The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from June 2005

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from June 2005

BA and Virgin square up as China becomes the new hot ticket.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 3--British Airways has unveiled plans to take the battle for China to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. It has added the boom town of Guangzhou to its wish list of new routes, and opened its first new major...

Italian call for lira return rocks euro.
June 3, 2005... Jun. 3--Shudders swept through the City today after an Italian minister said the country should consider quitting the euro and reintroducing the lira. Welfare minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the eurosceptic Northern League party, told...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 3--PAIN AND PERIL FOR PRIVATE EQUITY: Stuart Rose of Marks & Spencer was quoted the other day as saying that no one predicted that consumer spending would slow down as much as it has -- which is not true, as...

Opera's saviour, partner accused of ripping off widow.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 3--A Californian widow has been identified as the alleged victim of a rip-off by Covent Garden opera saviour Alberto Vilar. American prosecutors say Vilar, an investment adviser who bailed out the Royal Opera...

Hornby keen to up Europe scale.
June 3, 2005... Jun. 3--Model railways and Scalextric group Hornby wants to couple up with more European modelmakers following its successful takeovers of several small companies on the Continent. The group is already in talks to buy MKD, its French...

Women set the pace on stock-picking.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Jun. 3--The Square Mile may be male-dominated but women are far cannier investors than men when it comes to buying equities, according to research by financial website DigitalLook.com. DigitalLook says women are...

Apple seeks peace over iPod glitch.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 3--Apple Computer is considering striking a deal with disillusioned customers over an embarrassing glitch with batteries in its iconic iPod digital music player. The company had been trying to gloss over...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 3, 2005... Jun. 3--STANDARD CHARTERED IN VIETNAM VENTURE: Standard Chartered is buying an 8.56 percent stake in Asia Commercial Bank, Vietnam's second-largest semi-private bank, as the lender tries to compete in the increasingly capitalist market....

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 3, 2005... Jun. 3--Lord (Irvine) Laidlaw may have pocketed a tidy [pounds sterling]700 million from the sale of his conference empire IIR to T&F Informa this week, but the millionaire Tory Party donor sometimes left his staff less than impressed. One...

Russians bolster top London homes.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Jun. 3--An influx of wealthy Russians and a lack of quality houses boosted the top end of London's property market in May. Estate agent Knight Frank says the average price of [pounds sterling]1 million-plus...

Sanctuary admits bid talks but plays it soft.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Jun. 3--Sanctuary Group, the music company that represents the likes of Elton John, Morrissey and Iron Maiden, today admitted it has been in talks that could lead to it being taken over but stressed no deal is...

BHP beats the clock to pick up WMC for [pounds sterling]5bn.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 3--Mining giant BHP Billiton has finally won control of copper and uranium miner WMC resources in a A$9.2 billion ([pounds sterling]5 billion) deal that just beat today's deadline for acceptance. The...

Opera's saviour 'ripped off widow for millions'.
June 3, 2005... Jun. 3--A Californian widow has been identified as the alleged victim of a rip-off by Covent Garden opera saviour Alberto Vilar. American prosecutors say Vilar, an investment adviser who bailed out the Royal Opera House five years ago, used...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 3--Shares of controversial oil exploration company White Nile, run by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, resumed trading today, but traders are already asking themselves -- for how long? Since the company...

Electra lines up ISS for [pounds sterling]75m sale.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Jun. 3--Inchcape Shipping Services, which specialises in looking after ships and tankers while they are docked in ports around the world, is set to be sold for up to [pounds sterling]75 million. Venture capitalist...

Margins cloud but sky-high profits as BA chief nears exit.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 6--Rod Eddington, into his final four months running British Airways, has admitted he is likely to miss his long-held target of delivering profit margins of 10 percent a year, but is still promising another year of...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--TWO ELEMENTIS HEADS ROLL AS HANOVER LEADS REVOLT: Fund management group Hanover has led a purge at chromium chemicals producer Elementis, in which it has a 15.21 percent stake. The revolt led to chairman Keith Hopkins and senior...

