cityam 2012-02-24

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FTSE 100 ▲5,937.89 +21.34 DOW ▲12,984.91 +46.24 NASDAQ ▲2,956.98 +23.81 £/$ 1.57 unc £/¤ 1.18 unc ¤/$ ▲ 1.34 +0.02

RBS chief:cutting payis a big risk

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester hassaid that his bank is taking a risk by paying below market rates for its topinvestment bankers due to politicalpressure.

In an interview with City A.M., he said:“Clearly we are taking risks with that. We are paying less than some rivals

like Barclays for similar productivity and that’s a calculated risk.” The bank slashed average total pay by 26 per centlast year and bonuses by 58 per cent.

Recruiters say they expect a wave of desirable staff to leave the bank this year for better pay. Though swathes of bankers are being laid off in the City,competition for top talent is still fierce.

Hester also admitted that the politi-cal pressure on RBS to lend, especially to risky small businesses, means that itcould be making loans that a fully commercial bank would not make.

“We are at the margin doing thingsat a volume and level that if we wereanother bank we might not be doing,”he said. “It’s our aim to do it on a com-mercial basis… It’s not per se the gov-ernment target [driving our lending] but we are very conscious that in oursupport for customers we have to gothe extra mile.”

He warned that political interfer-ence risks turning RBS into a modernBritish Leyland, the ‘70s nationalisedcarmaker ruined by political meddling.

RBS’s “natural” share of the small business lending market is 29 per cent,Hester said, but it is in fact making up48 per cent of all loans made.

It comes on top of a growing burdenof regulation. Hester revealed that thedecision to dramatically shrink RBS’sinvestment bank with the loss of 3,500 jobs was made “inevitable” by the fatalcombination of the EU debt crisis andthe extra burden imposed by theIndependent Commission on Banking.“The ICB ring-fence was another nailin the coffin,” he said.

He added that the ICB had made itextremely difficult to get RBS’s shareprice up so that taxpayers can get back their £45bn of bailout money. “All of

the regulation moves – most impor-tantly the ICB – make it difficult forour share price to go above book value,” he said. MORE: P3

BY JULIET SAMUEL

BANKING▲

Paul Fisher said the economic outlook remains uncertain Pic: Laura Lean / CITY A.M.

ECONOMIC uncertainty could see theBank of England boost its quantitativeeasing programme even further, itsdirector for markets has revealed.

In today’s exclusive interview withCity A.M., Paul Fisher, a member of themonetary policy committee, said he was open-minded on the possibility of voting for more easing later in thespring.

“The outlook for the economy isincredibly uncertain,” Fisher said. “If anything I feel slightly more comfort-able about the inflation outlook thanthe outlook for growth.”

Inflation has been relatively stable,Fisher argued, while the Bank remainsconcerned by economic prospects.

“At this moment in time I wouldhave a completely open mind goinginto the next round as to whether we would want to do more QE or not,” hesaid. Yet Fisher admitted that the Bank fears further upward inflationary shocks from oil prices.

“The last thing we need at themoment is another upward cost shock coming from oil prices,” he said.

“Just as we see inflation starting to

fall back towards target – it’s halfway back from its peak – we don’t want itto be blown off course again, upwards,from a shock like that.”

www.cityam.comIssue 1,578 Friday 24 February 2012 FREEBUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY

UK consumer price inflation has been above its two per cent target for26 straight months.

Fisher and his fellow rate-settersremain committed to their asset buy-ing scheme to boost the economy.

“When we did the programme inOctober, I always thought it was morelikely we would do more than not,”Fisher revealed, “because the risk at

that time was of the economy slipping back into a severe recession.”

The Bank feared that the slide intoeconomic contraction predicted forthe end of last year would carry oninto 2012.

“That downward slide doesn’t seemto be crystallising – that is as good as you could say at the moment,” Fishersaid, “but it was still worth doing a bit

Certified Distribution

02/01/12 till 29/01/12 is 92,258

BY JULIAN HARRIS

EXCLUSIVE▲ more QE.” This month the Bank unan-

imously voted for more QE, withFisher and six colleagues opting for afurther £50bn, taking the Bank’s totalplanned holding to £325bn.

Minimum tranches of £50bn seemto be favoured by Fisher. “I think £50bn puts us in a better place to havethat free choice when it comes tomake [future decisions],” he said. “Imean £25bn is neither here, nor there,really, in the…operations that we’redoing.”

Fisher confirmed that interest rates would not begin to be normalised while asset-buying was ongoing. Healso ruled out the Bank purchasingassets other than gilts as a means of stimulus. “People suggest it, but younever hear a very good reason why weshould do it,” he said.

The Bank’s accommodative policieshave protected the economy fromsharper dips in output, Fisherclaimed.

“It’s very difficult for people to see it but the unemployment rate is muchlower than you would have expectedgiven the fluctuation we’ve had inoutput,” Fisher said. “More companies went bust in the early 1990s when thechange in output was only half thesize, so we think monetary policy has

been supportive to help shut off someof those negative effects.”FISHER INTERVIEW: P14

FULL TRANSCRIPT: CITYAM.COM

BIG Four accountancy giant KPMGhas axed the £1,000 bonus it usual-ly pays the majority of its second- year audit trainees, City A.M. haslearned, in a move that will savethe firm around £400,000.

In a sign of significant challengesat the firm’s all-important audit

division, KPMG emailed thetrainees earlier this week to informthem they would not receive thecash bonus.

There are around 500 second- year trainees in the KPMG auditdepartment and those who passkey exams first time – normally around 80 per cent – usually receive the £1,000 payment.

In an email seen by City A.M., theaccountancy group said it hadtaken the “difficult decision” because the “audit function hascome under significant pressurefrom the challenging economicenvironment in the UK”.

One trainee told City A.M. themove had been greeted with sur-prise and anger, after management

sent an email just last month con-gratulating the trainees whopassed first time on their achieve-ments.

A KPMG spokesman said: “Thischange brings us into line with themajority of our competitors. Mostof our competitors don’t pay theirtrainees a bonus for exam perform-ance.” MORE: P2

BY LAUREN DAVIDSON

BANK ECONOMISTOPEN TO MORE QE

EXCLUSIVE KPMG AXES BONUSES FOR TRAINEES

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News2 CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

TRAINEES at KPMG were “furious” when they learned the Big Fouraccountancy giant would not be pay-ing them the £1,000 bonus it usually gives to its highest performers.

Adrian Stone, chief operating offi-cer of the audit practice, broke the bad news to trainees via email at4.15pm on Wednesday afternoon. Thesubject header read “First Time PassBonus”. The message was marked“confidential”.

“As you may be aware, our tradingperformance in the audit functionhas come under significant pressurefrom the challenging economic situa-tion we are experiencing in the UK,”Stone wrote.

“As a result of this KPMG will beexercising its discretion under thetraining agreement and with immedi-

ate effect a discretionary bonus willnot be paid this year to acknowledgeachievement of first time passes inprofessional exams.”

In a sign of tough times at the auditdivision, Stone said he would only consider reinstating the bonus if thegroup managed to “hit its budget con-tribution for the full year”.

Stone continued: “I know you will be disappointed that the firm is notexercising its discretion to pay a firsttime pass bonus.

“However, I do hope that you willunderstand the balance which we areattempting to achieve between theinterests of specific groups of teammembers and our overall team.”

One trainee told City A.M.: “Staff inthe UK are furious, with emails flyingacross the UK offices. The feelingamongst staff is that the senior lead-ership appear increasingly out of touch from those in the lower grades.”

BY LAUREN DAVIDSON

ACCOUNTANCY▲

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE DRAWS FIREOVER BORSA SYNERGIES The LSE’s takeover of the Milan boursefive years ago “has not fulfilled expec-tations either in Italy or London” interms of stimulating cross-border capi-tal flows or increased investment inItalian companies, the Italian securi-ties regulator has claimed.

QUINN CASE THROWS LIGHT ON IRISHBANKING CRISIS The family of bankrupt Irish business-man Sean Quinn Snr won the right on Thursday in the High Court to chal-lenge their liability for €1.8bn in loansadvanced by Anglo Irish Bank on thegrounds that the bank issued theloans to prop up its own share price.

BLUEPRINT FOR CHINA TO OPEN UP

MARKETSChina should accelerate the loosen-ing of capital controls, its central bank said in a report outlining thepath to a freely tradeable currency and more open capital markets.

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM TO INVEST $4BNIN US ARMDeutsche Telekom will invest $4bn tomodernise its US networks in anattempt to stem a dramatic fall in cus-tomer numbers T-Mobile USA suf-fered during the German group’sattempt to sell its American divisionto AT&T for $39bn. The group wasforced to shoulder an impairmentloss of £2.8bn in the fourth quarter,mostly owing to the continueddecline in T-Mobile USA.

OSBORNE MOVES ON WEALTHY WHODODGE PAYING HOMES TAXESGeorge Osborne is set to disappointLiberal Democrats who are pressinghim to deliver a massive windfall inthe Budget from tighter stamp duty rules. The chancellor is poised to makeit harder to move properties offshoreand so dodge tax by transferring own-ership into companies.

FRENCH KEEN TO GET ON TRACK INBRITAIN The French state railway is increasingits interest in the British network.SNCF is the 51 per cent partner in a joint venture with Go-Ahead Groupthat hopes to win the Essex Thamesidefranchise (c2c) from National Express.

CHARLOTTE CHURCH SETTLES WITHNEWS OF THE WORLDCharlotte Church, the singer, has set-tled her damages claim against theNews of the World for phone hacking,her solicitor said today. Miss Church’stotal compensation, including legalfees, is expected to be between£380,000 and £500,000.

DAVID CAMERON'S BACK TO WORK TSAREMMA HARRISON QUITS AMID FRAUDALLEGATIONSEmma Harrison has resigned from herGovernment post following a series of fraud allegations surrounding hertraining company. A4e is at the centreof a police investigation following thearrest of four of its former employees.

JK ROWLING PLOTS A BOOK FORGROWN-UPSHarry Potter author JK Rowling hasleft behind the world of magic andMuggles and written an adult novel.Publisher Little, Brown startled the book world on Thursday by saying it would publish Ms Rowling's first titleaimed at adults.

PUTIN, IN RALLY, CASTS HIMSELF ASUNIFIERConfident of a return to the presiden-cy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin casthimself on Thursday as a unifyingleader, appealing to the legions of Russians who have taken to thestreets against him “not to run to theother side… but to join us.”

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

Osborne must not tax pensions more

WANT to add some money into yourpension? You’d better hurry up, asthere is intense pressure on the chan-cellor to slash tax relief on pensioncontributions. If Lib Dems gets their way, 40p and 50p taxpayers will losetheir tax relief, which would fall to just 20p for everybody. This would be afurther, massive blow to pension sav-ings: the annual allowance hasalready been slashed to £50,000 (from£255,000) and the lifetime allowancefrom £1.8m to £1.5m.

There are several reasons why chan-cellor George Osborne must resist

reducing tax relief on pension contributions, or further slashing theallowance. I write this with somereluctance, as I would much ratherhave a simple, flat income tax system

without the current very high margin-al tax rates, with a large zero-taxedpersonal allowance and with no taxreliefs of any kind at all. Imagine a sin-gle tax rate of 30 per cent, with no taxpayable on the first £10,000, and withno allowances, exemptions or loop-holes. It would be much better than what we have today.

Tragically, such radical tax reform isnot on the cards – so the second bestsolution is to maintain the existingreliefs. Abolishing them would be amassive attack on aspiration and hard work and would penalise savers.

Within the current system, there isa good reason for the tax relief: it is toavoid double-taxation. People pay income tax on the annuity they pur-chase with their pension pot on retire-ment (though they are able to extract25 per cent as a tax free lump sum).

Without any tax relief, they would beputting in income that has already been taxed – and then see it taxedagain on the way out.

Tax relief on pensions is a partial

shield from Britain’s very high mar-ginal rates for the millions of peopleon the top two income tax bands. Thishas blunted their negative impact onincentives and hence on the UK’s com-petitiveness. Abolishing the relief would be equivalent to a substantialincrease in the tax rate faced by mil-lions – it would cripple the UK’s sup-ply-side at the worst possible time.

It would also devastate the pensionsindustry: with just 20 per cent relief, it would barely be worth it for anybody to contribute to pensions. After all, themoney is locked away for decades andeven then cannot be used in a flexiblemanner; Individual Savings Accounts(ISAs) would become a far superior tax-efficient savings vehicle.

Last but not least, stripping pensioncontributions of their tax advantage would be political suicide for George

Osborne: taxpayers in the 40p and 50p bans – who live disproportionately inLondon and the south east – make upa very large chunk of the ConservativeParty’s core vote. Declaring war on

them – anybody who earns £42,476 ormore – would be madness (it wouldalso hurt Boris Johnson’s reelectioncampaign).

Such voters are unlikely to forgivethe Tories if they succumb to Lib Dempressure on this – and especially if thisis also accompanied by other anti- wealth policies, such as introducinghigher rates of council tax for those with more expensive homes.

If the chancellor wants to increasethe personal allowance to help the worse-off – a good policy which wouldincrease low earners’ incentives to work – he needs to find more savingsin his Budget. This shouldn’t be toodifficult. But it is absolutely vital thathe resists the urge to increase the tax burden yet further.

[email protected] Follow me on Twitter: @allisterheath

EDITOR’S LETTER

ALLISTER HEATH

Editorial StatementThis newspaper adheres to the system of

self-regulation overseen by the Press ComplaintsCommission. The PCC takes complaints about theeditorial content of publications under the Editor’sCode of Practice, a copy of which can be found at www.pcc.org.uk

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EditorialEditor Allister HeathDeputy Editor David HellierNews Editor David CrowActing Night Editor Marion DakersBusiness Features Editor Marc SidwellLifestyle Editor Zoe StrimpelSports Editor Frank DalleresArt Director Gavin BillennessPictures Alice Hepple

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The new jobs website for London professionalsCAREERS.com

KPMG, chaired by John Griffith-Jones, is facing a tough time in the UK audit market

CITY A.M.

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ENTERPRISEAllister Heath, editor of City A.M., has beenchosen as the winner of the annual Institute of Economic AffairsNational Free EnterpriseAward. The prize,previously won byMargaret Thatcher,Richard Branson andNigel Lawson, is awardedto those who contributethe most to free marketthinking.

KPMG trainees furious afteraudit arm axes £1,000 bonus

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


RBS chief Stephen Hester yesterday saidhis bank exists in an “Alice in Wonderland world” in which the £2bnnet loss it booked for 2011 is a sign of growing strength because it shows anability to “take the costs of clean-up”.

The lender, which is 83 per cent gov-ernment owned, also made a pre-taxloss of £2.6bn last year, after strippingout an accounting vagary that reducedthe official number to £766m.

A string of impairments and one-off losses hit the bottom line, including a

£1.1bn write-down on the value of RBS’s Greek bonds, £850m put aside tocompensate customers who were mis-sold insurance and a £906m fee formembership of the asset protectionscheme – a state insurance scheme the bank never actually had to use.

