THE LONDON REPORT September 2, 2009 THE benchmark share index closed flat yesterday as a retreat in financials and miners, triggered by weak US data, was offset by stronger energy stocks, after a “giant” oil find by BP. The FTSE 100 index ended down 2.15 points at 4,817.55, after it fell 1.8 per cent on Tuesday. US private employers cut 298,000 [...]
Collins Stewart hiring again ahead of market upswing August 10, 2009 FINANCIAL services group Collins Stewart will today announce a number of high-profile new hires alongside its interim results, as new chief executive Mark Brown beefs up the group’s core businesses to take advantage of opportunities in the current market turmoil. Most of the hires will be to the securities division, though the group has also [...]
Norton Rose is ready to expand in Asia on the back of its latest deal November 29, 2009 There is light at the end of the economic night – of that Peter Martyr is fairly certain. But the CEO of NortonRose, the City law firm, wants to make sure we are not facing a false dawn before he gets too excited. As he puts it: “The financial crisis has moved so quickly that [...]
Large caps break 5,000 as travel gets its day in the sun September 9, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended a week of waiting yesterday to pull itself above the 5,000 level by the close. The benchmark index rose by 1.2 per cent on the back of strong oil and bank stocks, as well as early gains on Wall Street. By the close the index was 56.96 points higher at 5,004.30, [...]
Not all banks were given state handouts August 4, 2009 ANOTHER day; another row about banking profits, bonuses and the future of the City. The nationalised Northern Rock’s numbers were poor as expected – but for some reason, the pundits are more concerned with banks that are doing reasonably well. And not any institution: they couldn’t care less about Standard Chartered, a well-managed group which [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 3, 2009 Pinsent MasonsThe law firm has appointed Raymond Beven as a London-based partner, responsible for leading the transport team within the firm’s projects and international construction group. Beven will be tasked with working across a broad transport portfolio including airports, rail and ports and projects in the Middle East, Caspian region and Europe. He joins from [...]
Kraft’s Cadbury bid sparks a flurry of FTSEmerger hopes September 7, 2009 THE leading share index notched back up towards the 5,000-points mark yesterday, after a proposed bid for Cadbury by Kraft raised hopes of a more general pick-up in merger activity and lifted banks and commodity shares. The FTSE 100 rose 1.7 per cent to a close of 4,933.18, up 81.48 points, as it came close [...]
RBS merges Asia-Pacific teams July 14, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is to combine its Asia-Pacific investment banking teams ahead of a likely sale of its Asian operations to Australia’s ANZ, Standard Chartered or HSBC. The bank will merge its advisory, wholesale banking and risk management operations in a move it said would help it better serve clients in the region. The [...]
Goldshield faces battle for takeover September 21, 2009 SHARES in Goldshield, the maker of appetite suppressant drug Appesat, jumped yesterday after the management of the pharmaceutical business confirmed it is working on a counter-bid to trump the 162m cash offer by bid vehicle AIT announced last week Goldshield’s executive directors, chaired by former government drugs tsar Dr Keith Hellawell, confirmed they were trying [...]
Energy and bank stocks push FTSE 100 back below 5,000 September 10, 2009 THE FTSE 100 drifted lower yesterday, unable to stay above the 5,000 level as energy and bank stocks weighed heavily. It closed down by 16.62 points, or 0.3 per cent to 4,987.68, having closed above 5,000 for the first time since late September 2008 on Wednesday. “We’re taking a bit of a pause from what [...]