Failure to cut deficit poses challenge to Treasury as George Osborne struggles to meet fiscal targets July 22, 2014 The economic recovery is still failing to cut the government’s huge budget deficit, with analysts yesterday suggesting that chancellor George Osborne might not be on course to reach his own fiscal targets. The UK borrowed £11.37bn excluding one-off interventions in June, barely less than in the same month last year. In June 2013, public borrowing [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Anglo’s announcement? July 21, 2014 BEN DAVIS | LIBERUM I was surprised by the market reaction. These sorts of divestments can take years as there is a dearth of buyers out there with cash. The market will be underwhelmed by the slow pace of the process. I was surprised that Anglo made a $1m loss from Amplats, as it just [...]
Best of the Brokers for 22 July 2014 July 21, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ITV Deutsche Bank has maintained its “hold” rating, upping the target price to 205p from 195p. The broker thinks Liberty Global will likely seek to increase its stake in ITV in future, and that further stake purchases and bid speculation should support ITV, [...]
City Moves for 15 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 14, 2014 Quindell David Currie has been appointed non-executive director at the software, consultancy and technology-enabled outsourcing provider. He recently established Codex Capital Partners, and is a former head of Investec Bank’s investment banking division. PwC Mark Pugh has been appointed asset management leader in the UK at the professional services firm. He has been an assurance [...]
Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold: Why this could be last meeting without dissent July 10, 2014 The Bank of England's interest-rate setting committee is twiddling its thumbs again this month, voting to keep policy on hold. Interest rates remain unchanged at their historic 0.5 per cent lows, and there's no change to asset purchases either. Central bank watchers weren't expecting much this month, despite a small shakeup to the committee that [...]
City Moves for 08 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 7, 2014 Novae Reeken Patel has been appointed chief risk officer at the insurer and reinsurer. He joins from PwC, where he was a partner in the general insurance division and had been its London market actuarial leader. Patel is also chairman of the London Market Actuaries Group. Macquarie Investment Management Macquarie Group’s investment management arm has [...]
Shelf Drilling tries to shake off IPO fail July 2, 2014 Shelf Drilling yesterday said it would push on and grow the business without public shareholder support after scrapping plans to float in London. The Dubai-based company, co-owned by private equity backers Champ, Lime Rock Partners and Castle Harlan, decided to pull plans to raise over $500m (£297m) after a tepid response, City A.M. revealed yesterday. [...]
Ex-UBS analyst Rosenberger is on top at the StarMine Analyst Awards July 2, 2014 StarMine, one of the more analytical of the analysts gongs, has revealed its top names for 2014 exclusively in City A.M. Part of the Thomson Reuters Awards for Excellence programme, the StarMine Analyst Awards measure the performance of sell-side analysts based on the returns of their buy and sell recommendations relative to industry benchmarks; and [...]
UK mortgage approvals drop to 11-month low as market cools June 30, 2014 Bank of England figures confirmed yesterday that mortgage approvals dropped to an 11-month low in May, even as the actual amount of lending secured against property rose to the highest level since mid-2008. There were 61,707 applications approved during the month, a drop of more than 1,000 from April and down from the 75,901 in [...]
Neil Bruce: The SNC-Lavalin boss who snared Kentz Corp June 30, 2014 SNC-Lavalin’s resources president Neil Bruce tells Michael Bow how he helped engineer the Canadian firm’s biggest-ever takeover The Canadian giant acquiring UK group Kentz Corporation is set to save C$30m (£27.5m) in a single stroke by de-listing the FTSE 250 listed group from the London Stock Exchange. SNC-Lavalin, which is on the verge of clinching [...]