The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from June 2007

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from June 2007

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 1, 2007... Jun. 1--As more traditional City hostelries shut their doors -- the latest is the Young's Wine Lodge in Fenchurch Street -- it is heartening to report a promising new addition. Patrick Molloy, former manager of another venerated institution,...

Government speeds to British Energy sale.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 1--The Government moved swiftly today to sell down its stake in British Energy, offloading shares in the country's nuclear generator and raising up to [pounds sterling]2.34 billion. The cash is earmarked for the...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Fildes column.(Column)
June 1, 2007... Byline: Christopher Fildes Jun. 1--Yo, Blair, you still here? Well, only just. He has been flitting through Africa, but next week his farewell tour will bring him to the Baltic coast, where he will attend his 10th global summit and hope to...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 1, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 1--The merger maniacs were piling into property group Hammerson today as rumours of bid interest from bigger rival British Land fired a few sparks into an otherwise dull day on the markets. Vague bid talk was...

Branson slams Marks & Spencer on Africa import cuts.
June 4, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Jun. 4--Sir Richard Branson today accused Marks & Spencer of abandoning Africa through its policy of reducing "food miles". The billionaire Virgin Atlantic boss said cutting food imports from Africa will leave...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
June 4, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jun. 4--One of the travails of this job is meeting people who tell me how well they're doing. I've lost count of the bankers, financiers, lawyers, accountants and PRs who want to impress upon me how much business...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 4, 2007... Jun. 4--Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice is the setting for the inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed -- and Mohamed Fayed is not impressed. "Number 73 is very difficult to find. And when you do, you wish you...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 4, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 4--There were red faces in Paris today after Euronext's computerised trading system blew a fuse which resulted in all futures and options trading on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange...

Shareholders to get handout after Segro's U.S. sell-off.
June 4, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 4--Property giant Segro, the former Slough Estates, has sold its U.S. business for considerably more than its book value. Slough Estates USA is being sold to Health Care Property Investors Inc for $2.9 billion...

Royal Bank of Scotland executive expects solid first-half profit.(Financial report)
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--Booming corporate banking and reducing bad debts among High Street customers will help Royal Bank of Scotland deliver better-than-expected first-half profits, chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin said today. The bank confirmed the...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--LOW-PAY PANEL'S MYNERS JOINS THE PRIVATE-EQUITY TAX CRITICS: Low Pay Commission chairman Paul Myners, pictured, has weighed in to the growing row over private-equity tax contributions, questioning why executives with huge payouts only...

[pounds sterling]252 billion wiped off China shares as the big slide goes on.
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--China's stocks fell another 6 percent today, continuing the massive slump that has driven the Shanghai index down 21 percent since last Wednesday, wiping more than $500 billion ([pounds sterling]252 billion) off the market's value. ...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--ANOTHER week, another flurry of carefully planted stories in the papers about the imminent launch of Project Turquoise, the rival share trading platform to the London Stock Exchange being set up by seven big investment banks. Most in...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 5, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 5--TAX BREAK MAY BE UNFAIR -- AND A PRICE WORTH PAYING: SVG chairman Nick Ferguson has never been one to shirk difficult questions, which is probably why the performance of SVG has been so good over the years....

Independent insurance pair admit hiding facts.
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--Two directors of collapsed Independent Insurance have admitted they withheld information from the actuaries whose job it was to monitor the financial strength of the company, a court heard today. Independent, once a [pounds...

Low pay chief joins tax doubters.
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--Low Pay Commission chairman Paul Myners has weighed in to the growing row over private-equity tax contributions, questioning why executives with huge payouts only pay a penny in the pound in tax. The former Marks & Spencer chairman...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 5, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 5--Standard Life stood out in falling market today with a rise of 234p to 340 3/4p, having briefly touched 347 3/4p. Merrill Lynch has joined the life assurer's fan club by raising its recommendation on the shares...

888 Holdings in talks over pre-ban online gambling.
June 5, 2007... Jun. 5--Online betting group 888 Holdings admitted today it could still face legal problems in the US, despite having quit the country when internet gambling was outlawed last October. In a near-mirror statement of one by rival PartyGaming...

