Credit card rates soar to 12–year high February 15, 2010 CREDIT card rates have reached a twelve-year high as providers become wary of borrowers inability to repay debts during the recession. The average credit card rate now stands at 18.8 per cent, a four per cent rise from 2006 when increased competition between providers drove rates down. Banks and credit companies face higher pricing for [...]
M&S boss in new pressure to cut salary February 28, 2010 MARKS & Spencer’s (M&S’s) joint chief executive and chairman Sir Stuart Rose has seen renewed investor demands to reduce his pay in the latest shareholder salvo against executive pay deals. Rose, who assumed the joint title of chairman and chief executive last year, could see his £1.13m salary reduced by investors after an ongoing and [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 4, 2010 PARTYGAMING Barclays Capital ups PartyGaming to “overweight” citing its improved operational performance. Sets a target price of 330p, suggesting 15 per cent upside to the current share price. Says if recent speculation of a merger between PartyGaming and Bwin proves true the shares would gain 45-55 per cent from their current value. ROLLS ROYCE GROUP [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 25, 2010 Investec The investment bank has hired Paul Bail as a director in its debt advisory team, focusing on expanding its profile in the private equity space. Bail joins from Barclays, where he was managing director of leveraged finance in the financial sponsors group and a board director of Barclays Financial Investments. Prior to that, he [...]
Greek bond sale buys time for the EU March 4, 2010 GREECE was forced to accept a crippling level of interest on its issue of a €5bn (£4.5bn) bond yesterday, ensuring that it was massively oversubscribed. Just 24 hours after the struggling country announced new austerity measures, national debt management boss Petros Christodoulou said the gilt sale was “going very well, beyond expectations”. The news sent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIPOSTE BY 60 ECONOMISTS TO CALL FOR CUTS More than 60 leading economists have backed Alistair Darling’s decision to delay spending cuts until 2011, creating a dividing line within the profession on the crucial general election issue of how to tackle the UK’s huge public debt. Two letters in today’s Financial Times warn [...]
BARCLAYS TAKES THE METRO June 24, 2009 NEW YORK’S Brooklyn Atlantic Avenue subway hub is going to be renamed Barclays, after the bank struck a $4m (£2.4m) deal with the city’s transport authority. Barclays’ New York offices are actually in the more glamorous Manhattan, but the Barclays Centre sports arena is being built in Brooklyn as part of a local regeneration project, [...]
The first 100 days are key for managers April 11, 2010 RIGHT now, many people’s minds are focused on 6 May, and the general election. But those who are likely to be in power might do well to turn their minds towards the day after, when they actually walk into their departments and have to starting getting things done. And that means dealing with the Sir [...]
CPP hopes to buck the trend of IPO failures in March listing February 18, 2010 INSURANCE firm CPP will brave choppy IPO waters with a March flotation. It has not announced how much it plans to raise but City A.M. has learned the firm hopes to issue up to £30m from new shares, valuing it at £450m. It is believed owner and founder Hamish Ogston will also sell a £150m [...]
Credit Suisse: February 2, 2010 AS might be expected for the largest retail float since Debenhams in 2006, a raft of investment banks have been brought in to guide New Look. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Cazenove are joint sponsors and bookrunners. Lazard is in on the bookrunning action, while Barclays, Lloyds TSB and RBS Hoare Govett are co-lead [...]