CONFUSION MOUNTS OVER BANK BONUSES SUPER-TAX December 14, 2009 THE GOVERNMENT is today set to bow to City fury by issuing a clarification on its super-tax on bank bonuses, after being swamped by a deluge of queries from firms unsure if they will be hit by the damaging levy. Confusion in the UK’s financial hub has been rising daily since last Wednesday’s pre-Budget Report, [...]
Lawson sets up think-tank on the climate November 23, 2009 EX-CHANCELLOR and climate change sceptic Lord Lawson launched a cross-party global warming think-tank yesterday, which will have an ex-senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister and a former deputy chairman of Barclays on its board. The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), which is being launched just a fortnight before the United Nations’ (UN) climate change [...]
Barclays bet makes Abu Dhabi 1.5bn June 2, 2009 AN Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund sold more than 11 per cent of Barclays yesterday, pocketing a £1.5bn profit less than seven months after making its £3.5bn investment. In an incredibly fast turn-around, Credit Suisse placed around £3.5bn of instruments – which were due to convert to Barclays shares by the end of the month [...]
DUBAI DEBT WORRIES ROCK WORLD MARKETS November 26, 2009 DEEPENING fears about Dubai’s debt problems shook European stock markets yesterday, with the FTSE 100 index suffering its worst one-day loss since March. The FTSE fell by 3.2 per cent, losing more than 170 points to 5,194.13, while leading indices in France and Germany were also down sharply. Wall Street was closed for Thanksgiving. Banking [...]
Mamas & Papas to sell online through tie-up with Shop Direct November 29, 2009 MAMAS & Papas, the baby clothing to pushchair brand, is set to profit from an online sales boost due to a tie-up with Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay’s Shop Direct business. Shop Direct, the UK’s biggest catalogue group, will sell Mamas & Papas’ range through its online department store Very.co.uk. Very’s marketing campaign is [...]
BP’s fall takes fuel out of oil stocks but FTSE rises higher February 2, 2010 Britain’s top shares closed higher for the third straight session yesterday as miners and banks extended the previous day’s gains but BP dragged energy stocks lower with fourth-quarter results that missed expectations. The FTSE 100 was up 35.90 points, or 0.7 per cent at 5,283.31, after closing 1.1 per cent higher on Monday. Miners added [...]
Vodafone to close final salary scheme November 25, 2009 VODAFONE is set to shut its £755m final salary pension scheme to 4,000 staff, in a fresh round of cost-cutting by chief executive Vittorio Colao. Colao is aiming to offset plummeting revenue at the mobile phone operator. The firm is following the lead of Barclays, Whitbread and Fujitsu, who are also blocking current workers from [...]
A Barclays sell-off would be a mistake May 14, 2009 IF Barclays does end up selling its Barclays Global Investors division to a rival such as BlackRock, it will be faced with two major problems. The first would be one of credibility: how can Barclays continue to operate as a universal bank if it lacks an asset manager? Selling iShares makes some sense; the business was [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 6, 2010 Evolution Securities Garry Levin is to leave his role as managing director in corporate finance at KBC Peel Hunt to join rival Evolution Securities as head of its equity corporate finance division. Levin, 46, will take up his role formally in April 2010. Prior to his position at KBC Peel Hunt, he was joint chief [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 11, 2009 ALLIANZNomura upgraded Allianz to “neutral” for two reasons: first, the end of the deterioration in property and casualty underwriting as shown in the firm’s third-quarter results and, second, the broker’s reduced concern over Allianz’s exposure to litigation in its US life business. But the stock is still not one of Nomura’s top picks as it [...]