Swiss court tightens tax grip on rich.
June 5, 2007... Byline: Allan Hall Jun. 5--The bell may be tolling for Switzerland's super-rich -- many of them UK stage and screen stars -- after a landmark decision struck down a law giving preferential tax treatment to the wealthy. The country's...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 6, 2007... Jun. 6--ASTRAZENECA FINANCE CHIEF QUITS TO JOIN GOLDMAN SACHS: AstraZeneca's highly respected finance director Jon Symonds is jumping ship from the pharmaceuticals giant to become an investment banker. The 48-year-old, who joined Zeneca 10...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
June 6, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jun. 6--The devil incarnate looks like a youth group leader, went to public school, loves 1950s rock 'n' roll, lives in Croydon with his wife and two daughters, plays golf and tennis, is an evangelical Christian...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 6, 2007... Jun. 6--There is no pleasing some people. The good folk behind Broadgate have invited in a "sound artist" to replicate jungle noises and the sounds of moths' wings and humming birds -- and the workers can't stand the din. Stephen Vitiello set...

Crude above $70 as cyclone poses threat to the gulf.
June 6, 2007... Jun. 6--A cyclone that is threatening Iran and other parts of the Persian Gulf sent oil prices above $70 in overnight trading. London Brent crude rose 28 cents to $70.73, its highest for two weeks, on fears that the oil flow could be...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 6, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 6--Ever since he retired from Lombard Street Research, Professor Tim Congdon seems to have been busier and more mischievous than ever, producing a string of pamphlets and iconoclastic articles suggesting, to...

It's carry on shopping as bank ponders loan rates.
June 6, 2007... Jun. 6--The prospect of rising interest rates appears not to be spooking shoppers, judging by new consumer confidence figures. With the Bank of England's monetary policy committee starting its two-day meeting today after its interest rate...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 6, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jun. 6--Stock-market investors should brace themselves for a massive sell-off to rival that of the dot-com bust at the beginning of the decade. That is the claim made today by Morgan Stanley, which is urging...

Small firms lose ground in the race for big audits.
June 7, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 7--Plans to get more firms to audit major British companies suffered a dent today as industry figures revealed the gap in size between the dominant Big Four and the second-tier firms is getting wider. The...

Abbey bosses share pay.
June 7, 2007... Jun. 7--The four executive directors of Abbey, the former building society now owned by Spain's Santander bank, shared pay and bonuses of almost [pounds sterling]10.6 million despite an 84 percent fall in profits at the British bank. They...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Company overview)(Column)
June 7, 2007... Jun. 7--WINCANTON PUTS ITS PLANS FOR EUROPEAN RECOVERY INTO GEAR: Logistics group Wincanton today finally unveiled plans to increase profit margins at its European haulage business, bought from P&O four years ago, to at least 2 percent on...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 7, 2007... Jun. 7--AS the private-jets business takes off -- the rich are quitting scheduled services in their droves -- there are fears for Luton. It's now a major executive-jet centre, and gridlock is fast approaching within the airport, while outside...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
June 7, 2007... Byline: Neil Collins Jun. 7--TAKE MY TIP, JUDGE, AND PASS THE PENSIONS BUCK: A fortnight today there's a High Court hearing which may turn out to be very odd indeed. Unless peace breaks out sooner, John Watson will give the judge a crash...

UBS to pay Enron over 'better deal' claims.
June 7, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 7--Swiss banking giant UBS is to pay the estate of Enron $115 million ([pounds sterling]57.7 million) to settle legal claims alleging it was given a better deal by the failed US energy trading group than other...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 7, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 7--When you think about it, the water industry is the obvious place to look for bubbles -- and we certainly have one now. Royal Bank of Scotland is putting Southern Water up for sale with a price tag not far...

A breather as bank keeps rates on hold.
June 7, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 7--Interest rates were left on hold today but few in the City are betting the Bank of England's base rate will not be increased as early as next month and possibly hit 6 percent by the end of the year. The Bank...

