Inside Track: My top tip for 2014: Deutsche Post will buy Royal Mail December 18, 2013 IT wouldn’t be the final column of a calendar year without some predictions for the next 12 months. Here are my top three: Royal Mail will complete a journey from being wholly-owned by the UK state to wholly-owned by a German enterprise within little more than 12 months. Deutsche Post won’t get it delivered cheap, [...]
How to seek employer support for your Executive MBA November 13, 2013 But don’t ignore the range of alternative options available if the corporate sponsorship avenue is blocked SINCE the financial crisis, there has been a notable decline in those taking corporate sponsorship for their Executive MBA (EMBA) courses. Whereas around a third of a typical cohort would once be self-funded, with the remainder receiving employer support, [...]
Hedgie Busson moves in with fund manager December 16, 2013 HEDGE fund guru Arpad “Arki” Busson yesterday agreed to merge his funds business EIM Group into larger Swiss money manager Gottex Fund Management, creating a bigger business with $10bn of fee earning assets. Busson, one of the industry’s best known figures, will take a 29 per cent share stake in the enlarged group through his [...]
Premier Foods drops after switch of finance chief shocks markets September 24, 2013 PREMIER Foods said yesterday that its chief financial officer Mark Moran would be leaving the company, sending its shares down nearly eight per cent in morning trade on uncertainty about the company’s efforts to improve its performance. Alastair Murray, most recently group finance director of Dairy Crest Group, will take over the job on 30 [...]
Boris Johnson beats Osborne to charm China October 14, 2013 GEORGE Osborne and Boris Johnson yesterday conducted a joint question and answer session with Chinese students as the two politicians attempted to woo the country on competing trade missions. Osborne is today expected to offer a loosening of regulatory barriers for Chinese banks wanting to expand in London. Yesterday he said: “A great nation like [...]
Sports Direct chiefs take home £13m in share bonus winnings October 3, 2013 SPORTS Direct shares lost their shine yesterday after two senior bosses opted to cash in on £13m worth of shares. Chief executive Dave Forsey and finance director Bob Mellors both exercised 2010 bonus scheme options to acquire 1m shares each before immediately selling 950,000 each at 680p a share. The two directors, who earn a [...]
Panmure looks east to net new broking clients September 24, 2013 PANMURE Gordon hopes its ties to the Middle East will help it win new business, as the stockbroker rides the rise in equity market activity. Chief executive Phillip Wale said he hopes to “strengthen and leverage” the relationship with QInvest, the Qatari investment bank that has been Panmure’s biggest investor since 2009. “There are companies [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 11 December 2013 December 10, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES First Group attacked by US activist FirstGroup, the UK bus and rail operator, is under attack from one of its biggest shareholders, which has called for the sale of its US businesses to pay down debt. Sandell Asset Management, a hedge fund with a stake of about three per cent, has written to [...]
Against the Grain: What chess champions can teach us about how businesses make decisions November 20, 2013 THE WORLD Chess Championship is underway, and the current champion – the Indian Viswanathan Anand – is trailing his young rival Magnus Carlsen by three to five. In the opinion of many, Carlsen is set fair to become the strongest ever human player. The match is an absorbing spectacle, but the game of chess is [...]
Germany recognises Bitcoin as a taxable currency August 19, 2013 Germany has become the first country to take an official stance on the use of online currency Bitcoin, recognising it as legitimate for legal and tax purposes. Berlin acknowledged Bitcoin as a “currency unit” and “private money”, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the online edition of the "New Osnabrück newspaper", citing a [...]