Bristol-Myers 'set for $300m deal on accounting'.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--Drugs giant Bristol-Myers Squibb is reportedly ready to pay $300 million ([pounds sterling]164 million) to settle a federal probe of its past accounting practices in a bid to avoid criminal charges. The "deferred prosecution"...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--"DEAD MEAT" was one rival's curt summing-up of the prospects of PlaneStation, the AIM company that runs Manston's Kent International Airport and no-frills airline EUJet. How clever. PlaneStation has just announced that the airport has...

Rentokil names finance chief.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--Rentokil Initial has snared Andrew Macfarlane, finance director of Britain's largest quoted property firm Land Securities, to take up the same role at the royal ratcatcher. Macfarlane, who earned [pounds sterling]431,000 in salary...

Royal Mint figures on [pounds sterling]15m buy.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--The Royal Mint is bidding for mail order jewellery and figurines maker Brooks & Bentley. State-owned Mint, which already sells a limited selection of glass and porcelain collectables, is one of at least six serious bidders prepared...

Quorn joins Premier line-up for [pounds sterling]172m.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 6--Meat-free foodstuff producer Quorn has joined a clutch of other household-name brands -- Ambrosia desserts, Hartley's jams, Typhoo tea and Branston pickle -- in the Premier Foods stable in a deal worth [pounds...

France Telecom is put on hold.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--Shares in France Telecom were suspended today as the new French government began to auction a 6.2 percent stake. The move was seen as a clear indication that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin plans to continue boosting the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 6--TIME TO UNLEASH NEW WATCHDOG: Financial Services Authority chairman Callum McCarthy is as politically skilled an operator as you are likely to find, which is why it is odd that he should have reacted as...

New man for the Pru is given a [pounds sterling]500,000 hello.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--Prudential's new chief executive Mark Tucker is to receive a golden hello of almost [pounds sterling]500,000. Tucker, who was poached from his position as finance director at retail bank HBOS earlier this year, will be paid a...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 6--Runaway Rolls-Royce led blue-chips higher today with a jump of 5 1/4p to a five-year best of 285 3/4p. The company's broker, ABN Amro, has been singing its praises from the rooftops, repeating its buy...

Total vows to beat White Nile in Sudan rights row.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Jun. 6--French oil giant Total believes it will triumph in its increasingly bitter dispute with speculative oil firm White Nile over exploration rights in Sudan. Total says it is studying its legal options if White...

Evil Knievil bets on French.
June 6, 2005... Jun. 6--Legendary short-seller Simon Cawkwell last week called on the Financial Services Authority to launch a formal inquiry into White Nile. In a letter to the regulator, Cawkwell, also known as Evil Knievil, ridiculed valuations on the firm,...

Capital & Regional tipped as [pounds sterling]600m takeover target.
June 6, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Jun. 6--Multi-billion-pound retail and leisure parks operator Capital & Regional could be the next big quoted property firm to be on the takeover list. Any suitor would have to offer about [pounds sterling]600...

Havas boardroom vote tilt succeeds.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Ross Tieman Jun. 9--French corporate raider Vincent Bollore was today elected to the board of the world's sixth-largest advertising agency with three of his lieutenants, at a tumultuous annual meeting in Paris. Despite vigorous...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 9, 2005... Jun. 9--ALBA PROFITS SLIDE IS NOT MUSIC TO INVESTORS' EARS: The slowdown in consumer spending has burned the profits at Alba, maker of branded electrical goods such as Bush radios. Pre-tax profits for the year to 31 March fell to [pounds...

Halfords sees sales step up a gear.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Jun. 9--Booming sales of satellite navigation equipment helped Halfords defy the High Street gloom with a huge surge in profits in its first set of full-year results since floating a year ago. Halfords is the...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 9, 2005... Jun. 9--You can understand why rail regulator Chris Bolt has been so sniffy about Network Rail's performance. He has taken the company's directors to task for their patchy budgeting and business model at a time when they have awarded themselves...

HP reveals cost of its stock options.
June 9, 2005... Jun. 9--Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has highlighted the scale of the problem of "expensing" stock options for employees. It told US authorities that 14 percent would have been wiped off its bottom line if new accounting practices were in...