Hester said that further write-downs, which brought total impairment coststo £7.4bn, showed the bank was gener-ating enough profits to sell at a loss or write down the toxic parts of its bal-ance sheet without going bust.

Referring to the bank’s £45bn bailout, he said: “It wasn’t enough topay for the clean-up – we have to dothat ourselves from profits... We canonly do one at the pace of the other.”He called those profits – £2bn in UK retail and £1.4bn in its corporate bank – “a budget for taking losses”.

The losses continue to include largehits to its Irish portfolio in Ulster Bank, where impairments rose to £1.4bn, upfrom £1.2bn in 2010.

Average pay per employee was down by over a quarter, while bonuses fell by 58 per cent.

Hester: RBSloss is sign of our strength

APPLE could be close to paying a divi-dend, it was revealed, as chief execu-tive Tim Cook told investors the board

is “thinking about this very deeply.”He dropped the hint during thecompany’s first annual general meet-ing since the death of Steve Jobs, whofamously refused to pay a dividend.

Apple is sitting on a $97.6bn cashpile and has been pressured by investors to start sharing this out.

The tech giant also said it will grantshareholders more say in the appoint-ment of directors to its board.

Dividend soonon Apple stock

BY JULIET SAMUEL

BANKING▲

TECHNOLOGY▲

News 3CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

ANALYSIS l Royal Bank of Scotland

p

23 Feb17 Feb 20 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb

28.00

27.50

28.50

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28.7223 Feb

Chasing good returns in Wonderland

CURIOUSER and curiouser,”says Alice, after eating a cakethat causes her to grow sud-denly to the height of a giant.

It is no wonder that RBS’s belea-guered boss Stephen Hester is start-ing to feel like his bank operates “inan Alice in Wonderland world”, ashe put it yesterday.

Unlike Alice, he has managed tomagically shrink the bank’s balancesheet by a staggering £700bn in the

last three years, but he has receivedlittle but abuse for his troubles.

And unlike the white rabbit, the balance sheet slashing is well aheadof schedule. Group assets now total£977bn, well ahead of 2011 £1.2 tril-lion target.

The fast progress is in part,Hester said, because management was “spooked” by the Eurozone cri-sis into accelerating the shrinkage.

He has put his fear to good use:BOTTOMLINE

Analysis by Juliet Samuel

non-core assets are even furtherahead, having dropped to £94bnlast year versus the £118bn targetand down by £144bn since 2008.

But Hester has another reason tofeel sore: despite his hyperactivity,he was forced to downgrade the bank’s return on equity target from15 per cent to 12 per cent, whichonly breaks even with its cost of capital. He put this down to the Vickers Commission’s beefed up

capital requirements, which havemade profitability as elusive as ever.

That might be admirable hon-esty, but it is also depressing. Insuch circumstances, getting adecent return on our bailout cash is becoming increasingly like chasingafter a mad white rabbit.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester feels like he’s in Wonderland Picture: GETTY

GOLDMAN Sachs M&A banker Luca

Ferrari, an adviser to mining groupXstrata on its potential mega-merger with Glencore, is retiring after 12 years with the firm, according to a company memo.

Ferrari is currently responsible forthe northern European mergers andacquisitions business and became apartner in 2006.

Prior to Goldman, he spent nine years in the mergers and acquisitions business at UBS Warburg, a forerunnerof UBS.

Goldman M&Astalwart retiresBANKING▲

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BRITISH insurer and reinsurerLancashire reported a better-than-expected 2011 profit even though nat-ural disasters drove a 55 per centincrease in claims. The firm, whichinsures ships, oil rigs and aircraft,said its 2011 pre-tax profit fell 35 percent to £139.3m, still ahead of ana-lysts’ predictions.

The decline was driven by earth-quakes in Japan and New Zealand, as well as a $35m hit from the CostaConcordia shipwreck. The firm said it was optimistic insurance prices

would increase in 2012. Shares wereflat at 790p yesterday.

SWISS Re bucked the market trendand tripled its profit in 2011, despite aseries of natural disasters that severely damaged the insurance industry.

The firm beat expectations to recorda full-year profit of $2.63bn (£1.68bn),compared with $863m in 2010.

Swiss Re also announced plans toraise its dividend and said the current year had started well with a rise inprices.

The firm, the world’s second-biggestreinsurer by market capitalisation,said renewal prices with insurancecompany clients had on average risenfour per cent in January, compared with the two per cent rise reported by larger rival Munich Re.

Profit was helped by a good invest-ment result, a low tax rate due to cor-porate restructuring, a rise of nearly 11per cent in property and casualty pre-mium income, and a release of $1.3bnof reserves.

Asset management saw a 5.1 percent return on investments.

“The result was exceptional and notone I would expect asset managementto repeat in 2012,” said chief financial

officer George Quinn.He also said the group would likely

not be able to benefit from the excep-tionally low 2011 tax rate this year and would concentrate on its core markets while looking to exploit growth possi- bilities in Asia and South America.

The Zurich-based firm recorded nat-ural catastrophe claims of $3.5bn --nearly three times what it expected. The bill from floods in Thailandreached $680m and the Japaneseearthquake was priced at $1.19bn.

However the firm has minimalexposure to Greek sovereign debt, which has hit profits at some of SwissRe’s competitors.

Shares in the firm closed up 2.6 percent at SFr54.40 (£38.35).

Claims rise astakings triplefor Swiss Re RSA Insurance, the firm previously

known as Royal and Sun Alliance, yes-terday posted a higher than expectedprofit for 2011 as cost cuts helped off-set big catastrophe claims.

But shares in the insurer sunk 4.9per cent to 107p, the biggest fall inthe FTSE 100, after the firmannounced plans to rein in its divi-

dend payments.Britain’s biggest commercial insur-er announced an operating profit of £884m, up 38 per cent on 2010.

It said it would only raise its divi-dend by a “prudent” four per cent because low interest rates were erod-ing its investment returns.

“It’s a reflection of the reality of the situation,” RSA chief executiveSimon Lee told reporters. “When theeconomic environment changes, we

hope to be in a position to grow thedividend more quickly.“We have delivered a good result in

difficult conditions given record nat-ural catastrophe losses, the challeng-ing economic environment, andhistorically low yields.”

Investors are worried that naturaldisasters and Eurozone debt defaultsmay sap insurers’ ability to pay regu-lar dividends while maintaining cap-ital reserves.

RSA earnings soar but planto cut dividend sinks shares

GERMAN insurer Allianz saw its prof-its tumble after a series of disastersdecimated the insurance market dur-ing 2011.

Net income for the year was €2.8bn,compared to €5.2bn the year before,mainly due to a write-down in the value of Greek debt and record claimsfrom earthquakes and storms.Revenue slipped slightly to €103.6bn.

“2011 was a tough year. But wemaintained our stability throughout. That's an extraordinary achieve-ment,” said chief Michael Diekmann.

“These results show the true strengthof the Allianz business model.”

Tough year forinsurer AllianzLancashire looksupbeat for 2012

BY JAMESWATERSON

INSURANCE▲

INSURANCE▲

INSURANCE▲

BY JAMESWATERSON

INSURANCE▲


Michel M Liès became chief executive of Swiss Re on 1 February Picture: GETTY

ANALYSIS l Swiss Re AG

CHF


55.00

54.50

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EASYJET’s board claimed victory yes-terday in the airline’s long-runningfeud with its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou after shareholders voted infavour of a multi-million pound pay package for its top executives.

Just over 44 per cent of shareholders voted against the recommended pay-outs for executives at the annual gen-eral meeting, including Sir Stelios andhis family’s 38 per cent share – fallingshort of the 50 per cent needed to vote

down the remuneration report.Stelios did not attend the meeting

at the carrier’s headquarters in Luton but his spokesman was greeted with afrosty reception as chairman SirMichael Rake hit back at the allega-tions made against the board.

Rake condemned the “increasingly personalised attacks on the board andindividual members” and said thecompany “reserved the right to takelegal action for potential defamationand breaches of brand agreement.”

Key shareholder Standard Life also vouched for the board whileSanderson Asset Management recog-nised Stelios’ entrepreneurship buturged “all shareholders respectfully toengage the board constructively.”

In a statement after the AGM, SirStelios said the board had “bought”shareholders’ votes with its promisesto change the method used to calcu-late directors’ pay – his key concern.

The board has agreed to review the best way to measure the return on cap-ital employed. Stelios said “this is great

victory for shareholder activism”.

EasyJet winsvote opposedby Sir Stelios

THE BOARD of UTV Media, the groupthat owns TalkSport Radio, wasthrown into disarray yesterday as threedirectors quit over a row about thechairman’s supposed closeness to amajor shareholder.

UTV said a majority of the board'smembers no longer considered itappropriate for John B McGuckian tocontinue in his role as chairman. He is

being replaced on a temporary basis by non-executive director HelenKirkpatrick (pictured).

The decision was taken due toMcGuckian’s links with TVCHoldings, a Dublin-based investmentcompany with an 18 per cent stake inUTV, which some members of the

board felt compromised his independ-ence.

TVC also announced that ShaneReihill, executive chairman of TVC,

has resigned as a non-executive direc-tor of UTV Media

with immediateeffect.

The decisionto removeMcGuckian aschairman was

b i t t e r l y opposed by seniori n d e p e n d e n tdirector KevinLagan.

New UTV chairafter bust-upover investment

BYKASMIRA JEFFORD

TRANSPORT▲

MEDIA▲


ANALYSIS l Easyjet

p


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Sir Michael Rake

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

“I am looking forwardto the changes on

bonuses that shouldmoderate remunerationin line with the modestfinancial returns they

are achieving.”

“We have advised Steliosthat we have reserved ourrights to take legal actionfor potential defamationand repeated breaches of

the brand agreement.”

Standard Life

Sanderson Asset Management

“We ... feel very stronglythat easyJet still has

significant potential and wefully support the board andthe management and their

efforts to unlock it…”

“We welcome the steps that theboard has taken to improve easyJet’sfinancial performance and to supportits strategy. Today, we are voting in

favour of all the resolutions”

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FRENCH bank Credit Agricole post-ed a record €3.07bn (£2.6bn) quar-terly net loss yesterday, performing worse than expected due to thecost of shrinking its balance sheetand losses on Greek debt.

The semi-cooperative bank, which is under new managementand trying to return to its low-risk retail lending roots, was hit by more than €2bn in quarterly one-off charges that it had already dis-closed in December.

The bank’s revenue fell four percent to €4.66bn, higher than aver-age forecasts of €4.54bn.

Unprecedented cheap funding by the European Central Bank and

a debt deal on Greece have calmedfinancial markets but the outlook is still uncertain, Credit Agricole’schief said.

“We think 2012 is going to still be a tense period,” Jean-PaulChifflet told journalists on a con-ference call. “We’re hoping thatour results will be largely betterthan in 2011...the months of January and February, in every-thing that is [capital] markets, have been good.”

The investment bank, which is bearing the brunt of Credit Agricole’s asset sales to cut debt,saw fixed-income and equities rev-enue fall by around one-third andone-quarter respectively. Its f inanc-ing business barely broke even.

Although Credit Agricole is less

dependent on investment bankingthan other big European rivals, ithas been burned by its purchase of local Greek bank Emporiki and thecost of shuttering risky activitiesafter the 2008 financial crisis.

Chifflet said the bank would cuttrader bonuses by 20 per cent.

Credit Agricole inrecord £2.6bn lossBYHARRY BANKS

BANKING▲

CITIGROUP is set to join the ranks of financial services companies cash-ing in on the lucrative Indian mar-ket by selling its stake the nation’stop mortgage lender.

It wants to raise up to $2.1bn(£1.3bn) to shore up its capital base by selling its 9.9 per cent sharehold-ing in India’s Housing DevelopmentFinance Corp. The deal will be thelargest share sale in the emergingmarket nation this year and comes

after investors such as Carlyle cuttheir stakes in Indian companies.

Indian’s main stock market indexhas risen nearly 17 per cent this year. Jagannadham Thunuguntla,head of research at SMC GlobalSecurities, said: “The rally since the beginning of this year has opened a window of opportunity for investorsto book strong profit on their hold-ings. Many such exits will happen inthe next couple of months.”

Citigroup has launched theprocess to sell about 145m shares, ora 9.9 per cent stake, in HDFC for between 630 and 703.55 rupees per

share, sources said. The lower end of sale price range

represents a discount of 10 per centto the closing price of HDFC yester-day.

Citi, which last month posted an11 per cent decline in fourth quar-ter profits, has to boost its capital base to meet new global bankingrules.

America’s third-largest bank was bailed out by the US governmentduring the financial crisis but hassince repaid the investments.

It is due to satisfy the last $38bnof obligations guaranteed by the

Federal Deposit InsuranceCorporation later this year.

Citigroup aims for $2.1bn boost as itcashes in on stake in Indian lenderBANKING▲

STRICKEN Franco-Belgian bank Dexiahas warned it could go out of businessafter posting a net loss of €11.6bn(£9.8bn) for last year.

The lender has only received com-mitments for half the €90bn of stateguarantees agreed in October and yes-terday it said its survival as a “goingconcern” depends on the pledgesfrom France, Belgium andLuxembourg, which allow it to bor-row, and on its ability to pay for theguarantees. It also needs to winEuropean Commission approval forits restructuring plan.

The “non-realisation” of one ormore of these assumptions could hitliquidity or solvency, it said, andadmitted its fate was out of its hands.

Shares in Dexia, a lender to thou-

sands of French local authorities,tumbled 6.5 per cent to €0.29 after say-ing it was hit by its break-up andexposure to Greek debt and othertoxic assets.

The bank said it suffered a €4bnloss due to the disposal of Dexia Bank Belgium and a further €1bn hit fromthe sale of French lending arm DexiaMunicipal Agency.

It also booked a €3.4bn loss on itsholding of Greek sovereign bonds, while the cost of an accelerated saleof low-grade US assets, carried out inthe first half of the year, was €2.6bn. It will not pay a dividend.

Dexia, which is led by PierreMariani, a former aide to Nicolas

Sarkozy, is being broken up followingthe nationalisation of its Belgian banking arm. The rump will becomea “bad bank” holding little more thana bond portfolio.

Dexia warns oversurvival as it falls

€11.6bn into redBY PETER EDWARDS

BANKING▲

ANALYSIS l Credit Agricole

€


5.20

5.10

5.30

5.40

5.00

4.90

4.80

4.8123 Feb

GERMAN lender Commerzbank hasfinally bowed to the inevitable andannounced €1bn (£848m) capital-rais-ing to plug a hole so that it can comply

with EU regulations. The capital-raising will be achieved

by offering shares in return for chunksof the bank’s junior subordinateddebt, which have fallen sharply in

value and now trade at a discount. The bank will issue 511m shares as part of the deal, which is being executed by Goldman Sachs.

Commerzbank also announced itsfull-year results, showing a €846m fallin full-year pre-tax profits to €507m.

Its asset-based finance division booked a staggering €3.9bn loss,though its investment bank, the cor-porates and markets division, made €583m.

Commerzbank set to raise€1bn in bond-share swap

Commerzbank’s Martin Blessing has finally admitted it needs more capital Picture GETTY

BY JULIET SAMUEL

BANKING▲

HSBC yesterday said it will pull out of the retail banking business in Japan,including the HSBC Premier servicemeant for clients who hold more than10m yen (£79,405) in financial assets.

