News

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

Nasdaq OMX loses more share

August 6, 2009

Nasdaq OMX Group posted a 31 per cent drop in quarterly profit yesterday as the transatlantic exchange operator’s US market share declined for the fifth straight quarter. The parent company of the Nasdaq Stock Market matched just over 20 per cent of US equity trading in the period amid a bruising price war with smaller [...]
Barclays wins investors round over sale of BGI to BlackRock

August 6, 2009

BARCLAYS chairman Marcus Agius yesterday defended the sale of Barclays Global Investors, as some shareholders accused the bank of “selling the family silver”. Agius said the sale, worth $14.2bn (£8.5bn), would “allow shareholders to participate in and enjoy a relationship with the global leader in the industry”. One shareholder asked why the bank was selling [...]
Inmarsat boosted by broadband

August 6, 2009

Satellite communications firm Inmarsat posted a better-than-expected 10 per cent rise in second quarter earnings yesterday, helped by demand for broadband on ships. The group, which provides mobile-phone and broadband coverage to ships, aircraft and remote locations around the world, reported earnings of $125.4m (£74.7m) on revenue of $173.2m, up 5.8 per cent.
Four Seasons to halve debt

August 6, 2009

Care home operator Four Seasons Healthcare is closer to a £1.5bn agreement with creditors, which would halve its debt pile, following an about-turn by a group of hedge funds which had previously refused to give their support. An agreement is expected to be unveiled next week, and will see Royal Bank of Scotland become the [...]
ETF investment at record high

August 6, 2009

The tentative recovery in the stock market and continued strong demand for passive investment have driven the value of assets invested globally in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to a record high of $862bn (£513bn). Data from Barclays Global Investors shows that investors have flocked back to ETFs, with the value of assets to reach $1 [...]
Mecom posts drop in sales

August 6, 2009

Newspaper group Mecom said yesterday that it saw evidence the advertising market was stabilising since a low point in February, but reported a 22 per cent drop in ad revenues for the first half of the year. Mecom, which has titles in the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Poland, raised its full-year cost-saving target to €100m [...]
US retail sales decline in July but jobless claims fall sharply

August 6, 2009

US RETAILERS reported their eleventh straight month of sales declines for July yesterday, but data showed that jobless claims fell last week, fanning hopes that the job market may be stabilising. July sales fell 5.1 per cent from a year earlier, compared with June’s 4.9 per cent decline. “You still have a picture of the [...]
BIGGS RELEASED

August 6, 2009

GREAT Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, 79, was released from prison yesterday on compassionate grounds as he is severely ill with pneumonia. The south Londoner was a member of the gang that robbed a mail train in 1963, stealing £2.6m. After a 30-year sentence, he escaped from prison and went on the run for 30 years. [...]
BARCLAYS HIRES CLINTON SPINNER PENN FOR POST-CRUNCH COUNSEL

August 5, 2009

BARCLAYS has brought in the big guns. Actually, it’s just the one gun, but they don’t come much bigger – Mark Penn, the American political pollster-cum-public relations guru who numbers both the Clintons, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Microsoft boss Bill Gates among his powerful clients. Penn is the worldwide chief executive of [...]
Sales drop at P&G eclipses profits surge

August 5, 2009

PROCTER & Gamble, the American consumer goods giant, yesterday posted a disappointing 11 per cent decline in quarterly sales, hurt by weak demand for some Gillette razors and Braun shavers. The company, which also makes Tide laundry detergent and Pampers diapers, warned sales could fall as much as 10 per cent this quarter and profit [...]