Horlick betting on private equity with fund.
June 7, 2007... Jun. 7--City superwoman Nicola Horlick today launched her [pounds sterling]250 million fund to give the public access to private-equity deals and hedge funds. The fund, called Bramdean Alternative Investments, plans to list on the London...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 7, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 7--Are the Barclay brothers about to bid for InterContinental Hotels Group (ICG)? The idea moved from idle speculation to a serious possibility today after Sir David and Sir Frederick revealed they now have a 10...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 8, 2007... Jun. 8--BOVIS LANDS [pounds sterling]112 MILLION AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE DEAL: Lend Lease's British subsidiary Bovis has signed a A$263 million ([pounds sterling]112 million) contract with the Australian Department of Defence to redevelop its...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 8, 2007... Jun. 8--THINGS must have been stressful at the BBC this week when last year's Apprentice winner, Michelle Dewberry, cancelled her appearance on the live BBC2 post-mortem show, hosted by Adrian Chiles. But a quick ringaround, and Ultimo bra...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Fildes column.
June 8, 2007... Byline: Christopher Fildes Jun. 8--FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, TICKING BOXES ISN'T ENOUGH FOR THE CITY: Here's a topical test case for integrity at work. Your bank -- let us call it JPMorgan -- is arranging a bond issue on behalf of a client which...

Pound pain as stock market worries spook forex dealers.
June 8, 2007... Jun. 8--The pound took a further dive today as international stock markets wobbled. The pound, which not long ago touched two dollars, slipped nearly one-and-a-half cents to $1.9646. While forex traders talked of a strengthening in sentiment...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 8, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 8--C&W ON RIGHT LINES WITH PRIVATE-EQUITY REWARDS: Most executive pay schemes are like the Caucus-race in Alice in Wonderland, where the participants started off in different positions, ran for different...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 8, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 8--On days like today Sir David McMurtry and John Deer must wonder why they ever took their clever-clogs engineering company Renishaw public. Shares in the business, which makes everything from dental devices...

Avis warns 'malpractice' in Portugal may cost millions.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Accident-prone car hire group Avis Europe shook up its investors again today as it revealed it could be the subject of a multi-million-pound fraud in its operations in Portugal. Avis said an internal audit appeared to indicate its...

Barclays under hedge-fund pressure to ditch ABN bid.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Barclays has been told by a leading activist hedge fund to drop its e64 billion ([pounds sterling]45 billion) agreed bid for ABN Amro. Atticus Capital, which has a 1 percent stake in Barclays, said the all-paper offer was a bid to...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays Capital, has overtaken Goldman Sachs' Michael Sherwood as the most respected man in European capital markets, according to a poll by Financial News. Sherwood dropped to third place in the...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
June 11, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jun. 11--DO THE SUMS, JON, YOUR TAX PLAN DOESN'T ADD UP: Please sir, can I be Labour Deputy Leader? I'd love it. I'd stuff the rich, I'd show 'em. I'd hit them with a 50 percent tax hike. I'll narrow the gap...

Alchemy mulls bid for Jaguar and Land Rover.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Jon Moulton's private-equity firm Alchemy Partners is looking at a potential [pounds sterling]3 billion bid for carmakers Jaguar and Land Rover. Ford, the marques' owner, has appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to look at...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--News that Masonic lodges are targeting a younger type of trouser-roller by presenting to students at Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Durham and Exeter universities will not trouble the traditional Masonic stronghold of EC3. "Lloyd's...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 11, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 11--POOR IMAGE OF PRIVATE EQUITY IS A LONG WAY FROM THE TRUTH: The Treasury Select Committee will this week begin to take evidence from the private-equity industry as part of an inquiry provoked in the main by...

Watchdog on the case of JJB founder's sale.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 11--The Financial Services Authority was snooping around JJB Sports today after founder David Whelan's surprise sale of his 29 percent stake in the sport retailer late on Friday. Whelan cashed in his family's...

Rexam out of bottles and into cans with deal.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Rexam today moved to raise about [pounds sterling]300 million on the market as it got its $1.56 billion ([pounds sterling]795 million) acquisition of OI Plastics in the can. Today's deal for the plastics arm of US group...

