Greenhill to help prepare a bid before the 6 April deadline for submissions of interest. It hopes to become a major player in the internet banking [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 7, 2010 Nomura The Japanese investment bank has appointed Mikael Dahl as co-head of its Nordic investment banking team, based in London. Dahl was previously a partner at EQT Partners and brings with him over 20 years of investment banking experience. He previously worked at Citigroup/Salomon Brothers from 1994 to 2008, latterly as European co-head of the [...]
RBS competition fine will solve nothing April 27, 2010 THE ROYAL Bank of Scotland was recently fined £28.6m by the Office of Fair Trading for breaking competition law after the bank shared information with Barclays. But the case raises a number of questions, not least about the regulator’s intentions in imposing the fine, and its efficacy in deterring such behaviour in future. Firstly there [...]
FTSE 100 is dragged down by banks despite healthy UK economic recovery March 30, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index ended 0.7 per cent lower yesterday, dragged down by banks, which extended the previous session’s losses, in thin trading ahead of the Easter break. The FTSE 100 index ended down 38.34 points at 5,672.32, having closed above 5,700 for the last three sessions. The index hit a 21-month intra-day peak at [...]
The sweet seller’s son who wants to hold the chancellor to account November 28, 2010 VISITING Andrew Tyrie’s office is like being called to see the headmaster in an old-fashioned boarding school. The chairman of the Treasury select committee occupies a grand corner office in Westminster’s Norman Shaw North building, the former Scotland Yard HQ that now provides office space for MPs. Appropriately enough, Tyrie begins with a history lesson, [...]