The latest move by Europe’s biggest bank follows its retreat from Japan’stop-tier private banking business, which covers clients who hold morethan 200m yen in assets, selling the business to Credit Suisse in December.

“I am writing to you today to inform you with regret that we will be discon-tinuing our HSBC Premier service in Japan,” HSBC said in a releaseaddressed to the clients of the service.

The decision followed its review of the company’s global business strate-gy, it said.

Last year the company outlined astrategy in which chief executive

Stuart Gulliver said he wants to cutannual costs by $3.5bn and sharpenthe bank’s focus on Asia by quittingcountries or businesses where it lacksscale.

HSBC pulls outof Japaneseretail banking

BANKING▲

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24



BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) hasdefied expectations to boost profits

by 12.4 per cent to £4.9bn, buoyed by strong growth in its Asian division.

It used the results to announceplans to buy back £1.25bn of its ownshares and increase its dividend forthe year by 11 per cent.

But the world’s second biggest cig-arette manufacturer warned of con-tinued problems with cigarettesmuggling and health campaigners’

and regulators’ attempts to ban dis-plays and introduce plain packag-ing.

Faced with a declining domesticmarket BAT has concentrated on itsfour premium “global brands” –Kent, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike andDunhill – and expanded overseas.

This meant that 60 per cent of profit and 75 per cent of volumecame from emerging markets.

In mature western Europe mar-kets it managed to increase profits

by 10 per cent, a result of cuttingcosts and raising prices.

“The economic climate aroundthe world is far from settled but weremain confident that our strategy should continue to generate growthfor our shareholders in the yearsahead,” chairman Richard Burrowssaid yesterday.

He also praised “the roll-out of product and packaging innovations”designed to add a premium to the705bn cigarettes BAT sold in 2011.

Shares in the firm remained flatat 3,133p.

BAT boostedby growth inAsian market

MANUFACTURING output expandedstrongly in the US Midwest thismonth, and the number of new unem-

ployment claimants stayed at a four- year low last week, data showed yesterday.

The Kansas Fed’s manufacturingindex rose to 13, up from seven in

January. The survey’s production indexstayed strong at 20, while the employ-ment component rose from nine to 11.

Such jobs growth was reflected inthe Labor Department’s initial joblessfigures, which came in at 351,000 forthe week, the lowest level since 2008.

Manufacturingdata boosts US

BY JAMESWATERSON

CONSUMER▲

US ECONOMY▲

2009 2010 2011

£

1 4 . 2

b n

£ 1 4 . 9

b n

£ 1 5 . 4

b n

£ 4 . 1

b n

£ 4 . 3

b n

£ 4 . 7

b n

Revenue Profits

ANALYSIS l British American Tobacco

p


3,100

3,075

3,050

3,150

3,125

3,133.0023 Feb

C I GA R E T T E S

S O L D I N 2 0 1 1

7 05 b n

BA T w i l l b u y u p to £ 1. 25

b n

o f i t s o w n s ha re s i n 2 0 1

2 a f te r

p u rc ha s i ng £ 75 0 m o f s ha

re s

la s t yea r

S HA R E

B U Y BA C K

LABOUR MP for Falkirk, Eric Joyce, has been charged with three counts of common assault following his arrestover an incident at the House of Commons late on Wednesday.

Joyce, who was suspended from theLabour party yesterday, was bailed andis due at Westminster Magistrates’Court on 7 March.

Police were called to the Strangers’Bar in the Commons following analleged fight between Joyce andConservative MPs.

MP chargedwith assault

POLITICS▲

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


BRITISH manufacturing output roseagain in February and orders wereat their strongest in six months,pointing to solid growth in the sec-tor, according to the Confederationof British Industry’s (CBI) industrialtrends survey, published yesterday.

A net balance of 15 per cent of respondents reported rising output,maintaining January’s healthy growth level.

Orders strengthened, with a net balance of minus three per centreporting growth, up from minus16 per cent in January and the high-est level since August 2011.

Export orders also improved, with a balance of minus two, upfrom minus 26 last month.

“A buoyant CBI industrial trendssurvey provides further welcomeevidence that the UK economy willavoid a slide back into recession,”said economist Chris Williamsonfrom Markit.

“Manufacturers enjoyed a much better kick-off to the year thanalmost all had been anticipating.

“The data mean that the sector’soutput stands a good chance of returning to growth in the firstquarter, having contracted by a wor-ryingly steep 0.9 per cent in thefinal quarter of last year,” Williamson continued.

A balance of 10 per cent of respondents reported averageprices rising – down slightly from13 per cent last month and raisinghopes that inflation will keepfalling.

Good factory

stats point toUK recovery

LME considers bids for bourse

THE board of the London MetalExchange (LME) yesterday considered

bids for the world’s biggest industrialmetals marketplace.But a partial climb-down on a con-

troversial new trading fee it hadplanned to charge users could makeit less attractive to suitors and threat-en a potential sale.

Around 80 per cent of the world’smetal futures are traded on the 135- year-old exchange, which has seen its

profits boom as commodity pricessoared, attracting interest frompotential buyers.

CME Group, Hong Kong Exchangesand Clearing, NYSE Euronext and the

InterContinental Exchange are allreported to be interested.But with revenue of only £50m last

year it was thought the introductionof the new fee was the main driver behind a potential £1bn valuation.

In a statement the board of LMEsaid they had “considered pointsraised by members” and would delay implementation of the new fee until

July, as well as deciding it “will notapply to short-dated carries”.

The LME operates on a constrained-profit model and has so far kept feeslow for the trading houses and banks

that own the exchange and use themarket. These members would enjoy a

windfall in the event of a sale butthey would also have to surrendersome control over future fees policy.

An exchange spokesman declinedto comment on bids for the firm,merely saying that the consultationon the sale “is continuing”.

BY TIMWALLACE

UK ECONOMY▲

BY JAMESWATERSON

CAPITAL MARKETS▲


Fingleton steps downas OFT chief executive

THE head of the Office of Fair Trading – the country’s maincompetition and consumer pro-tection watchdog – is to stepdown later this year, the OFT said yesterday.

OFT chief executive JohnFingleton said he had not yetdecided on his next career moveand he did not set a specific datefor his departure.

Fingleton has headed up theregulator since 2005, when he joined from the IrishCompetition Authority where he had beenfull-time chairpersonsince 2000, overseeingthe implementationof the country’sCompetition Act in2002.

“As the governmentmoves closer to a deci-sion on thefuture struc-ture of theregime, thisis a goodtime fors o m e o n enew to take

the helm at the OFT and steer thecompetition and consumerregime into the future,” he said yesterday, adding that he had not yet decided on his next position.

Fingleton’s predecessor at theOFT was Sir John Vickers – now famous in City circles for head-ing up the IndependentCommission on Banking andpublishing its report into bank-ing reform.

In his official resignation letterto business secretary Vince Cable,Fingleton praised Vickers’ leader-ship of the regulator, and said he was proud of how the body “use[s] our tools flexibly andinnovatively to improve eco-nomic outcomes by changing

the behaviour of business,consumers and government”.

Fingleton said that he had wanted to lead the OFT

through “considerable uncer-tainty” over its future, but

that he now believedp l a n n e dreforms to the body were stable enough forhim to handover the reins.

BY ELIZABETH FOURNIERREGULATION▲

ANALYSIS l Manufacturing shows signsof recovering% balance

reporting growth

Volume of output

Total order book

Feb 2010 Apr Jun Aug

30

20

10

0

-30

-20

-10

Oct Dec Feb 2011

THE London Metal Exchange has

hired Caroline Silver, one of the City’sleading dealmakers to advise on apotential sale. Silver is a managingdirector of Moelis, the fast-growinginvestment bank set up in 2007.

The Durham University graduate joined the firm in 2009 following abrief spell at Merrill Lynch and 14years at Morgan Stanley, where she

became vice chairman of globalinvestment banking.

Rated as one of the most influen-tial women in the City, she has spe-cialised in deals involving financialinstitutions, particularly on Europeaninsurance, reinsurance and on globalsecurities trading and processing.

Silver advised on the merger of NYSE and Euronext, the sale of Borsa Italiana to London StockExchange and the merger of Nasdaqwith OMX.

She also assisted withLCH.Clearnet’s restructuring andtakeover defence against the Lilyconsortium.

MEET THE ADVISERS

CAROLINE

SILVER

MOELIS & CO

SHARES in emerging markets fundmanger Ashmore climbed yesterday despite a slump in performance fees of nearly two-thirds.

Analysts responded warmly afterthe group managed to beat first-half expectations at a time when marketswings have hit fund mangers.

Ashmore’s performance fees fell 61.7per cent to £23m for the six months to31 December as an increase in thenumber of lower margin accounts runfor large individual investors combined with the slump in the assetclass. Chief executive Mark Coombssaid his strategy had been vindicated.

“It has been clearer than ever overthe last six months that emergingmarkets are the driver of global GDPgrowth, and negative developed worldevents are happily having a profoundimpact on perceptions of relative risk globally and prejudices about emerg-ing markets.”

The firm was hit by a drop in assetsunder management of $5.4bn (£3.4bn),or eight per cent to $60.4bn, in theperiod since 30 June, after taking a hiton its equity strategies.

Pre-tax profits for its first half rosetwo per cent to £129.8m while totalnet revenues rose four per cent to£181m. Shares climbed 3.8 per cent to401.2p.

City upbeat asturmoil knocksAshmore fees

ASSET MANAGEMENT▲

JOHN FINGLETON

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


oil producer controlled by Russianoligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s

AFK Sistema, which this week won anauction for exploration rights in twoprovinces in one of Russia’s mostprospective oil regions.

Bashneft paid 4.51bn roubles(£97m) for the Yangareysk andSabriyaginsk blocks in the northernNenets region on the border of thePechora Sea, which Bashneft geolo-gists believe contain “considerable oilresources” – an estimated 28.2tonnes.

Russian private oil giant OAOLukoil, meanwhile, paid 1.84bn rou-

bles (£40m) for the third auctionlot, the Verkhneyangareysk field,leaving outbid rivalsSurgutneftegas and Shell’s Russiansubsidiary to down vodkas in rathermore subdued fashion.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS ARE bankers putting in so many latehours they can only business net-

work on the weekend? Saturday isthe date of the gala dinner at the

Waldorf Hilton hosted by theMauritanian government’s invest-ment promotion agency – althoughto keep things relaxed, guests can

wear lounge suits.Maurice Lam, chairman of the

Mauritius board of investment, hasrequested the pleasure of a numberof City financiers at 18.30hrs, who

will have the “opportunity” of view-ing a short presentation on invest-ment and business opportunities inMauritius.

Translation: open for business andlooking for UK cash – although Bank of Mauritius governor RundheersingBheenick (below), will no doubtphrase it more elegantly than that as

he accepts his award for “CentralBanker of the Year 2012 for Africa”.

MINING POTENTIALFROM shareholder to the boardroom:Gavin Casey, who holds a stake in VSA Capital Group, was yesterday namedas executive chairman of theresources brokerage run

by Blue Ore and OrielSecurities founder

Andrew Monk.Monk knows Casey

from the Blue Ore days– Casey was a non-exec-utive chairman – andthe move is part of Monk’s ambition tomake VSA the leadingindependent resourcesinvestment bank in London.

“A few years ago, it

was Amlin,” saysMonk as he

searches for 5,000 sq ft in the City tohouse his projected 40 staff within 12

months. “But in truth, there isn’tmuch competition.”

SHIPPING FORECAST WHY ARE City traders like trade winds? Because they are happiest inthe tropics, blow hot and cold, andthen finally close out in North

America, India and Asia. There is a point to this joke – it

was made in honour of last night’stalk at the Deutsche Boerse, when150 members of the Financial

Traders and Brokers Network andderivatives platform Eurex breezedin to hear a shipping forecast on theturbulent economic climate.

Traders in currencies, equitiesand commodities from MorganStanley, Barclays Capital, MerrillLynch and Citi came away educatedon the debate surrounding City

bonuses, whether Greece shouldmake a drachma out of a euro-crisis,and how the UK can remain a triple

A-rated isle.

FUTURE FOUNDATIONFOR MUCH of the last 2,000 years, theCity of London has been a major mer-cantile centre – it has survived pesti-lence, fires, bombings, bubbles, BigBang and recessions, yet remains afocus for global trading.

Taking a look at how the City’sphysical fabric has defined its successis a new exhibition as part of the

London Festival of Architecture in association with the City of LondonCorporation, which willlook at the growth of theCity since Roman times while imagining howthe City of London willlook in 2050 (imaginedabove).Designed by architects

Foster and Partners, theexhibition will run between 21 June and 9

September at the Walbrook Building.

DAVID CAMERON PERFORMS BONUSU-TURN AT TOP BUSINESS SUMMIT

TO THE Roundhouse for a royal visitfrom HRH the Prince of Wales andPrime Minister David Cameron, who

were all there for the Business in theCommunity summit.

Cameron used his speech to claimthat big business was a “powerfulforce for social progress” and tolaunch a scathing attack on “anti-

business snobbery”.But who on earth could the Prime

Minister have meant? Surely not thepolitician who last month said “the

bonus culture – particularly in theCity – has got out of control” –

because that was Cameron himself.Still, it is almost impossible to work

out what the Prime Minister really thinks about the Square Mile. InSeptember 2008, he said he wouldnot seek “cheap headlines” by blam-ing City practices for the crisis. Just a

month later he said: “It is very diffi-cult to defend anyone getting a bonusif they are going to be in receipt of taxpayers’ money.”

Next year he will probably use aspeech at the Roundhouse to attack politicians who flip-flop.

ARCTIC ROLL VODKAS ALL round at Bashneft, the

Nick Hurd MP with David Cameron and HRH Prince Charles at Mansion House

The Capitalist10 CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

EDITED BY

HARRIET DENNYSGot A Story? [email protected] The Capitaliston Twitter: @dennysharriet

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


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CAPITAL Shopping Centres, the UK’slargest shopping mall owner, said last year’s Trafford Centre acquisition hashelped drive underlying earnings, but it saw occupancy drop as retailersfell victim to tough economic times.

CSC, which owns 10 of Britain’s top25 shopping centres includingMetrocentre in Gateshead, said prof-its excluding one-off items were up 43per cent to £139m following the£1.6bn purchase of the TraffordCentre from John Whittaker’s PeelGroup.

Net rental income jumped to£364m in 2011 as a result, compared with £277m a year before.

The group said occupancy slippedone per cent to 96.7 per cent last yearcompared with 2010, which it attrib-uted to retailers accounting foraround one per cent of rental incomecollapsing administration in thefourth quarter.

The group highlighted the chal-

lenge for retailers to “keep their busi-ness moving” while faced withreduced disposable income andchanging consumer behaviour asthey continued to cut back on spend-ing as shop more online.

Overall, tenants representing threeper cent of CSC’s rent roll went intoadministration last year, and a fur-ther two per cent in the “first few weeks” of 2012.