Output rise spurs bank to extend rates freeze.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Jun. 9--An unexpected jump in factory output today brought rare good news from Britain's struggling manufacturing sector and prompted the Bank of England to leave interest rates on hold for a 10th successive month. ...

HealthSouth in [pounds sterling]100m SEC deal.
June 9, 2005... Jun. 9--HealthSouth, the latest US company in the dock for accounting fraud, has agreed to pay $100 million ([pounds sterling]54.7 million) over two years to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The civil...

Bonus cut, but man supremo still takes home [pounds sterling]7.8m package.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 9--Stanley Fink, chief executive of the world's largest quoted hedge fund manager, took a 17.5 percent cut in his usual multi-million pound bonus last year but still pocketed a total of [pounds sterling]7.8 million....

Powerhouse GLG wins the City plaudits.
June 9, 2005... Jun. 9--GLG Partners, the ultra-secretive hedge fund whose cult status puts its owners among Britain's biggest earners, has been declared London's most respected alternative investment house. Run by [pounds sterling]30 million-a-year Noam...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 9--It is astonishing how fast City firms will move when they see an opportunity. Two years ago Resolution Life did not exist. Today it is half of a merger with the much longer-lived Britannic Assurance which...

Greenberg quits his last role at giant insurer AIG.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 9--The leading light of insurance giant American International Group for 40 years, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, has relinquished his last post in the company -- resigning from the board of the world's largest insurer....

Waiting game for France's woman of power.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Ross Tieman Jun. 9--Anne Lauvergeon is tomorrow's woman. She's the boss of Areva, the world's biggest nuclear engineer, a company forecast to be one of the few major beneficiaries of the soaring oil price. She is also on course to...

Resolution, Britannic in [pounds sterling]1.8 billion merger.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 9--Millions of savers who own with-profit life assurance schemes today found themselves under new ownership after Britannic and Resolution Life agreed a [pounds sterling]1.8 billion merger. The deal, sealed...

FSA 'a victim of Blair-Brown feud'.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 9--Sir David Howard, chairman of private-client stockbroker Charles Stanley, came out strongly in support of the Financial Services Authority today -- defending it against the recent attack from Prime Minister...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 9--The proposed [pounds sterling]1.8 billion merger between life assurers Resolution Life and Britannic may be good news for savers but is bad news for fund manager F&C Asset Management which today saw its shares...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 10, 2005... Jun. 10--CHINESE ENERGY GIANT IN [pounds sterling]1.4BN OILFIELDS SWOOP: China's top oil and gas producer, PetroChina, said today it will buy overseas oilfields from state-owned parent CNPC for $2.5 billion ([pounds sterling]1.4 billion) to...

Anyone for tennis?
June 10, 2005... Byline: David White Jun. 10--What's the biggest prize in British sport? Winning the Premiership? The British Open golf? The Formula One Grand Prix? The Derby? Beating the Aussies at cricket? Business thinks it knows the answer, and it's...

Patent legal row 'could stop sales of blackberry'.
June 10, 2005... Jun. 10--The maker of the BlackBerry email phone, Research In Motion, is back on the warpath with Canadian patent firm NTP after failing to finalise a $450 million ([pounds sterling]246 million) settlement in a damaging dispute over technology...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 10, 2005... Jun. 10--NEWS that HSBC is to start broadcasting music to customers queueing in 400 of its branches prompts City Spy to consider which tracks former Radio One DJ Bruno Brookes' Immedia Broadcasting might pipe into the banking halls. How about:...

Easyjet climbs after talk of Icelanders on its tail.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 10--Shares of easyJet have gained plenty of altitude since striking a record low of 118p last September, no doubt helped by Icelandair's opportune acquisition of a 10 percent stake in the no-frills airline a short...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 10--The Investment Management Association published figures a few weeks ago that suggested pension fund managers continue to switch money heavily out of equities and into bonds. Research from WM Performance...

Key chip demand powers surge in fortunes at Intel.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 10--Intel's big hit, the Centrino chip for laptops, has put the company on track for a revenue boost just a year after it was dogged by a stock overhang and doubts about its future. The company now says second-...

