New partners at Big Four firms July 1, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers yesterday announced the admission of 33 new partners with effect from 1 July 2009 in addition to 21 partners recruited externally during the course of the year. Meanwhile, Big Four rival Ernst & Young announced the admission of 48 new partners across the UK and Ireland with immediate effect.
Hong Kong deal for Balfour Beatty July 1, 2009 Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and investment Group, announces today that Gammon Construction, its joint venture in South East Asia, has been awarded a contract in excess of HK$1.5 billion (£120m) by Hysan Development Company for the redevelopment of the Hennessy Centre in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong.
Food for growth at Sodexo July 1, 2009 French catering and services group Sodexo stuck to its earnings targets as healthcare and education contracts, and its vouchers unit compensated for a decline in spending by corporate clients. The world’s second-biggest caterer after Britain’s Compass Group said it was continuing to target full-year sales growth of four to seven per cent at constant currency [...]
Credit Suisse hands over names July 1, 2009 Swiss bank Credit Suisse yesterday said it will pass the names of clients holding French securities to the French markets authority. A Credit Suisse spokesman said the bank, one of the world’s biggest wealth managers, has sent a letter to French clients holding French stocks or bonds. Access to Swiss client names is a sensitive [...]
PREMIER TAX EXPERT STILL IN THE LEAGUE July 1, 2009 IT WAS au revoir (but not goodbye) last night at a leaving party at City restaurant Manicomio for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ John Whiting, the popular tax adviser who’s often been dubbed “Britain’s most quoted accountant”. Whiting – who’s known as “Mr T” on his regular stints on the BBC 2 Working Lunch sofa – has already started [...]
CITY EYE July 1, 2009 THE sun glints off the glass facades of the Gherkin and the Lloyd’s and Willis insurance buildings yesterday as the City enjoyed yet another day of glorious weather. Looks like that summer-to-beat-all-summers is finally here, folks…
BISCHOFF TO CHAIR LLOYDS June 30, 2009 SIR Win Bischoff, the ex-Citigroup chairman and veteran banker, is set to be named the next chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, it emerged last night. UK Financial Investments has asked the 67-year-old, who stepped down from Citi in February, to take the reins at the bank and lead it through the integration of HBOS, the [...]
INVESTMENT BANK PROFITS BOUNCE BACK June 30, 2009 THE WORLD’S best investment banks have clocked up bumper second quarter profits, reaping the benefits of a renewed focus on trading and capital markets underwriting, as well as the implosion of many rivals. While many institutions – such as RBS and Citigroup – are still finding conditions tough, a group of six is emerging as [...]
US consumer cheer dives June 30, 2009 CONFIDENCE among US consumers dived unexpectedly low in June, despite encouraging signs the worst of the housing slump may be over. The Conference Board’s sentiment index fell to 49.3 in June from 54.8 in May, suggesting the economy is still firmly in the grip of recession. The lack of consumer confidence reflects a weak labour [...]
Let’s celebrate a better second quarter June 30, 2009 IT is now clear that the first quarter of this year was utterly, devastatingly bad for the British economy. Revised figures yesterday showed that it shrank by 2.4 per cent between 1 January and 31 March. At an annualised rate, that was a drop of 10 per cent, the sort of implosion last seen during [...]