Chief executive David Fischel saidthe company was “well positioned forgrowth” in a challenging economicenvironment.

Mall owner

profits fromTrafford buy

Tesco eyes stake in Hi-Mart

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TESCO may bid for a controlling stake valued at about £570m in South

Korean electronics retailer Hi-Mart,two sources with knowledge of thematter said yesterday, as the Britishgrocer eyes growth markets to offsetchallenging times at home.

Disposable incomes across much of Europe are being squeezed by risingprices, muted wage growth and gov-ernment austerity measures, with con-sumers also worried about the fallout

from the Eurozone sovereign debt cri-sis. Those challenges led to Tesco issu-ing its first profit warning in livingmemory last month.

Retailers such as Tesco are looking

to diversify revenue streams into Asia, where retail spending is considerably higher due to stronger economicgrowth.

Hi-Mart’s key shareholders, includ-ing Eugene Corp, have appointedCitigroup to advise on the sale. The57.6 per cent combined stake up forgrabs is worth about $900m (£571m) based on Hi-Mart’s latest share price.

The auction is largely attractinginterest from South Korean domesticretailers, though some private equity firms are exploring options. Sourcessay private equity may find it hard to

finance the deal.First-round bids for Hi-Mart’s stakeare due before the end of this month,it is understood.

Tesco already has exposure to theSouth Korean market through itsfully-owned subsidiary Homeplus, which has 125 large retail stores and267 supermarkets. Tesco runs morethan 5,300 stores in 14 countries.

BYKASMIRA JEFFORD

PROPERTY▲

BYHARRY BANKS

RETAIL▲

THE NEWLY appointed managingdirector of Argos, the catalogue andshop chain, said he has been given afree rein to examine all options for thestruggling business, including closingsome of its 750 shops.

John Walden, a 52-year-old American who started his job at theHome Retail owned business threedays ago, said yesterday: “They’ve cer-

tainly given me really a complete blank piece of paper and asked me to

bring a new perspective to the busi-ness without constraints.“In terms of the store franchise I'll

be looking at that with a fresh view as well. I’m open to all options, includingshutting down stores or growingstores,” he added.

The new MD said it was too early tosay when he will present the results of his review to investors.

New Argos boss handedfree rein to shake-up firmRETAIL

▲


BURBERRY SIGNS LEASE DEAL WITH DERWENT

Burberry is expanding its footprint in London Victoria after signing a pre-let agreement with property developer Derwent London to take-up its entire proposed 127,000 square feet development on Page Street. The luxury brand will pay a rent of £5.3m per annum at the11-floor building, located opposite its existing headquarters, also owned by Derwent.

NEWS | IN BRIEF

Digital carries Centaur’s growthCentaur Media yesterday reported athree per cent drop in group revenue to£26.6m in the six months to 31December despite growth in its digitaloperations. The business publishing andevents group saw underlying digital rev-

enues rise ten per cent, now accountingfor 32 per cent of income. Underlyingtotal revenues were up four per cent,with pre-tax earnings a considerable 39per cent higher, at £1.6m. Centaur chief executive Geoff Wilmot said the secondhalf of the year will see digital movequite strongly: “Digital is absolutelywhere the opportunity is.”

Redrow's family focus pays off Housebuilder Redrow said its recoverylooked set to continue after a strongstart to the second half as it reported an80 per cent jump in first half profit, driv-en by a focus on higher priced familyhouses. The company delivered a pre-taxprofit of £15m in the six months to 31December on revenue up eight per centto £233m, helped by increased privateselling prices.

Sears hopes sell-off will lift firmUS retail giant Sears plans to raiseabout $770m (£489m) by spinning off more than 1,250 stores and selling somereal estate, hoping to convince WallStreet that the struggling chain hasenough assets to tap to pay down debt.The news boosted shares of the opera-tor of Sears department stores and theKmart discount chain by nearly 22 percent, and quelled some concerns aboutthe financial health of the retailer whichyesterday also posted a $2.4bn quarter-ly net loss and a 19th straight quarter of declining sales.

ANALYSIS l Capital Shopping Centres

p


342

340

338

346

344

334

332

336

337.1023 Feb

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24



THE EUROZONE economy will con-tract by 0.3 per cent this year, accord-ing to updated forecasts published

yesterday by the EuropeanCommission (EC).

The forecast for a recession repre-sents a sharp turnaround from the 0.5per cent growth predicted just fourmonths ago, as economic data sinceNovember has been much weakerthan expected.

The Greek economy remains the weakest with GDP set to contract by 4.4per cent – well below the 2.8 per centforecast in November, and below the4.3 per cent drop European leaders

assumed when putting togetherGreece’s bailout plan earlier this week.

Germany is set to grow by 0.6 percent and France by 0.4 per cent, whilethe other major economies are set tocontract – Italy by 1.3 per cent andSpain by one per cent.

Under these forecasts the EC expectsunemployment to keep rising, particu-larly in Greece, Spain and Portugal

which account for 95 per cent of therise in joblessness since late 2010.

However, even these revised fore-casts may prove too optimistic.

“If the sovereign debt crisis were torebound massively, severe creditrationing and a collapse of domesticdemand could ensue,” the report said.

“Such an outcome would most like-

ly trigger a deep and prolonged reces-sion, not sparing even those countries

which have shown more resilience.” Any recovery in the second half of

this year will be “gradual and feeble,”the EC warned.

Recession looms asEC slashes forecastsBY TIMWALLACE

EUROZONE▲

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GROWTH in mortgage lending fell toits slowest pace for eleven years in

January while the amount borrowed by consumers and businesses alsotumbled, according to figures released

yesterday. The British Bankers’ Association

(BBA) said net mortgage lending rose1.3 per cent in the year to January,compared with growth of 2.3 per centin January 2011 and 10.6 per cent inthe pre-crisis year to January 2007.

Unsecured consumer credit fell 1.6per cent in the year, continuing thelong deleveraging that began in June2009. There was a 5.9 per cent fall in

personal loans and overdrafts but cred-it card debt rose by 4.7 per cent.

“The further, and increased, netrepayment in unsecured consumercredit in January indicates that con-

sumer appetite for taking on new bor-rowing is very low while there is also astrong desire of many consumers toreduce their debt,” said IHS GlobalInsight’s Howard Archer.

“Consumers’ desire to get a tightgrip on their finances is clearly theconsequence of still serious concernsover the outlook for the economy and jobs.”

Lending to businesses fell 4.1 percent, as firms cut demand for credit.

Consumers pay off debts as businesses

reduce borrowingBY TIMWALLACE

UK ECONOMY▲

NEWS | IN BRIEF

CIPD: Internship row damagingWork experience placements are vital ingiving young people work experienceand getting them into employment, theChartered Institute for Personnel andDevelopment (CIPD) said yesterday.Calling these unpaid internships “slav-ery” risks discouraging firms from offer-

ing any opportunities, thus damagingthe career prospects of the young peo-ple who currently benefit from them, theCIPD argued.

Benefit errors decliningThe Department for Work and Pensions(DWP) cut overpayments and underpay-ments of benefits last financial year,according to data released yesterday.Fraud and error resulted in 2.1 per centof total benefit expenditure, or £3.2bn,being overpaid in 2010-11. That wasdown from 2.2 per cent, or £3.3bn, in2009-10.

London firms set to expandLondon’s entrepreneurs have set them-selves ambitious growth targets, with93 per cent looking to expand this yearand one-fifth planning on growing byover 25 per cent, research from RSMTenon showed yesterday. Respondents

remained upbeat on the weak economicoutlook with two-thirds claiming thechallenging environment brings moreopportunities, although under one-thirdare looking to expand abroad.

HALDANE: SMES NEED SMALLER BANKS

The structure of the banking industry in the UK is stunting the growth of small- andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs) according to the Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane.The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) member told a business conference yesterday that the UK lacks the medium-sized banks which can provide “the financing SMEs need to betomorrow’s growth.”

MORE NEWSONLINE

www.cityam.com

ANALYSIS l European economies will bevery weak in 2012

%

G D P g r o w t h , 2

0 1 2 f o r e c a s t

U K + 0 . 6

I r e l a n d + 0 . 5

G e r m a n y + 0 . 6

F r a n c e + 0 . 4

E u r o z o n e - 0 . 3

S p a i n - 1 . 0

I t a l y - 1 . 3

Portugal-3.3Greece

-4.4

-1

1

-2

-3

-4

-5

0

ANALYSIS l Business lending fell in theyear to January% change in

lending, yoy

Mortgages

Jan 2009 Jan 10 Jan 11 Jan 12

8

0

-8

Unsecured lendingUnsecured lending

Personal depositsPersonal deposits

Non-financial companies

THE GREEK parliament endorsed adebt swap with private bondholders

yesterday that forms the core of its €130bn (£110.2bn) bailout, despite new protests against budget cuts demand-ed in return for the rescue deal.

The swap, in which private investorsexchange their bonds for lower-valuedebt, will slice €100bn off Greece’sdebt, a vital part of the EU and IMFplan aimed at cutting Greece’s liabili-ties from 160 per cent of gross domes-tic product to 120.5 per cent by 2020.

Eurozone finance ministersapproved the bailout on Tuesday,

averting the threat of a messy bank-ruptcy next month but doing little toallay doubts about the country’s long-term financial and social stability.

Doctors began a 24-hour strike yes-terday over pay cuts – the latest of atorrent of protests against budget cuts.

However, the ruling alliance of Socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy passed the law easily.

“By approving this law, parliament will allow us to start getting out of the vortex,” said finance ministerEvangelos Venizelos.

The swap must be made by 12March, before €14.5bn of debt repay-

ments are due on 20 March.

Greek MPs approve debtswap as part of bailout

EUROZONE▲

GERMAN business confidence roseagain in February according to theIFO business index published yester-day, and the official Italian statisticsagency reported consumers becameslightly less pessimistic in the month.

The IFO index rose from 108.3 in January to 109.6, while the expecta-tions index increased from 100.9 to102.3, pointing to modest economicgrowth.

Italian consumer confidence cameoff January’s 16-year low, rising from91.8 to 94.2.

“The general outlook for the Italian

economy improved significantly,” sta-tistics body ISTAT said.

German firmsremain upbeat

EUROZONE▲

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


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A STRING of contract wins and a buoyant sales market are makingoutsourcing giant Capita confidentof better growth prospects this year,after a six per cent profits rise for2011 underpinned by acquisitions.

Capita, which runs contact cen-tres and customer services for cus-tomers such as BBC TV licensing,

The Pension Services and theCriminal Records Bureau, saidunderlying pre-tax profits for 2011

was £385.2m, helped by a £341mspend on 21 firms to help supportearnings in tough UK markets.

The firm won contracts totaling arecord £2bn in 2011 but over half came in the form of less profitable

renewals. This, coupled with government

budget cuts, contract delays andincreasing competition, saw organicrevenues decline seven per cent.Group revenue rose seven per centto £2.93bn.

The FTSE 100 listed group hasstarted 2012 in different fashion,however, seeing off rival Serco aspreferred bidder on a deal to runrecruitment services for the British

Army, and on Wednesday securing acontract to manage the provision of training across the Civil Service.

“Going forward we’ve probably got increased grounds for opti-mism,” Capita chief executive PaulPindar said.

“In the first seven weeks of the year we have secured five major con-

tracts with an aggregate value of £620m, so we sit here today already knowing that we will have a returnto organic growth.

“This visibility and the current buoyant sales environment, under-pin our confidence in good growthprospects for 2012 and beyond.”

Capita lifted by itsstrong order bookBYHARRY BANKS

OUTSOURCING▲


NEWS | IN BRIEF

Avocet’s takings triple in 2011Avocet Mining said yesterday full-yearprofits more than tripled to $115.1m(£73.2m), boosted by gains from thesale of its South East Asian assets as thegold miner turns its focus exclusively toits West African projects. Excludingexceptional items the miner still posted a

jump in 2011 profit to $56.4m from$33.4m a year previously. Core profit roseover 16 per cent to $100.3m, in line withanalyst expectations.

Iberdrola issues profit warningSpain's largest power firm Iberdrolawarned on profits yesterday after a weakset of 2011 results that showed demandfalling in core markets while consumptionremained stifled in fragile economies.Iberdrola cut its 2010-2012 recurrent netprofit target to under five per cent growthand its Ebitda growth target to about fiveper cent, compared with previous guid-ance of five to nine per cent average annu-al growth in both measures.

Bodycote grows earnings 64pcBritish engineering firm Bodycote saidyesterday it expects to gain marketshare this year on the back of strong salesin emerging markets and its aerospace

and defence segment. The company,whose operations include heat treating

jet engine turbine blades, said headlineoperating profit grew 64 per cent to£85.5m in 2011.

RAIL and bus group Go-Ahead is hop-ing the Olympics will boost its tak-ings, after the firm posted a 13 percent fall in half-year profits to £44mpartly due to one-off costs.

Go-Ahead said its focus on “more vibrant urban areas” is continuing to build passenger numbers, shown by its “robust” six per cent revenue riseto £1.2bn in the last six months of 2011.

The Newcastle-based company saidits seven minute “Javelin” train route

between St Pancras and the OlympicPark stands to be a money-spinner

during the Games in August.Passenger numbers rose on Go-

Ahead’s rail routes at the end of 2011, and the firm predicted yester-day that from April, its train division

will be a “net contributor” to thedepartment for transport – meaningstate subsidies would no longer berequired.

Go-Ahead said it will consider bid-ding for the various rail franchisesup for renewal in the next few years,to add to its roster of Southeastern,Southern and London Midland.

The company also cheered thegrowing use of smart ticketing suchas Oyster Cards across more routes,

which it says has the potential togenerate more organic growth.

But bus operations fared less well, with a £1.7m fall in profits from UK buses during the period. Go-Ahead blamed roadworks and tougher tar-

gets for a drop in its quality incen-tive bonus paid out on its regulatedLondon routes.

The firm’s shares fell four per centto close at £12.74 yesterday.

Go-Ahead banks onthe Olympics for a

boost over summerBYMARION DAKERS

TRANSPORT▲

ANALYSIS l Capita

p


700

680

660

720

740

640

718.0023 Feb

London 2012

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Maria Betancourt of Venezuela com-petes in the women’s 10m platformpreliminary event at the FINA DivingWorld Cup this week, the first timethe Olympic Aquatics Centre hasbeen used for a major sporting event.

Photo: AFP PHOTO/AdrianDennis/AFP/Getty

Between now and the start of the Olympics, City A.M. is pub-lishing its Olympic Image of theWeek. If you have a shot youthink our readers will like, pleaseemail [email protected] IOW2012 in the subject line. Full details:cityam.com/london-2012

TEST EVENT |DIVING

SAMMY ROSS | DBFS

www.RateSetter.com Customer Phoneline: 08442490115

In association with RateSetter: A better way to Save and Borrow, Peer to Peer

* These views are those of the individuals below and not necessarily those of their company

“The taxpayer has to profit from its invest-ment in RBS. If it doesn’t, it will be political-ly unacceptable. The taxpayer willsimply have to sit on the shares foras long as is necessary.”

“I think the taxpayer will profit in the end. We are all, one way or another, invested in RBS. I thinkmost of us realise that in the long-term our investment will have been beneficial.”

CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE TAXPAYER WILL EVER PROFIT FROMITS INVESTMENT IN RBS? Interviews by Phoebe Torrance

“Eventually, I think it is possible the taxpay-er will profit. In due course, inflation willbring the shares up to price at whichthey were bought. It really dependson whether we can wait that long.”

GREG BEEVORS | CLOSE BROTHERSCHRIS HUGHES | LEE BOLTON MONIER-WILLIAMS

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


What does it mean to you?What is big data and howcan it help your business?

From hindsight to foresightWe look at how big datacan offer new insight

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

BIG DATA

No. 1 / Feb. ’12

P H O T O : S H

U T T E R S T O C K

TURN YOUR DATA INTO INSIGHT

Realise the value: Know how to manage your data,

and what you can gain from it

REPORT

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8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


2 · FEBRUARY 2012 AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

Deining Big Datais easier said thandone!

Firstly, it doesn’thelp that there aremultiple deini-tions emanating

rom analysts and solution providers, keen to catch the waveo this trend. The name, big datadoesn’t do itsel any avours, em-phasising the volume aspect o data, when other eatures, such asthe nature o that data, are just asimportant. Moreover, the volumeargument is largely subjective;

what’s big to one organisation isnot necessarily big to another.

How do you know if you havebig data?

1Some say that an organisationhas a big data problem when

their data is beyond their ability tomanage. But this definition ocus-es too much on the ‘management’

aspect o big data to the detrimento the more business critical ea-ture — the opportunity to unlockactionable insight.

So back to the original question,is it a revolutionary new businesstool or competitive advantage?

Well, the ‘big’ o big data cer-tainly isn’t new, as enterpriseshave long recognised the value o storing every piece o inormation.So what about the analytics? Larg-er organisations have been usingdata mining and business intel-ligence tools efectively or sometime, but the costs were or manyprohibitive and the ocus was o-ten reactive rather than proactive.

What’s changed?

2Data evolves rom something you have to cope with, to

something you can compete with.New tools and technologies have

made it possible to process hugeamounts o inormation at much

CHALLENGES

Indentifying what bigdata means to you

Big data is certainly the topic du jour in the business and technology media, dividing critics and inspiring contradictory opinions. Dismissed

by some as old hat, and hailed by others as a revolutionary new business

tool for competitive advantage. So who’s right?

‘It is my firm belief that data is the key tosolving some of thebiggest problems thatwe face in business,across industry andon our planet’

Jacqui TaylorCEO, Flying Binary

WE RECOMMEND

BIG DATA, 1ST EDITIONFEBRUARY 2012

Managing Director: Chris EmbersonEditorial and Production Manager: Faye GodfreyBusiness Development Manager:

Hannah Butler

Responsible for this issue:Project Manager:Gordon McCrackenPhone: 020 7665 4401E-mail:[email protected]

Distributed with: City AMPrint: City AM

Mediaplanet contact information:

Phone: 020 7665 4400Fax: 020 7665 4419E-mail: [email protected]

With thanks to:

We make our readers succeed!

Mediaplanet’s business is to createnew customers for our advertisers byproviding readers with high-quality editorialcontent that motivates them to act.

lower costs. This, combined withthe explosion o inormation in en-terprises, is allowing organisationsto analyse and uncover new pat-

terns, and leverage insight in a waythat they couldn’t do beore.

Don’t lose focus onrealising value

3Debates over definitions arecertainly attention grabbing,

but they must not distract businessleaders rom the essential questionor enterprises; how do you realisethe insight rom your big data?

More technology initiatives ailthan succeed, so realising that val-ue will require old school changemanagement practices and theollowing questions may help.How can you embed insight in-to your culture so that it is at theheart o every decision? How can

you create a top-down data cen-tric organisation? How can you getthe inormation to the right peo-ple so they can act on it in a time-ly ashion? How can business andIT leaders work together to plan,manage and realise the value o

big data?The journey to insight is raught

with risk. But placing business ob-jectives at the heart o every deci-sion will help keep your big data

venture on track,and ensure you re-alise the value o your big data.

Caroline Boyd

Head of Research and Strategy,Big Data Insight Group

PAGE 6

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


The Era of Big Data

We are addicted to, and dependent on, an exponentiallyincreasing amount of data; everything from internet text,search indexes, call records, medical records and e-commerce

and more. We need it to make decisions fast, deliver effectivecustomer service, and satisfy regulators. In short, we can’t dobusiness without it.

A decade ago, managing data was much less of a challenge. Itwas more structured, easier to categorise and was often cross-referenceable. Today, the game has changed, and managinginformation in our ‘Big Data’ world is an increasing challenge.

Now we are assailed by reams of unstructured and semi-

Mobile devices, social networks, logs, emails, tweets, video,and sensors are all now part of the information ecosystem. This is having a major impact; not just on volume, but onvariety and velocity of data management.

All the while, the costs of managing, extracting, transforming,loading, and storing this massive amount of data are eating upIT budgets at a time when controlling operational expenditureis paramount.

Big Data Applications

Imagine a world where applications

to leverage Big Data to understand

of risk. Healthcare organizations canachieve better insight into diseasetrends and patient treatments. Publicsector agencies can catch fraud andother threats in real-time. These arereal, global applications being usedtoday with Big Data. But how didthey get there?

Organisations shouldn’t have to compromise on the dataavailable for business decisions. Applications should becapable of handling any data, at any volume, in any structure

in real-time. This is at the heart of a Big Data Application.Big Data Applications address 21st century issues, enablingorganisations to access all their data, structured orunstructured in real time.

The biggest challenge facing organisations trying to buildthese applications lies with the approach. A 21st centuryproblem requires a 21st century solution.

Traditional relational databases are great solutions for data

data. However, these technologies struggle with data that iscomplex in nature and hitting organisations in high volume inmultiple formats.

This new data paradigm results in the need for new databasesthat enable organisations to operationalise their Big Data.

1. The ability to unify data from all sources without forcingdata modeling, transformation, schema normalisation, orthe hassles of data management and integration

2. The functionality to easily add, update and expandinformation, change attributes, and continuously improvethe data by capturing record sets and queries

3. The ability to support mission-critical applications withthe highest scalability, performance, government gradesecurity, back-up, and disaster recovery

4. The power to perform iterative, ad-hoc queries on thefull database in real-time, eliminating the need for pre-

These capabilities make it easy and cost-effective to bothoperationalise Big Data and run core operations on Big DataApplications.

and unstructured data into a single database allowsorganisations to turn their ever-growing volumes of data into

to-market advantage, as well as new revenue streams andbusiness models.

Mind the Gap in the Your Big Data Strategy

Organisations are struggling to cope with the volume, variety, velocity, and complexity of moderndata. Big Data is a big challenge. It is costing more money and demanding more resources, but there

is an opportunity too. Big Data can add incremental revenues and deliver a crucial competitive edge.

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Find out why organisations choose MarkLogic to power mission-critical Big Data Applications.

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MarkLogic UK | One Kingdom Street | Paddington Central | London W2 6DB

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24



Data just keeps on getting biggerand bigger. In the past, compa-nies only had what was entered

into their systems and thenstored on their servers.Then came the internet, which

provided a new channel o inor-mation to tap into. This gave riseto social media and millions up-on millions o concurrent con-

versations. Brands are keen toutilise these in the hope o un-covering popular sentiment ortheir goods and services.

At the same time, it is not justpeople generating data, sensorsare too. They are being placed ineveryday situations, rom railwaypoints to delivery vans, to auto-matically capture data and trans-mit it to a company and its em-ployees, as well as other machines.

It means, or the irst time,companies are not only tasked

with making sense o data cre-ated by customers and leads butalso objects, explains Steve Pren-tice, Research Fellow at analystirm, Gartner.

“We’re now entering the era o the internet o things,” he says.

“Machines and sensors arenow all connected with com-puter systems and creating data.

When you add the vast amounto data o varying velocities and

varying types that are passingthrough company systems, youcan see how we have entered thedays o big data.

“Businesses know that they canget a competitive edge rom under-

standing the data they have storedor can get access to. This means we’re seeing an increasing numbero organisations using the latesttechnology to turn all that data in-to insights that they can act on and

which nobody else has access to.”

Front footThese new tools are so powerulthat Prentice believes the ieldo business intelligence, whichhas been a staple practice amongmost companies, is moving rom

hindsight to oresight. Business-es want to know more than whathappened in the past, and why.They want access to what is hap-pening right now, why it is hap-pening and have suggestions asto what can be done to capitaliseon it.

The key to success in makingsense o the growing masses o data is not to just marvel at theterabytes a business can nowmine and look or insights, it is

more about the detail.“Businesses have otenthought that the more data youcan crunch in real time, the bet-ter, but what you really need isocus,” says Prentice.

“The really critical actor is youcan’t just go through a load o da-ta and hope some great piece o inspiration will pop out at you.The number one priority is to de-cide what insight or what data

would make a diferent to an or-ganisation i you ha d it. You’ve gotto know what you want to know.”

Prentice believes that compa-nies realising the value o dataand the insights it can pr ovide, i interrogated in the right way at

the right speed, means that thearea o big data is not yet a ‘tip-ping point’ but is most deinitelyat a ‘turning point.’

Steve Prentice,Research Fellow,Gartner

TURNING DATA

INTO INSIGHT ■ Question: What is big data

and why is it an issue now? ■ Answer: With the advent of

social media and the ‘internetof things’, companies nowhave far more data movingat higher speeds which theyneed to interrogate to makethe best decisions.

NEWS

SEAN HARGRAVE

[email protected]

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


FEBRUARY 2012 · 5 AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET

For most companies the questiono what to do about big data is nota new one, they have been wonder-ing i there were insights in theirdata warehouse or quite sometime. The trouble is, the technolo-gy has never been available at the

right spec at the right price. All-in-one data warehousingand business intelligence sys-tems used to be the main choiceavailable to companies. Todaythere are specialist providers

whose technology can oer thequickest retrieval, loading, cap-ture and analysis o inormation.

Blending these best o breedsolutions is enabling big data

systems to finally work at the speedand depth required to make senseo the vast reservoirs o data sittingon corporate servers as well as in-ormation speeding through theirsystems live, in real time.

Getting an edge According to Alys Woodward,Programme Manager or Europe-an business analytics at IDC, thishas encouraged some early adop-ters which, in turn, is beginningto prompt others to investigatethe technology.

“The main early adopters are

the big, well known brands, par-ticularly in America,” she says.“They’re looking to mine theirdata warehouses and use tech-nologies, such as Hadoop, tomake sense o unstructured dataonline, such as conversations onTwitter and Facebook.

“As they’ve done this, theircompetitors are now earingthey’re alling behind. They knowthere’s a mass o data they could

be learning rom, but it’s not un-til a competitor makes the jumpthat they do. In act, sometimesa competitor may not have madethe leap into big data but a brandhas allen behind in marketshare. It realises getting new in-

sights rom the data it has storedand the vast amount o inorma-tion available online is the best

way to get back its edge.”

Competition

drives big data

SEAN HARGRAVE

[email protected]

It is still early days for bigdata but experts believegaining a competitiveadvantage is shaping up tobe a key driver for longerterm adoption.

NEWS

USING BIG DATA

Companies are using

insight obtained frombig data to improve

their business

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

JACQUI TAYLOR ON BIG DATA

Jacqui TaylorCEO,

Flying Binary

“It is my firm belie that data isthe key to solving some o the

biggest problems that we ace in business, across industry and onour planet.

In the same way that the in-troduction o cloud computingcreated a similar buzz over the

last couple o years, big data, likecloud, will prove to be a gamechanger or those that ignore thehype and use the technology tosolve real world problems.

Technology o any kind at its best is an enabler but it is nev-er about the technology itsel; itis about what we can achieve byleveraging the best o what we

build.We now have tools that can blend diferent data sources romthe silos littered across a com-pany with data rom the socialnetworks to generate insights inhours not years. Delivering theresults to individual stakehold-ers using a sel service model,

with mobile capability, will cre-

ate a level o engagement never beore possible.

All this without the huge costand months o delay that buildinga traditional business intelligencesolution normally demands.”

Alys Woodward,

Programme Manager for Europeanbusiness analytics, IDC

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24



INSPIRATION

Personalisation:

The goal of big data

In use, big data is turning outto be the equivalent o diamondmining, according to EMC’s Tech-

nical Evangelist, Mark Sear. Youshit tonnes o soil to ind a tinygem; and therein lies the para-dox o big data. The data may be

big but more oten than not, theinsight may appear tiny in com-parison. However, that is the goalSear believes early adopters arealready pioneering towards and

which will become the norm in years to come.

Putting it into practice“The irony o big data is that youcan take terabytes o data and thencome up with a small gem whichmakes the technology wonderulor personalisation,” he says.

“We’re already seeing great ev-idence o this in healthcare and

this is an area where I think someo the most interesting break-throughs will be. There’s already

an online service that will analyse your saliva and then tell you which conditions your DNA sug-gests you are most likely to su-er rom. It also gives liestyle ad-

vice on getting out o the ‘at risk’groups. It’s using interrogationo massive databases to give youa personal insight into your DNA,and then combining that withanother database on preventa-tive, healthier liestyle advice.”

While this is already happen-ing, Sear believes that in the u-ture doctors will use similartechniques to personalise treat-ments to patients through bigdata systems knowing a person’sull medical history which it cancompare against other similar

patients. That way, precise dosescan be established and the im-pact o one drug on, or over, an-

other can be monitored better.

Forecast planning While it is early days or big data,Sear reports that the news evento Whitney Houston’s death wasused by a network entertain-ment company to predict spikesin traic or her content. Theytook the buzz around social me-dia to establish which audio and

video iles it should cache at localnodes around the world to stopits central network rom beingoverwhelmed.

Similarly, the producers o TheInbetweeners movie used big da-ta technology to measure senti-ment on social media sites, no-tably Facebook and Twitter, to

decide whether or not to make amovie.

“They actually picked up sen-timent and the buzz around thetelevision show to predict howmany DVDs o the series they

were likely to sell,” says Sear.“They then urther analysed

sentiment towards seeing a ulllength ilm and estimated howmany DVDs they would sell. Theresults were positive enough toencourage them to make a movie,

which was a huge success.”

What’s next?

In the near uture, Sear predictsinsurance companies will be us-ing big data techniques to compet-itively price policies or individu-als. This is likely to start throughtracking boxes which can be add-ed to cars to monitor perormance.

Alternatively, the data could also be used to guide local authoritiesto improve traf c management byanalysing traf c flows.

Additionally, inormation,such as reports o many vehiclesapplying their brakes sharply,could be used to orewarn o po-tential accident black spots be-ore a person is injured.

■ Question: If big data ishappening now, or is aboutto, what insights are beingoffered? ■ Answer: We’ve yet

to reach mass adoptionbut early indications of personalisation is the,perhaps ironic, firstadvantage of big data.