Doorstep service plan to deliver M&S revival.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Jun. 10--Marks & Spencer is considering launching a full food and grocery home delivery service in an effort to catch up with its supermarket rivals and revive its flagging food sales. No final decisions have yet...

Insurers braced to pay out for Rover crash damage.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 10--The insurance industry is bracing itself for a wave of claims from key suppliers to MG Rover as hundreds of firms are resigned to getting back next to nothing from the failed Longbridge carmaker, writes Robert...

Big trucks stopped in tracks by tyres shortage.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 10--The biggest topic of discussion at a mining convention in New York this week was the scarcity -- and soaring cost -- of tyres for the huge trucks and diggers that are the workhorses of the industry from...

Civil servants' exodus spurs Victoria rent cut.
June 10, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Jun. 10--The owners of one of Victoria's empty flagship office redevelopments have slashed its rents, blaming the mass exodus of civil servants from the area under Government plans to relocate thousands outside...

Woolies names finance boss in boardroom shuffle.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Jun. 10--Woolworths has filled the gap in its boardroom with the appointment of former MEPC finance chief Stephen East, writes Fiona Walsh. East, 47, takes up the [pounds sterling]300,000 finance post next month,...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 15--A STRAW IN THE WIND FOR LLOYD'S: Stephen Haddrill, the already-impressive new director general of the Association of British Insurers, came out with a couple of facts in a speech in Brussels yesterday which...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 15, 2005... Jun. 15--BRANSON ROUTE BID SNUBBED BY AUSSIES: The Australian government has snubbed Sir Richard Branson and his partner Singapore Airlines in their bid to fly the lucrative Sydney-Los Angeles route. "It has been decided the time is not right...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jun. 15--THE WRIGHT WAVELENGTH: Funny thing, honours for businessmen (and the very occasional businesswoman). Half the time you think they've already got them; the other half, you can't see why they've been...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 15, 2005... Jun. 15--A knighthood for Rod Eddington has been a subject of speculation ever since the British Airways chief executive put aside his political leanings to help Gordon Brown come up with some blue-skies thinking on the state of Britain's...

J.P. Morgan will shell out [pounds sterling]1.2bn to Enron backers.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 15--Investment bank JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay $2.2 billion ([pounds sterling]1.2 billion) to investors of collapsed energy firm Enron. The move, which follows a cave-in by Citigroup, puts intense...

Exxon recruits accused Bush official.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 15--A former White House environmental official, accused of doctoring reports on global warming, is joining oil major ExxonMobil. The company confirmed that Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff of the White...

House price alarm bells ring in ears of soft-landing optimists.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Jun. 15--Suddenly, the idea of an early Nineties-style housing crash does not look quite so fanciful. Grim reports in recent days have cast doubt on the widely held belief that the market is on course for a soft...

Man of steel Mittal is looking to home in on Indian opportunities.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Jake Lloyd Smith Jun. 15--London-based steel baron Lakshmi Mittal once disingenuously claimed he was "a steelmaker, not a dealmaker". But the truth about the driving force behind the world's largest steel group is that he is...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 15--PAYOUT POLICY PROVES TO BE JUSTIFIED AT LLOYDS TSB: Income funds just love Lloyds TSB, and it is not hard to see why. The shares continue to yield 7 percent, more than any other bank. Two years ago, when...

Hunt for new boss at Morgan Stanley.
June 15, 2005... Jun. 15--Jockeying in the race to take over from Philip Purcell at the helm of Morgan Stanley -- one of the most coveted jobs on Wall Street -- has begun in earnest. Board member Charles Knight, who is heading the search for a replacement...

PartyGaming slashes its float value by [pounds sterling]1bn.
June 15, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Jun. 15--PartyGaming, the world's biggest online poker company, has slashed about [pounds sterling]1 billion from the value of its planned flotation on the London Stock Exchange. The price cut has prompted...

Web-based poker room Empire Online goes public.
June 15, 2005... Jun. 15--Shares in internet poker room Empire Online begin trading on London's junior stock market today following a [pounds sterling]123.5 million fund-raising that valued the company at [pounds sterling]512.4 million. Cyprus-based...

