News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Rangold back in black for Q3 but shares fall

November 10, 2009

GOLD miner Randgold Resources swung into third quarter profit yesterday, propelled by soaring bullion prices. The company reported a $13.6m (£8.2m) profit compared with a loss of $684,000 a year ago as rising sales outweighed higher production costs. Chief executive Mark Bristow used the figures as a springboard to announce he would fast-track the company’s [...]
Julius Baer bank hit by crackdown on tax havens

November 10, 2009

SWISS private banking group Julius Baer has been hit by the Europe-wide crackdown on tax havens and secret banking. The Zurich-based bank said the inflow of money from rich clients had slowed since mid-year due to the tax crusade by other nations. Switzerland has relaxed some of its secrecy to comply with international rules, leading [...]
Schroders slows profits slide as client cash inflows recover

November 10, 2009

RISING inflows of cash, particularly from institutional investors, allowed fund manager Schroders to slow its profit slide in the third quarter. Schroders yesterday reported surprisingly strong interest from investors in the second half of the year, with net inflows of £7bn in the three months to 30 September. While £3.7bn was raised from retail investors, [...]
Golden days for Harrods

November 10, 2009

LUXURY department store Harrods has sold hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of gold bullion since it began offering coins and bars “off the shelf” a month ago. The Knightsbridge retailer, owned by Mohamed al Fayed, said it had seen a steady flow of sales to high street shoppers but hinted it wanted to stimulate [...]
BUSINESS LUMINARIES TOAST THEIR SUCCESS

November 10, 2009

IT’S one thing to see the chancellor of the exchequer give up an entire evening to sit through a business awards ceremony, but quite another when he manages to have the audience in stitches during his speech as well. That’s right, folks: it seems that 18 months of surviving on a few hours sleep a [...]
GOLDMAN: OUR STAFF DESERVE EVERY PENNY

November 10, 2009

THE boss of Goldman Sachs yesterday defended the bank’s pay policies, insisting his staff were paid more because they were “among the most productive in the world”. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chair and chief executive, also rejected calls to break up the bank and said the firm was easier to manage than its larger rivals. “I [...]
BRIGHT SPARK

November 10, 2009

IMPERIAL Tobacco yesterday named Alison Cooper as its next chief executive, making her the youngest woman to run a FTSE 100 company. She will take over from current chief executive Gareth Davies, who is retiring after 37 years at the firm. The promotion for Cooper, 43, means that there are now five female chief executives [...]
Senator: Fed should not oversee banks

November 10, 2009

THE US Senate’s top banking legislator has proposed plans to prevent a repeat of the credit crisis by creating a single US bank regulator and stripping powers from the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd called for the creation of three new government agencies, regulating over-the-counter derivatives, and [...]
Good banks leave their weak rivals behind

November 10, 2009

THERE are three main messages from Barclays’ and HSBC’s results yesterday. British banks are divided into two groups: strong, private firms that have continued to generate profits during the crisis; and weak players that had to be bailed out. It is simply wrong to claim that all banks are the same. It is also clear [...]
Bear managers acquitted

November 10, 2009

TWO former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquitted of fraud charges yesterday. In the first case against players in the US subprime mortgage meltdown that contributed to the financial crisis, a jury in a US District Court in New York found hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi, 53, and Matthew Tannin, 48, not guilty after [...]