SEAN HARGRAVE

[email protected]

CHANGE

‘The irony of big datais that you can taketerabytes of dataand then come upwith a small gemwhich makes thetechnology wonderfulfor personalisation’Mark Sear

Technical Evangelist, EMC

Big data: Abillion poundopportunityBig data has beensimmering away for thepast couple of years butit could start to cometo the fore this year,analyst firm Deloitte ispredicting.

As a progression rom classic business intelligence big da-ta has been on the radar or en-terprises but now Jolyon Bark-

er, the global lead or the firm’sTechnology, Media and Tele-communications Industry divi-sion, is predicting the technolo-gy is about to become the norm,rather than the exception.

“So-called ‘big data’ projectshad a total industry revenue o only £65 million in 2009,” re-lects Barker.

“However, 2012 will see 90per cent o Fortune 500 com-panies kick o a data-relatedinitiative, which will boost theindustry’s revenue to between£650 million and £1 billion.”

Gaining pace“Acceptance o big data is still

in its inancy, mostly used ormeteorology and physics sim-ulations, but interest is gain-ing pace. Nevertheless, as da-ta warehouses start to over-low and as the need or morerelevant and timely analysis

begins to put strain on tradi-tional analytics tools, the in-dustry cannot aord to getcarried away with the ‘big’in big data; it needs to main-tain its ocus on extractinginsights that help to improvedecision-making and busi-ness outcomes.”

Key driver According to Deloitte’s re-

search, internet companieshave led the way with explor-ing big data, but the sectorsthat are likely to ollow includethe public se ctor, inancial ser-

vices, retail, entertainmentand media. This could triggera talent shortage with up to190,000 skilled proessionalsneeded to cope with demandin the US alone over the nextive years.

The key driver, the irmound, has nothing to do withthe technology but solely theinsights and competitive ad-

vantage it can deliver.

SEAN HARGRAVE

[email protected]

NEWS IN BRIEF

3

2

1

BIG DATA, BIG BUSINESS1. EMC’s Mark Sear likens big

data to diamond mining

2. The stars of The

Inbetweeners movie. Producersused big data technology

when deciding whether to

make the movie or not

3. Big data is becoming moreimportant in the health sector

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


Big Data – The Next Frontier in Innovation and Competition

The conference that will bring together the senior

business and technology leaders

who are shaping the future of Big Data.

For sponsorship or delegate enquiries please contact Steve Richardson

on 0161 830 2142 or email on [email protected]

www.bigdataanalytics.co.uk www.whitehallmedia.co.uk

HOTEL RUSSELL//LONDON

20 JUNE

BIG DATAANALYTICS

2012

Delivering Business Value

from Big Data

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


DLA PiperThe law firm has expanded its globalinsurance and reinsurance sector groupby appointing William Marcoux as a

partner and head of the insurance sec-tor transactions and regulation practice.Marcoux arrives from Dewey &LeBoeuf, where he was co-head of

Dewey’s insurance sector group and amember of its executive committee.

EvershedsEversheds has appointed corporateenergy lawyer Ramu Ramaswamy as acounsel in its Paris office. Ramaswamy,

who specialises in covering oil and gas-related private M&A transactions, haspreviously worked with Total,Freshfields and Norton Rose.

CBREThe property consultancy has strength-ened its international residential salesand marketing capabilities by appoint-ing Matthew Cobb as associate director,based in London. Cobb joins from Currell

Residential where he was head of newhomes; prior to that, he spent six yearsat St James Group, part of The BerkeleyGroup, working in the land and salesteams.

KPMG

John Leech has been appointed as headof KPMG’s automotive practice. Leech isa partner with 20 years experience atKPMG, specialising in advising automo-tive manufacturers, component suppli-ers and distributors. He was alsoseconded to the Department forBusiness Innovation & Skills (BIS) toadvise the government on its automo-tive policy, as manager of the automo-tive innovation and growth team.

Barnett WaddinghamBarnett Waddingham Investments hasappointed Neil Dainton as an investmentadviser. Dainton initially worked as abroker consultant before beingapproached by one of his clients to

become an independent financial advi-sor.

J Peiser WainwrightBen Smith has joined the real estateadviser from Capita Symons as an asso-ciate to lead the property managementdepartment. In addition, JessicaYonwin, who has worked at the firm forsix years, has been promoted to associ-ate.

CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Harriet Dennys

+44 (0)20 7092 0053morganmckinley.com

To appear in CITYMOVESplease email your careerupdates and pictures to [email protected] SPECIALISTS IN GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT

in association with

Wall Street nearspre-Lehman highs

W ALL Street stocks rose yes-terday after data showedthe US labour marketremained on the mend,

but the market stalled as itapproached highs not seen since

before the 2008 collapse of LehmanBrothers.In an upbeat note for the econo-

my, new US claims for unemploy-ment benefits held steady last week and were at the lowest since theearly days of the 2007-2009 reces-sion.

Yesterday’s gains brought the benchmark S&P 500 index near1,370, considered the upper end of atechnical barrier.

The broad index has surged 8.4per cent this year and more than 20per cent from October lows, butmany worry the market will soonrun out of steam.

In the past four sessions, the S&Phas hovered around 1,360, closing ata nine-month high last night.

“You have a reluctance to buy knowing we’re right up at formerhighs,” said Todd Salamone, director

of research at Schaeffer’sInvestment Research.

But the market has also beenreluctant to sell off on bad news.Some analysts say the main factorpreventing a correction has been theresult of a commonly used investorprotection.

“The fact that we're not selling off sharply on bad news could be relat-ed to the huge amount of hedginggoing on,” said Salamone.

The Dow Jones industrial averagegained 46.02 points, or 0.36 per cent,to 12,984.69. The S&P 500 Index rose5.80 points, or 0.43 per cent, to

1,363.46. The Nasdaq Compositeadded 23.81 points, or 0.81 per cent,to 2,956.98.

Sears shares soared despite report-ing a huge quarterly net loss, afterthe company reassured investorsabout its ability to pay down debt.

Shares of Vivus rose 78 per cent asinvestors bet its experimental weight-loss drug would be approved by US regulators.

The Nasdaq biotech index rosetwo per cent.

Hewlett-Packard tumbled 6.5 percent to $27.05 and was the biggestdrag on the Dow. Late Wednesday,the world’s number one computermaker posted a sharp decline inearnings and warned it would takeseveral years to turn around itssprawling businesses.

Shares in AIG rose three per centafter hours as the bailed-out insurer

posted a surprise quarterly profit of $19.8bn.

BRITAIN’S top shares rose yester-day as investors welcomedrobust corporate earningsnewsflow, with Royal Bank of

Scotland spearheading an advance in banking stocks after the lenderunveiled in-line full-year results.

The UK benchmark closed up 21.34points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,937.89.RBS, up 5.1 per cent, was the sec-

ond-top blue-chip riser, recoveringafter the previous session’s weak-ness, as the part-state-owned bank posted an as-expected fourth-quarterloss of nearly £2bn, hurt by write-downs on assets and restructuringcosts.

Lloyds Banking Group, also majori-ty-owned by the British government,rallied 3.3 per cent ahead of its full- year results due today.

Solid earnings gave Capita a lifttoo, with the outsourcer ahead 4.3per cent after it unveiled a six percent rise in 2011 profits and saidearly contract wins and a buoyantsales market make it confident of better growth prospects this year.

The upbeat outlook statement alsosupported peer Serco Group, up 3.2

per cent. The mood was brightened by the

key Ifo survey showing business sen-timent in Germany – the strong link in Europe – rose to a seven-monthhigh.

Further positive newsflow on theglobal economy came from theUnited States, where new claims forunemployment insurance held at thelowest level since the early days of the 2007-2009 recession.

The upbeat economic figureshelped spur commodities firms tofresh gains, with silver minerFresnillo topping the FTSE 100

leaderboard with a rise of 6.1 percent.Vedanta, meanwhile, rose four per

cent, and Randgold climbed 3.5 percent.

Outside the top flight, Bodycoterose 15.5 per cent after it surprisedinvestors with strong profit and mar-gin growth.

And media group UTV jumpedalmost 13 per cent after the boardousted chairman John McGuckian.

Equity markets have got off to astrong start in 2012, with the FTSE100 in striking distance of the 6,000level on better than expected macro-economic data, particularly in theUnited States, and more encouragingnewsflow on the Eurozone.

Yet analysts have wide ranging views on the sustainability of therally, in which the UK blue-chipindex has advanced 6.6 per cent so

far this year.Nick Nelson, strategist at UBS,

reckons equities could be set for apause as it becomes more difficultfor economic numbers to beat expec-tations – which have been lifted overrecent months by analysts encour-aged by a string of more positivereleases.

“The bar has been raised in termsof the numbers for all sorts of macrodata – US payrolls, the ISM, they haveto be even better now, partly becauseexpectations have risen,” Nelson said.“It’s also the case that tactically, themarket looks quite stretched in

terms of the move we’ve seen,” headded.Steve Larkins, head of sales trading

at Seymour Pierce, argued the mar-ket is poised for a correction of between 200 and 300 points.

“We are subject to the biggest con-cerns about growth in Europe, that’sgot to be concerning for everybody ...Reality needs to set in, the marketseems to ignore these things at itsperil.”

FTSE inches upwards as USfigures propel commoditiesTHELONDONREPORT

THENEW YORKREPORT

BEST OF THE BROKERS To appear in Best of the Brokers email your research to [email protected]

ANALYSIS l Cove Energy

200

125

150

175

100

Dec Jan Feb

p194.75

23 Feb

COVEPeel Hunt has downgraded the Mozambique-focused oil & gas explorerfrom “buy” to “hold” with a target price of 215p, saying that Shell’s offer of £992.4m earlier this week only values the company at 77.7 per cent of itsimplied value. The broker sees the offer as an early, competitive “knock-out” offer that may not only be appealing to Cove, but may also make it dif-ficult to compete with from third parties considering an offer.

ANALYSIS l Laird

170

140

150

160

180

130

Dec Jan Feb

p170.00

23 Feb

LAIRDNumis has initiated coverage of the component technology company with a“buy” rating and a target price of 230p. The broker says sentiment in thestock has been supressed from a volatile period when the business was hit byNokia’s fading fortunes, but it is now attractively positioned with around 25per cent of revenues from smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs. Numissays this should drive 10 per cent compound annual growth in earnings.

ANALYSIS l Logica

85

70

75

80

65

60

55Dec Jan Feb

p82.50

23 Feb

LOGICAUBS maintains its “neutral” rating on the stock and ups its target price by41 per cent from 64p to 90p, after fourth quarter results earlier this weeksaw revenue growth of 2.3 per cent and a stronger order book thanexpected. The broker was also comforted by finance chief Himanshi Raja’sassertion that their would be no further provisions made for the group’scontract accounting process, which has already been announced at £39m.

p

28 Nov 16 Dec 10 Jan 17 Feb30 Jan

6,000

5,200

5,000

5,400

5,600

5,800

ANALYSIS l FTSE5,937.89

25 Feb

DeloitteMike Sobers has been appointed as a partner toDeloitte’s enterprise risk service practice, a1,000-strong team of professionals in the UKdedicated to helping businesses solve complexrisk and control issues. Sobers joins Deloitte

from Aviva, where he was the audit directorwith global responsibility for technology andproject audit. During this time, he was also theinterim audit director for the Aviva UK generalinsurance business. Prior to joining Aviva,Sobers was a partner at KPMG.


8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


T AKE a walk on Park Avenue or Wall Street

and you’ll see countless posters and ban-ners profiling the wide variety of culturalactivities on offer in New York. And at the

bottom of each you’ll see sponsorship from alarge private company – usually a bank, and usu-ally a big one at that. Goldman, Morgan, BNY Mellon – happy and proud to support the devel-opment of the arts in their cities.

And, if you paid a visit to a large-scale anti- Aids project in sub-Saharan Africa, the chancesare that at least part of the funding will comefrom any number of US charitable foundations,directly or indirectly linked to major corpora-tions.

Our own financial crisis, precipitated to alarge extent by reckless spending, will lead to alarge-scale reduction in public sector spending.

The UK is facing an unprecedented shrinking of the state, with the expectation that right acrosssociety, the private sector will fill the gap.

Why therefore are we not seeing a growth inUK philanthropy similar to US levels? To under-stand that, we must consider philanthropy’s his-tory. The word originally derives from the Greek for “a love of humanity”, but our modern under-standing of the term – doing public good –emerged in the US in the pre- and post-depres-sion era. John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford and

Andrew Carnegie donated huge sums in aneffort to solve deep-seated social problems.

This modern understanding of philanthropy emerged in a context of the world’s first large-scale free market economy. In the USA of theearly 1900s, for the first time in history, monar-chical wealth was available to anyone, in theory anyway, who had drive, determination and theright idea. Meanwhile Britain saw the beginningof the welfare state under David Lloyd George.Poverty levels in the USA were similar, but thatcountry’s distance from the First World War andrelatively short participation in it meant thesupport for liberal, welfare state policies inBritain was never replicated across the Atlantic.

The absence of large-scale government welfaresupport in America until Franklin Delano

Roosevelt’s New Deal saw many corporate enti-

ties taking up the challenge of providing for thepoor. Take a stroll in many UK cities and you’llsee libraries built by the Scottish-AmericanCarnegie. And yes, he’s the same Carnegie who

built Carnegie Hall, who started what is now Carnegie Mellon University and who establishedthe Carnegie Corporation of New York to “pro-mote the advancement and diffusion of knowl-edge and understanding”, which has fundedmany projects over the years including, amongother things, Sesame Street. Carnegie was justone of a number of individuals who all gaveaway most of their wealth during their lifetime.

Arguably, our early commitment to the wel-fare state is a principal reason why the UK hasn’tand doesn’t see philanthropy on the same scale

as the USA. Given that we now face unprecedent-ed pressure on public finances, and an expectedreduction in social welfare payments followingthe Iain Duncan Smith reforms, it would appearthe time has come for large corporate firms hereto increase their support for the improvement of society.

The generosity of UK citizens is known athome and abroad. Anyone who has watchedChannel 4’s Secret Millionaire cannot fail to beimpressed by the energy and generosity many of these self-made millionaires bring to small-scalecommunity projects up and down Britain. ThePrince’s Trust Million Makers scheme, where

businesses are each given a small amount of sup-port and asked to raise £10,000 is a firm vote of confidence in the ingenuity of the private sector.

Yet we still do not see philanthropic support

on an American scale in Britain, and that needs

to change. Future competitiveness globally relieson trimmed back public expenditure and a com-mitment to productivity, both in the private sec-tor and the public sector.

To step into the breach, we need to rethink philanthropy once again. The models of the pastrelied on individual owners able to decide whatthey wanted to do with their vast wealth. Butsome of the most successful philanthropists inthe world today started their lives at the helm of listed firms, and we need new models that suitthis reality while respecting a firm’s duty to itsshareholders. Today, giving can mean donationsof a company’s time, expertise and even con-tacts. And by focusing these donations to specif-ic outcomes, as a business would in any projectof its own, this can deliver real results

David Cameron has already discussed theimportant role that voluntary organisations willplay in tackling poverty and a range of otherissues. He may have given it a new name, the BigSociety, but it still means community and corpo-rations working hand–in-hand. The US definedphilanthropy for the twentieth century; itshould be the UK which does the same for thetwenty-first.