HG hails success with leap in profits and sell-off.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--HG Capital today declared itself a flagbearer for the positive side of private equity as it sold an IT company after trebling its profits and doubling its workforce. The company spent [pounds sterling]202 million buying Iris Software,...

Setback for Prudential as Asia chief executive steps down.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Prudential's all-important Asian division suffered a heavy blow today as the chief executive of its fund management arm in the region, Ajay Srinivasan, said that he was leaving the company after nine years. Srinivasan, who is...

Weather damper on London retail sales.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 11--London shoppers bought more belts, cosmetics and handbags last month but held off buying clothes and shoes as the weather remained distinctly changeable through most of May. Top brands from Burberry to...

Evening Standard, London, Taking Stock column.(Column)
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays should improve once the bid battle for ABN Amro is decided one way or the other, argues Schroders. Richard Buxton, head of equities at the fund manager, says: "You're dealing with two...

Yahoo faces investor revolt for lagging behind Google.
June 11, 2007... Jun. 11--Executives at Yahoo are bracing themselves for an ill-tempered annual shareholders' meeting tomorrow, with a group of the most vocal dissidents mulling a call for the head of chief executive Terry Semel, on whose watch arch-rival...

Police turn up heat on 'boiler room' tricksters.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 12--City of London detectives are warning of an explosion in so-called "boiler rooms" punting dodgy share deals to vulnerable investors. Since January police have identified 150 boiler rooms employing...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 12, 2007... Jun. 12--TORY MP EDWARD VAIZEY has made a last-ditch play for the churches to be exempted from the smoking ban. He says a friendly priest "was lamenting the number of Government initiatives and regulations he has to deal with". Vaizey fumes:...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 12, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 12--SUCKER FUND MANAGERS WHO GET TRAMPLED IN A BULL RUN: It is a feature of every mature bull market that, as the boom goes on, less sophisticated investors get sucked in and almost always get taken for a ride....

Russian banker plans global Jewish TV net.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Gideon Spanier Jun. 12--A Russian banker-turned-politician is planning to launch a global Jewish TV network to rival Al-Jazeera, the Evening Standard has learned. Vladimir Sloutsker, a senator in the upper house of the Russian...

Private-equity body launches crisis review.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 12--The executive of private-equity professional body the BVCA has been ordered to shake up its act as senior representatives of the industry today came under attack from a committee of MPs. The new chairman of...

HBOS shocks with drop in mortgages.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 12--Britain's biggest mortgage lender Halifax surprised the stock market today as it revealed that it lost a huge chunk of market share in the home loans market in the first three months of this year. Its shares...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 12, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 12--Where will those Icelandic troublemakers Baugur strike next? The company that already owns House of Fraser and toy store Hamleys is widely assumed to have further designs on the UK High Street, but it has...

Barclays may use cash to win battle for ABN.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 13--Barclays is looking at sweetening its e65 billion ([pounds sterling]44 billion) bid for ABN Amro with an element of cash if it fails to see off a rival bid in the courts. The Dutch bank has agreed...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 13, 2007... Jun. 13--YOUTUBE SEEKS 'FINGERPRINT' CURE FOR COPYRIGHT PROBLEM: Video sharing site YouTube will begin testing a "video fingerprinting" technology in conjunction with Time Warner and Walt Disney that is designed to recognise copyright contents....

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
June 13, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jun. 13--BAPTISM OF FIRE FOR PRIVATE EQUITY CHIEF: Private equity is in crisis. Battered by the trade unions, pursued by MPs, given a going-over by the Financial Services Authority, lambasted by one of its own,...

BP to fuel recovery of loss-hit Singapore arm.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 13--Oil and gas giant BP's joint-venture company China National Aviation Fuel has signalled a big new investment in its Singapore trading arm, which is recovering from huge losses from bad bets on the oil price....

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 13, 2007... Jun. 13--Peter Linthwaite's days must surely be numbered as chief executive at private-equity talking shop the BVCA. His pitiful performance before MPs on the Treasury Select Committee yesterday made him look caught-in-the-headlights and...

