Finance firms set to recruit as slump ends February 15, 2010 THE UK’s finance and accountancy sectors are once again recruiting much-needed talent as they shun recruitment freezes and pay cuts that marked 2009, according to a report by recruitment firm Badenoch & Clark. According to the study, more than 20 per cent of the employers said they lacked the accounting and finance skills needed to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 30, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES M&A SURGE IN ASIA WHILE THE US AND EUROPE SUFFER Mergers and acquisitions boomed in Asia in the first quarter in sharp contrast to a slump in deal volume in Europea and the US, underlining a global shift in activity in the wake of the credit crisis. The value of global M&A overall [...]
FTSE 100 peaks at 21-month high led by banks and energy March 23, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index rose 0.5 per cent yesterday, hitting a fresh 21-month closing high, led by commodity, enErgy and banking stocks as fears over monetary tightening effects ebbed. The FTSE 100 index ended 29.09 points higher at 5,673.63, after hitting an intra-day high of 5,695.94. It was the highest close since June 19 2008. [...]
Metro Bank lures senior City talent to its start-up team February 8, 2010 METRO Bank, the start-up high street lender backed by US billionaire Vernon Hill, has poached Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS’s) former managing director of retail banking to head up its fledgling management team. Craig Donaldson joins from RBS as Metro’s chief executive, and will be joined by a number of fellow senior City bankers. Paul [...]
RBS bonuses to be capped at just £1.3bn February 24, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland will dish out £1.3bn in bonuses this year, well below the sum it had hoped to pay. The news comes as the bank prepares to announce a full-year loss of up to £6.5bn today – a huge turnaround from the record breaking losses of £24bn reported in 2008. The bank is [...]
Goodwin lands a job January 17, 2010 SIR Fred Goodwin has returned to the business world as an adviser to Edinburgh-based architectural firm RMJM, 15 months after Royal Bank of Scotland was brought to its knees by his profligacy while at the bank’s helm. Goodwin, who will be paid in line with RMJM’s other advisers, will be tasked with supporting the firm’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 28, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph OCADO TO HIT PROFIT IN TWO YEARS Ocado’s imminent plans for a £1bn stock market flotation have been given a boost after a detailed research note from an expert retail analyst firm said that the online retailer would be making pre-tax profits within “a two-year time frame”. The note said [...]
Kraft seeks $4bn to pay for Cadbury February 3, 2010 KRAFT, the US food group, will raise at least $4bn (£2.5bn) in the debt markets to fund its £11.7bn acquisition of UK rival Cadbury, according to people close to the matter. The fundraising will consist of four tranches, each at least $1bn in size. The tranches will have maturities of 3¼, 6, 10 and 30 [...]
Increase in 2009 UK exports January 24, 2010 The value of UK exports increased by £723m between the second and third quarters of last year, according to analysis by NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. The research showed 17 per cent of the goods were exported from the South East – the highest proportion of any UK region. But the biggest growth was [...]
Aberdeen finalises deal for RBS assets February 1, 2010 ABERDEEN Asset Management yesterday said it had finalised a deal for part of troubled Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) business. Aberdeen paid £84.7m for part of RBS’s fund management arm, which has £13.5bn of assets under management. Under the terms of the deal, Aberdeen has entered into a distribution agreement with the bank to exclusively [...]