Christopher Moran is an entrepreneur. Besides hisbusiness interests, he supports institutions in a widerange of sectors including arts and national heritage,health and wellbeing, and faith and international rela- tions.

26 The ForumCITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

The time has come for largecorporate firms to increase

their philanthropic support

With the state out of moneywe have much to learn fromthe American way of giving

cityam.com/forum

CHRISTOPHER MORAN

Agree? Disagree? Got a sharp comment?The Forum wants you to join the debate.

COMMENT NOW ON

Twitter: @cityamforum;

on the web : cityam.com/forum;

or by email: [email protected].

Top responses will be reprinted in The Forum.

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


Living | Property

28 CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

IN its 1950s heyday, Monaco was aplace of high European glamourand refinement, reigned over by Grace Kelly. Very much the rich –

and royal – man’s St Tropez, it is now known more for its oligarch traffic jams, Formula One racing, casinosand cruise ship embarkation point.But a range of tax breaks has longmade Monaco an attractive place for

the world’s richest to park their cash.So, despite the loss of its golden agehalo, it remains firmly on the map of property hotspots and, of course,gamblers and racing car enthusiasts.

Now, following a serious lull in themarket (Knight Frank reported totalstagnation in 2010), things are pick-ing up again in Monaco. A new statute, “Law 1381”, meansthat registration tax is cutfrom 7.5 to 4.5 per cent andinvestors can rent out prop-erty without paying tax onthe income, which is a nice boon (though don’t expectto make it rich as a buy-to-let supremo due to thesky-price of purchase).

Fred Schiff, of KnightFrank’s internationaldepartment, says theintroduction of 1381 at theend of last year coincides with a notable uptick intransactions – a relief fordevelopers and agents try-ing to shift the luxury apartments in new developmentssuch as 23 Boulevard de Belgique,currently only half sold. The TourOdeon, due to be unveiled in 2013, will be Monaco’s highest buildingand will substantially increase sup-ply of apartments.

The property market in Monacomay have been languishing since

After a period of stagnation,interest in theprincipality is up,says Zoe Strimpel

The buzz is coming back to Monaco

Lehman went down, but the princi-pality still boasts the most expensivesquare footage in the world:€40,000-€50,000 per square metre in primelocations. Nevertheless, Schiff insiststhat there is property available formore “affordable” prices – betweentwo and five million euros for between one and three bedrooms.

“Well-priced property is doing very well. I just sold a £5m home withthree bedrooms – there were a number of buyers and the person had tomove very quickly. It’s a myth that you can’t get anything from under£5m in Monaco.”

And for all that the young and hipmay prefer the south of France,

Monaco isn’t quite – as one property insider put it – the “drunken uncle”of European enclaves. For example,Byblos, one of the world’s mostfamous nightclubs, and AlanDucasse, the Michelin-starred chef,have outlets in the principality, mak-ing it a suitable stomping ground forPrincess Stephanie and her

entourage.Combined with the year-round

sun, bright blue sea and hordes of beautiful people, you can see why owning a pad here would hardly be achore. And, with increased stock anda renewed sense of buzz surround-ing the city, this could be a goodtime to consider it.

Left: Monaco’s famouswaterfront has long attract-ed the world’s richest.Picture: GETTY

From below left: 23Boulevard de Belgique, withinterior design by JacquesGarcia, launched last year asthe first new development inMonaco in years. Prices from€5.35m. 23blvdbelgique.com.Monte Carlo Star: This pent-house is on the Carré d’Orwaterfront and is presentedin beautiful condition. Price:€13.5m. Tel: 020 7629 8171or knightfrank.com..Villa Bianca, a 10,763 sq ftapartment with six bed-

rooms, five bathrooms and a584 sq m terrace, is on Ruede Portier, close to theLarvotto beach.Price: €29.5m.www.savills.com/interna-tional, tel: +44 (0)20 70163470

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Living | Focus On30 CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

RICHFORD ROADPrice: £340,000A four bedroom period conversion spread over four floors with front bay windowsand access to private gardens.Go to www.foxtons.co.uk

CASPIAN WHARFPrice: From £340,000for two bedrooms.The development, whichis just six minutes fromthe Olympic Park,includes a mixture of one, two and three bed-room apartments andpenthouses, as well as aTesco, gym and on-siteletting agent.Go to www.caspi- anwharf.co.uk

ANGELLANEPrice: £350,000A twelfth floor,two bedroom flatin a modern highrise. Located astone’s throwfrom theUnderground andother transportlinks.Go to www.foxtons.co.uk

Q.I want to sell my flat and it has 76 yearsleft on the lease. Should I extend it first?

A.Provided you have owned your flat for twoyears under Chapter II of Part 1 of TheLeasehold Reform, Housing and Urban

Development Act 1993 (the Act), you have the right notto extend your existing lease, but to acquire a new leasein place of the existing lease which is at a peppercorn(nominal) rent, and for a term expiring 90 years afterthe term date of the existing lease. The premium youpay is subject to a series of calculations and you shouldseek a surveyor’s advice, specialising in leasehold reformto assist you. I would not always advocate a sellerextending prior to a sale, particularly in your case whereyour lease is still relatively long. There is often not amassive difference in the price that you will get for theproperty, particularly in a buoyant market, the benefitcomes with making the property easier to sell. Whatyou should do, however, is to get a valuation of the likelypremium that you will have to pay from a surveyor. This

report can then be shown to prospective buyers so theywill be aware of what the cost of the extension is likelyto be. Should the buyer wish, as the registered propri-etor of the property for at least two years, you canserve what is known as a Section 42 notice to applyfor a new lease under the Act between exchange andcompletion. You can then assign the benefit of thatnotice to the new owner so that they effectively takeover from you and do not have to wait two years topurchase the new lease. This way you do not lay outany additional capital and any risk is down to them.

Q.I am selling my house for £2m. It isowned in the name of an offshore compa-ny and I want to offer the buyer the

option to buy the company so they can save onstamp duty. Am I able to ask a higher pricebecause of this?

A.Currently it is possible to avoid paying the fullrate of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) if you sellthe shares in a company owning a property

rather than the property itself. At £2m the buyerwould ordinarily have to pay SDLT at a rate of five percent on the full amount, so in this case £100,000.However, were you to sell the shares in the companythey would only be liable to pay at a rate of 0.5 percent or £10,000, so a potential saving of £90,000.Depending on the buyer’s exact financial position thiscan be appealing, particularly when the savings arelarge. You might be able to negotiate a deal with thebuyer whereby they purchase the company and yousplit the saving. My advice would be to do this afteryou agree the price, otherwise you may find that itmuddies negotiations. However, the government islooking very closely at this “loophole” and has givenclear indications that it intends to close it in the nextbudget, so there is a possibility that it might takemeasures to charge the tax on such transactions retro-spectively.

LONDON OFFICE TAKE-UP POSITIVECentral London office take-up has seen a positivestart to 2012 despite figures being belowDecember levels. With some 840,000 sq ft trans-acted in January, take-up was 38 per cent higherthan the same time last year, according to researchby global property adviser CBRE. Docklands sawthe largest increase, with take-up jumping from9,300 sq ft to 90,200 sq ft, boosted by the 74,700sq ft deal by the Financial Ombudsman Service at191 Marsh Wall. Office availability in CentralLondon rose marginally in January and now standsat 16.1m sq ft as more secondhand space cameback onto the market. Space under offer fell to1.82m sq ft, the lowest level since June 2009, butactive requirements in Central London are wellabove the long-term trend at 11.19m sq ft. EmmaCrawford, executive director, CBRE said: “Spaceunder offer has fallen but requirements are still at a

healthy level and we remain optimistic that this willtranslate into activity in the market.”

SHARD INSPIRATION REPLICA GOES ON DISPLAYA 30 metre long reproduction of one of Canaletto’s mostfamous River Thames scenes, said to have provided inspira-tion for the design of the Shard, has just been unveiled atthe newly completed entrance to London Bridge Station.Shard designer Renzo Piano drew inspiration from the shapeof the sailboat in the painting, called The Thames on LordMayor’s Day. The original painting will be on loan to theNational Maritime Museum in Greenwich in April.

US SEES HOME RESALES RISE IN POSITIVE SIGNUS home resales rose to a one and a half year high inJanuary, pushing the supply of properties on the market tothe lowest level in almost seven years in a hopeful sign forthe housing sector. The National Association of Realtors saidexisting home sales increased 4.3 per cent to an annual rateof 4.57m units last month, the fastest pace since May 2010.Experts say the improvement is the latest sign the housingmarket may be coming off the floor.

PROPERTY NEWSBY STEVE DINNEEN

CURRENT MORTGAGE DEALS Source: MoneySupermarket.com

Lender Fixed/Flexible Rate Until APR Maximum Loan

(per cent) (per cent) to Value (per cent)

First Direct Flexible 1.99 2 years 3.6 65

Chelsea BS Flexible 2.39 March 2014 5.4 70

HSBC Flexible 2.39 Term 2.5 60

Yorkshire BS Flexible 2.49 February 2014 4.7 75

Post Office Flexible 2.49 March 2014 4.3 65

HSBC Fixed 2.24 May 2014 3.8 60

Chelsea BS Fixed 2.64 March 2014 5.5 70

Market Harborough BS Fixed 2.69 February 2014 5.1 75

First Direct Fixed 2.88 3 years 3.7 65

FOCUS ON: STRATFORD, LONDONQ A&

SELL

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Film

BLACK GOLDCert: 12A

hhhII

A battle has finished and dead bodieslitter the sand, rotting in the unfor-giving sun. The victor, Sultan Nesib(Antonio Banderas) demands the

sons of the loser, Sultan Amar (Mark Strong), as hostages. Amar agrees, as insur-ance against future war. Finally, both agreethat the wasteland on which they arestanding, known as The Yellow Belt, is toremain ownerless. Off rides Nesib – for

whom Banderas seems to have kept hisSpanish accent – with the boys.

Flash forward 15 years. Amar’s sons havegrown up: Saleh the elder into a warrior-type who loves flying his hawk and the

younger Auda (Tahar Rahim) into a bookishsweetie. One day, Texan Oil turns up andtells Nesib that he is about to become very,

very rich. The bulk of the black gold,though, lies in a little patch of no-man’sland called…The Yellow Belt. When thedevoutly religious, honour-bound Amarrefuses to cooperate, insisting on honour-ing the agreement made 15 years ago, war

becomes inevitable. Auda, now married toNesib’s beautiful daughter Leila (FreidaPinto), must pick sides.

Of course, this not just a war betweenthe sultans, but between mammon andGod, sons and fathers, faith and infidelity.Old Arabia – with tribal loyalties, religiosity and cholera outbreaks – is pitted againstthe future, with its Americans, cash andcars. A lot of blood is shed. Two and a half hours’ worth, in fact. French director Jean-

Jacques Annaud has tried to pull off anepic: a coming of age story about both a

young man and a region. But attempting toshow how the Gulf became awash in oilmoney alongside a love story, a father-son

Film

RAMPARTCert: 15

hhhhI by Steve Dinneen

A would-be epicgets bogged downin endless battles,says Zoe Strimpel

Lifestyle | Reviews

34

Blood, sand and oil in Arabia

Antonio Banderas in BlackGold (above) and WoodyHarrelson as corrupt copDavid Brown (below)

It all starts to fall apart when he getscaught in a Rodney King-esque video bru-talising a suspect. In a bid to hang onto his

job, and pay for his lawyer, he steps up hiscriminal enterprises and ends up pullingthe wrath of the entire country down ontohis head. Harrelson looks every inch thesquare jawed, bullet headed, thug cop; anovergrown child, abusing every substancehe can lay his hands on to make the pain of his life disappear. One scene shows him ata seedy club, jacked up on prescriptionmedication (“something to keep me upand make it hard”) binging on drink,

women and – most strikingly – food, untilhe vomits his guts into the street.

Despite all this, he can still sleep withmore women that you. Pretty girls fallover themselves for his boyish charmand John Wayne swagger. The whole thing, paradoxically, looks

beautiful. The grainy film stock perfectly captures the sticky heat of the LA sum-mer as Brown sweats out his latest binge.

He is no hero. Even anti-hero is overstat-ing the point. As his daughter tells him,he’s a racist, a bigot, a misanthrope, achauvinistic and a homophobe. If it can becategorised, he hates it. He is beyond

redemption – but he still makes for com-pulsive watching.

The big launch this week takesplace on the site of recently closedMerah on Wells Street, Fitzrovia,an area getting livelier by the

week. Project aims to offer the consum-mate VIP experience for House Music afi-cionados. Following a multi-million poundrefurbishment and with Luca Maggiora(previously of Luxx) at the helm, this 400capacity new venue should be a meccafor discerning House Music fans who pre-fer the finer things in life.

If you are looking for less of a VIPexperience but still hate to queue, TheThirsty Bear in Blackfriars might be foryou. London’s first self service puballows you to control the beer taps onevery table by iPad. You can control the

jukebox too and it even helps you moni-tor your consumption electronically if you feel the need or just surf the net if you’re not feeling sociable. Anotherrecently opened bar is a thoroughlyBritish affair. 52° North Bar and Kitchenis new to Poland Street and the UK biasdoes not stop with our line of latitude.The ground floor bar and lounge is com-plete with fireplace and big sharingtables whereas downstairs is more inti-mate with a speakeasy feel. The menu isof course all British, sourced from draftBritish beers, whiskeys, ciders and evenEnglish wine.

Further west, Gloucester Road institu-tion l’etranger has just openedMeursault at l’etranger, a bar and diningroom below the original. Inspired by themain character of the French existential-ist novel L'Etranger, Meursault is ayounger and more spirited sibling. Moreloungy and relaxed, it should be greatfor aperitifs or a late night tipple withmolecular cocktails, and sake on offer tomatch the extensive wine list. Inspiredby the Belle Époque, expect a decadentand elegant interior. Finally, theInnerplace Hosted Bar at Sanderson ispopping back up this Thursday with anarty theme and an onward tour of pri-vate viewing at Alison Jacques Galleryand Erarta Galleries London. TimBadham is the founder of Innerplace,London’s leading specialist VIP enter-tainment Concierge innerplace.co.uk.

Theatre

‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHOREBarbican


JOHN Ford’s Jacobean tale of incest andrevenge is dragged kicking and screaminginto the 21st century in this highly stylisedand deliciously sinister production.

The forbidden love between Giovanni and

his sister Annabella is portrayed as a tender but doomed affair – similar in many ways toanother famous pair of star-crossed Italian

lovers. It was hugely controversial at the timeand has lost none of its impact now.Lydia Wilson, as the object of desire,

strikes a perfect balance between youthfulinnocence and sexual awakening, with adisplay reminiscent of her take on Cate inSarah Kane’s Blasted. Laurence Spellman,though, provides the stand-out perform-ance as the ambiguous, sadistic Vasquez,delivering his lines with a hilarious

Cockney flourish.‘Tis Pity’s plot is, as you’d expect of a

Jacobean tragedy, convoluted: condensing it

to two hours inevitably means some parts –notably Giovanni and Annabella’s proposedhusband Soranzo – feel a little under-devel-oped. Director Declan Donnellan takes some

brave liberties with the material; character’sinsecurities manifest themselves on the com-pact stage and overlapping scenes swirl intoone another, giving the whole sordid affair anightmarish quality. It’s dark, gruesome and

very gory – and all the better for it.

story and a tale of politics too was possibly amistake, and it mostly becomes a film of noisy, seductively-shot battles. Yes, the land-scape is compelling – filming took place inthe deserts of Tunisia and Qatar during the

Arab spring. But in the end, getting throughBlack Gold feels rather like stumbling acrossan endless sand dune.