Rival bids for dentist add bite to equity row.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Jun. 13--An [pounds sterling]80 million bidding war for Oasis Healthcare broke out today, sending shares in the dentist chain soaring. The Oasis board agreed to an 82p-a-share offer from private-equity firm Duke...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 13, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 13--CHICAGO WIND BLOWS IN GOOD NEWS FOR LONDON: A survey sponsored by MasterCard yesterday ranked London ahead of New York and Chicago as the world's leading centre of commerce, confirming the results of other...

Alliance & Leicester eases fears of a home loans war.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jun. 13--Alliance & Leicester today shrugged off fears over a mortgage war, which were raised by rival Halifax yesterday, and told analysts it should hit the top of their forecasts for this year's profits. After...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 13, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 13--BID TALK AT THE DOUBLE FAILS TO INSPIRE FOOTSIE: Bid speculation about Royal & SunAlliance and J Sainsbury couldn't inject life into the FTSE 100 today, as London caught the cold that had been brewing...

Bond is too late to boost outlook for Pinewood.
June 13, 2007... Jun. 13--Bond is back, but a couple of weeks too late for Pinewood Shepperton's current financial year. The 22nd Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig as 007 will begin shooting at Pinewood in January 2008, and is understood to be one of a...

Yahoo boss told to raise his game by holders.
June 13, 2007... Jun. 13--Yahoo chief Terry Semel has been put on notice by shareholders that he must improve his performance if he wants to keep the lucrative job. At the company's meeting in Santa Clara, California, almost a third of votes were cast...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
June 14, 2007... Jun. 14--RECOVERING AEA MORE THAN DOUBLES PROFITS TO [pounds sterling]8.6 MILLION: Profits are soaring at AEA, one of the Government's main consultants on energy efficiency and the environment. AEA, once part of the Atomic Energy Authority but...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
June 14, 2007... Jun. 14--Spare a thought for the bankers toiling at ABN Amro, in limbo for months while the bidding war between Barclays and RBS for the Dutch firm drags on. "We are getting inundated with CVs from ABN people," says the chief executive of...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
June 14, 2007... Byline: Neil Collins Jun. 14--THE RADICAL PENSIONS PLAN THAT'S A NON-STARTER: Toby Nangle has a big idea. It's so big, it would double the size of the national debt, the sum that we citizens have lent to the Government over the years and...

EBay pulls ads plug as rift with Google widens.
June 14, 2007... Jun. 14--Online auctioneer eBay has removed its advertising from Google's AdWords network. The decision underlines the increasingly strained relationship between the two companies with their competing payment systems. "This is part of an...

BetonSports founder loses bid for bail in US.
June 14, 2007... Jun. 14--The founder of BetonSports, Gary Kaplan, has had his bid for bail thrown out by a St Louis federal court, where he faces racketeering and fraud charges. The online gambling company pleaded guilty on 24 May to a single charge of...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
June 14, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jun. 14--A BARCLAYS LOSS WOULD BE INVESTMENT BANKERS' GAIN: It is unusual for activist hedge funds to miss the mark, but the request from Atticus to the board of Barclays that it drop its bid for ABN Amro falls into...

InterContinental Hotels chief is forced to quit over education lies.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Simon English Jun. 14--One of the most senior and highly regarded executives at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has been forced to resign in disgrace after it emerged that he lied about his academic qualifications. Patrick...

Sales of London's luxury homes 'may have peaked'.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jun. 14--Some of the steam may come out of the boom in luxury home sales in London this year, but they are still expected to rise by some 20 percent, according to property agents Knight Frank. The price of the...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
June 14, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Jun. 14--DOBBIES BID PLOT THICKENS AS SIR TOM TAKES ON TESCO: The prospect of a bidding war for Dobbies Garden Centres sent shares in the nursery chain soaring today as property magnate Sir Tom Hunter squared up to...

Brown pledges rethink on Monetary Policy Committee selection rules.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jun. 14--Appointments to the Bank of England's key interest-rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are to be shaken up amid criticisms that selection decisions have been taken behind closed doors by Gordon Brown...