OPEC output to hit record in effort to slow prices.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Jun. 15--Oil cartel OPEC is set to push its official production quota to its highest-ever today in the latest attempt to cool world crude prices. Ministers meeting in Vienna are close to consensus on a plan that...

Icelanders target M&S in a [pounds sterling]170m share-buying spree.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Jun. 15--Icelandic investors have built up a 3 percent stake in Marks & Spencer, spending [pounds sterling]170 million on the shares in recent days, according to a report in today's Guardian newspaper. Confirmation...

Viacom splits in search for value.
June 15, 2005... Jun. 15--Media giant Viacom has approved the spin-off of its cable networks and film studios from its television and radio businesses. The company hopes the separation will give investors two plays -- a growth stock through its MTV,...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 20--SOLVING THE NON-EXECS PROBLEM: It is easy to interpret Wm Morrison supermarkets chairman Sir Ken Morrison's rejection of the non-executive directors proposed by his deputy David Jones as a further and not...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 20, 2005... Jun. 20--HEINZ TO SWALLOW HP FOODS FOR [pounds sterling]470M: Heinz was today expected to snap up HP Sauce and Lea & Perrins in a [pounds sterling]470 million deal to buy HP Foods from its French owner Danone. Reports said the US foods giant...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 20, 2005... Jun. 20--The latest investment scam from the US proves the truth of Gordon Gekko's comment in the film Wall Street that "a fool and his money are lucky to get together in the first place." You get home and check your answerphone messages....

Bailey hedge fund closes after slump in value.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 20--London-based hedge fund Bailey Coates Cromwell, which was worth $1.3 billion ([pounds sterling]710 million) last year, is to close down after losing 20 percent of its value this year. The fund's managers...

Mizuho muscles in on lucrative Japanese deals.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 20--Investment banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been overhauled in Japan's lucrative share offering market by Mizuho Financial. Mizuho is now a key player in the [pounds sterling]33 billion...

Loan and credit card debt heavy burden on Lloyds TSB.
June 20, 2005... Jun. 20--Lloyds TSB today became the latest major High Street bank to admit more and more of its customers are having difficulties servicing the debts they have built up on credit cards and unsecured personal loans. At a meeting ahead of...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Sarah Marks Jun. 20--TIME FOR INVESTORS TO JOIN THE SUPERMARKET SWEEP: Sainsbury's or Tesco? With both supermarket groups reporting trading figures this week, investors face a tougher call than shoppers. Pour more money into...

Microsoft case judge may go after angering court.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 20--The judge hearing an anti-trust lawsuit brought by software giant Microsoft against the European Commission may be changed after he published a controversial article on the case, according to a leaked proposal...

Long road ahead for drivers as oil prices boil to new records.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Jun. 20--A summer of soaring oil prices is threatening to hit motorists and pile more pressure on the beleaguered manufacturing sector. Light sweet crude hit a fresh record high of $59.18 a barrel in Far East...

PartyGaming advisers play for [pounds sterling]54m fees pot.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 20--Advisers to next week's [pounds sterling]4.7 billion stock market flotation of internet poker giant PartyGaming could pick up a bumper [pounds sterling]54 million in fees. The float, which has been...

Under-fire Morrison's boardroom battle.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Jun. 20--The crisis at Wm Morrison threatens to erupt into open warfare this week as chairman Sir Ken Morrison and David Jones, the sole non-executive director, battle it out over the appointment of new non-executive...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
June 23, 2005... Jun. 23--MULBERRY BAGS A 47 PERCENT SALES SURGE: Demand for Mulberry handbags shows no signs of slowing, with group sales surging 47 percent in the nine weeks to 4 June. Pre-tax profits for the year to end-March were just short of [pounds...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
June 23, 2005... Jun. 23--AFTER MIKE SODEN LOST HIS JOB as chief executive of Bank of Ireland last year for accessing internet pornography while at work, he said: "It was a silly incident. It was unfortunate and I am paying a very high price for it. It was a...