Theatre

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAMHammersmith Lyric


IT HAS been a while since I was a student but I’m pretty sure A Midsummer Night’sDream didn’t start with a stand-up routine.

This Filter production, though, sets out its

stall from the very start: it is not your aver-age Shakespeare.

The action takes place in what looks likea subterranean bathroom, complete withgrotty, tiled walls and decked out with a full

band. Shakespeare’s characters are littlemore than a vague inspiration for Filter’sgrotesque creations: Oberon is reimaginedas a second-rate super-hero, complete withspandex costume and silver cape; Puck is a

burly, tattooed roadie; Bottom is well... that would be telling. Suffice to say you’ll bepleasantly surprised.

An extra onion-layer is written into the

play-within-a-play, adding to the overallatmosphere of confusion. The fourth wall

isn’t so much broken as bulldozed and setalight; one improvised moment saw Puck challenge a member of the audience tothrow a bread-roll at him. It’s a slapstick affair that owes as much to Laurel andHardy as it does William Shakespeare: thatthe fine thread weaving the whole produc-tion together remains more or less intact is

worthy of praise in itself. Anyone with a particular attachment to

the bard’s words will want to chew throughtheir tongue before they get half way

through this production. Everyone elseshould add it to their calendar.

Jacobean tale of incest is a 21st century triumph

DENZEL Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in this fast pacedthriller. The latter is Matt Weston, a safe house keeper withdreams of becoming a CIA case officer, and the former, TobinFrost, the CIA’s most dangerous traitor. When Frost is broughtto Weston’s safe house to be interrogated, the secret location ispromptly swarmed by gunman out to kill him, forcing Westonto escape with his “guest” and deliver him to another designat-ed house, alive. It’s easier said than done.

Safe House is a sort of anti-roadtrip where the passengerconstantly tries to escape and the driver constantly getsstrangled. Set pieces are a whirl of metal-crunching carchases; spit flecked stand-offs and some seriously painfullooking fight sequences. Reynolds successfully creates thatsought after but rarely achieved holy grail of action movies –a hero you genuinely care about.

It’s a neat idea to focus on an often overlooked element of the genre and, on the whole, the movie's flaws are maskedby a relentless pace, impressive set pieces and a convincingturn from Reynolds. It's an adrenalin fuelled, smarter-than-average blockbuster, lumbered with a disappointing final

twenty minutes.

GOING

OUTTIM BADHAM

Film

SAFE HOUSECert: 15

hhhII by Stevie Martin

The LAPD doesn’t get the easiest of rides from its local film studios.Rarely is there a film espousing its

values as the saviour of the Americanpeople. Rampart, though, takes this to a

whole new level. Woody Harrelson’s David Douglas Brown

is as corrupt as they come, extorting money and dishing out beatings with reckless aban-don. He gets away with it by being smarterthan the average grunt: he can reel off dates,figures and – unsurprisingly – lawsuits

brought against the LAPD at will (and if hecan’t, he has a habit of making them up).

TAKING ON THEPOWDER IN JAPANIN MONDAY’STRAVEL SECTION

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


T E R R E S

T R I A L

ROOM101BBC1,8.30PMCountdown presenter Nick Hewersquares o against his new show’sormer maths whizz Carol Vordermanand comedian Rhod Gilbert.

MELVYNBRAGG ON CLASS &

CULTURE BBC2,9PMNew series. The broadcaster examines

social class and culture, revealing theimpact each has had on the other overthe past century.

BENIDORMITV1,9PMA new manager arrives at the Solana

determined to make it more upmarket,but the holiday season proves chaoticor the sta and guests.

BBC1

SKY SPORTS 17pm Sky Sports News at Seven

7.30pm Live Super League 10pm

Take It Like a Fan 10.30pm

Premier League Preview 11pm

Football League Weekend 12am

Take It Like a Fan 12.30am

Premier League Preview 1am-6am

Live International One-Day Cricket

SKY SPORTS 25pm Live Super Rugby 7.30pm

Live International Rugby Union

10pmWWE: Late Night –

Smackdown 12amWWE: Late

Night – Bottom Line 1am Super

League 3am Take It Like a Fan

3.30am Premier League Preview

4am-6amSuper League

SKY SPORTS 37pm Live World Gol Championship

11pm LPGA Tour Gol 1am Tight

Lines 2am Elite League Ice

Hockey 3am Kings o the Snow

3.30am Road to London 4am

Football League Weekend

5am ATP Tour Uncovered

5.30am-6amTake It Like a Fan

BRITISH EUROSPORT7pm Boxing 8pm Live Boxing

10pm Strongest Man 11pm

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

11.30pm-12.40amWorld

Superbikes 4.10am Live World

Superbikes 5.20am-6.10am

Motorcycling

ESPN7pm Live Premiership Rugby Union

10pm O the Ball 10.30pm Italian

Football 11pm Premier League

Preview 11.30pmESPN Press Pass

12am Live NBA Basketball 2am

Live NBA Basketball 4am

Euroleague Basketball Magazine

4.30am FIBA Basketball 5am FIS

Alpine Ski World Cup Report

5.30am-6amSnowboard FIS

World Cup Magazine

SKY LIVING7pm Criminal Minds 8pm Steps

Reunion 9pm Criminal Minds

10pm CSI: Crime Scene

Investigation11pm Bones 12am

Criminal Minds 1am CSI: Crime

Scene Investigation 2.40am

Medium3.30amBones4.20am

Nothing to Declare 5.10am-6am

Jerry Springer

BBC THREE7pm Doctor Who 8.30pm The Real

Hustle: Celebrity Chancers 9pm

Russell Howard’s Good News 10pm

EastEnders 10.30pmWhite Van

Man 11pm Sun, Sex and Suspicious

Parents 12am Family Guy 12.45am

American Dad! 1.30amRussell

Howard’s Good News 2.30am

White Van Man 3am Sun, Sex and

Suspicious Parents 4am The Real

Hustle: Celebrity Chancers

4.30am-5.25amBeing Human

E47pm Hollyoaks7.30pmHow I Met

Your Mother 8pm Supernanny US

9pmFILM Epic Movie 2007.

10.50pmWorld’s Greatest Body

Shockers 11.50pmPlaying It

Straight 12.55amThe Big Bang

Theory 1.50amScrubs 2.40am

How I Met Your Mother 3.05am

Rules o Engagement 3.25am Balls

o Steel Australia 3.50am Greek

4.30amUgly Betty 5.15am-6am

Switched

HISTORY7pm Storage Wars 7.30pm Pawn

Stars8pm IRT Deadliest Roads:

The Andes 9pmMud Men 10pm

Cash Cowboys 11pm How London

Was Built 12am Pawn Stars

12.30amStorage Wars 1am The

True Story 2am How London Was

Built 3am Only in America 4am

The True Story 5am-6am Cash

Cowboys

DISCOVERY7pm Bear Grylls: Born Survivor

8pm Aircrash Conidential 9pm

Storm Chasers 10pmAmerican

Chopper: Senior Versus Junior

11pm Heist 12am Bear Grylls: Born

Survivor 1am Storm Chasers 2am

American Chopper: Senior Versus

Junior3amWheeler Dealers

3.50am Mythbusters 4.40am

Chris Barrie’s Massive Engines

5.30am-6amDestroyed in

Seconds

DISCOVERY HOME &

HEALTH7pm Supernanny US 8pm Jon and

Kate Plus 8 9pm 19 Kids andCounting 10pmKate Plus 8 11pm

Kids’ Hospital 12am 19 Kids and

Counting 1am Kate Plus 8 2am

Kids’ Hospital 3am Supernanny US

4am A Baby Story 5am-6amBaby

Tales

SKY17.30pm The Middle 8pmModern

Family 8.30pm The Simpsons 9pm

Stella 10pm An Idiot Abroad 2

11pm A League o Their Own 12am

Dog the Bounty Hunter 1am Sun,

Sea and A&E: South Arica 1.55am

Ross Kemp on Gangs 2.45am Road

Wars 4.35am Bondi Vet

5.05am-6am Saebreakers

BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

S A T E L L I T E &

C A B L E

TVPICK6pm BBC News

6.30pm BBC London News

7pm The One Show: BBC News

8pm EastEnders:

8.30pm CHOICE Room 1019pm New Tricks

10pm BBC News

10.25pmRegional News

10.35pmThe Graham Norton

Show11.20pm The National Lottery

Friday Night Draws: 11.30pmFILM

Scary Movie 3: 2003. 12.45am

Weatherview 12.50amSign Zone:

Question Time 1.50amGreat

Barrier Ree 2.50amHairy Bikers’

Best o British 3.35am-6amBBC

News

6pm Eggheads:

6.30pm Britain’s Heritage

Heroes:

7pm Jeremy Deller: Middle

Class Hero – A Culture ShowSpecial:

8pmMastermind:

8.30pmMastermind:

9pm CHOICEMelvyn Bragg on

Class & Culture10pm QI 10.30pm Newsnight

11pm The Review Show Oscars

Special 11.45pmWeather 11.50pm

FILM Felicia’s Journey: 1999.1.40am Jeremy Deller: Middle

Class Hero – A Culture Show

Special2.40am BBC News

3.35am-6amCloe

6pm London Tonight

6.30pm ITV News

7pm Emmerdale

7.30pm Coronation Street

8pm Saari Vet School8.30pm Coronation Street

9pm CHOICE Benidorm

10pm ITV News at Ten

10.30pm London News

10.35pmFILMWalking Tall:

Action adventure remake,

starring Dwayne Johnson and

Johnny Knoxville. 2004.

12.05amThe Zone; ITV News

Headlines2.05amFILM King Kong: 1976.

4.20am-5.30amITV Nightscreen

6pm The Simpsons

6.30pm Hollyoaks

7pm Channel 4 News

7.30pm4thought.tv

7.35pmCome Dine with Me8.30pmNew Girl

9pm The Bank Job

10pm The Mad Bad Ad Show

10.50pmRude Tube: Rude Zoo:

11.55pm 10 O’Clock Live

12.50am FILMWol Creek

2005.

2.35amRandom Acts 2.40am My

Name Is Earl 3amMy Name Is Earl

3.25am Hung 3.55am 90210

4.35amBrothers & Sisters

5.20am-6.05amCountdown

6pm Home and Away

6.30pm 5 News at 6.30

7pm Royal Navy: Caribbean

Patrol: 5 News Update

8pmWorld’s Toughest Trucker:5 News at 9

9pm The Mentalist

10pm Castle

10.55pmLaw & Order:

Criminal Intent

11.55pm Inside Hollywood:

Magazine show.

12.05amSuperCasino3.55am Motorsport Mundial

4.20amWildlie SOS 4.45am

Wildlie SOS 5.10am HouseBusters

5.35am-6amHouseBusters

9 15 21

34 12

7 30

45

14 13 6

35

8 12 3

45

10 22

15 18

24 10 7

15

16

24

15

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38

37

11

17

16

6

17

39

22

8

33

32

21

7

4

Fill the grid so that each block

adds up to the total in the box

above or to the left of it.

You can only use the digits 1-9

and you must not use the

same digit twice in a block.

The same digit may occur

more than once in a row or

column, but it must be in a

separate block.

COFFEE BREAKCopyright Puzzle Press Ltd, www.puzzlepress.co.uk

KAKURO

QUICK CROSSWORD

LAST ISSUE’SSOLUTIONS

KAKURO

WORDWHEELUsing only the letters in the Wordwheel, you have

ten minutes to find as many words as possible,

none of which may be plurals, foreign words or

proper nouns. Each word must be of three letters

or more, all must contain the central letter and

letters can only be used once in every word. There

is at least one nine-letter word in the wheel.

SUDOKU

Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so that each

row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the numbers

from 1 to 9 to solve this tricky Sudoku puzzle.

SUDOKU

QUICK CROSSWORD

ACROSS

2 Ofensive tothe mind (9)

6 Wrath (5)

7 Gyrates (5)

9 Acquired (3)

10 Curt, brusque (5)

12 Abnormally at (5)

14 Prices (5)

17 Structure taller thanits diameter (5)

19 Make a knot (3)

20 Finnish steambath (5)

21 Bicker (5)

22 Lacking flavour (9)

DOWN

1 Roman slave who ledan uprising againstRoman legions (9)

2 Jolly ___, pirates’ flag (5)

3 Rid o impurities (5)

4 Vigorous and enthusiasticenjoyment (5)

5 Liquorice-flavouredseeds (5)

8 Be the leader o (9)

11 Division o a tennismatch (3)

13 Hoot with derision (3)

15 Moves along quickly (5)

16 Look at intently (5)

17 Tantalise (5)

18 Earnings (5)

R

T

I

C

UP

R

E

S

G E Y S E R C F

O T A N Y O N E

R I F E G C E

K L E A S E H O L D

I D Y L L N E

A I N N A

D V U M B R A

P O S T E R I O R H

A L A W A D E

S H A D E S E A

S P P A R K E D

1 8 1 4 2 2 8

5 9 8 2 7 4 1 3 6

2 7 1 9 7 6 8

6 1 5 2 1 3

1 7 5 8 9 4 6 7

2 1 4 3 7 3 4 8

4 3 6 2 1 5 7 9

6 8 9 5 8 9

6 7 9 4 1 2 8

3 4 8 5 2 1 7 6 9

8 9 7 3 4 1 3

WORDWHEELThe nine-letter word was

DETRIMENT

TV&Games35

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


E

NGLAND might be on drought watch at the moment, but one of thecountry’s most high profile dry spells looks set to come to an end

this weekend. The last time Liverpool won a major tro-

phy, Steve Finnan, Djibril Cisse, JanKromkamp, Djimi Traore and FernandoMorientes were among those to receive

winners’ medals as the Reds broke WestHam hearts with a 2006 FA Cup finalpenalty shoot out victory.

Even Sunday’s opponents, Cardiff City,have contested a final more recently, butthe 2008 FA Cup runners-up are very much the underdogs, at 8/1, for this show-piece.

At a best price of 2/5 with Coral, notmany expect the Reds to make a mess of their big day. However, they only need tolook back to Birmingham beating Arsenalin last year’s final to know that upsets canhappen.

Cardiff acquitted themselves wellagainst Portsmouth at Wembley in 2008and only lost 1-0 to a Nwankwo Kanustrike. Liverpool will be nervous and I can

see them taking a little while to settle. Thanks to the high stakes, neither side islikely to come flying out of the blocks.Furthermore, Liverpool have hardly beenexpansive this season – with 29 goals in 25league games, only six teams have scoredfewer – so are unlikely to push their luck.

Cardiff are going well in theChampionship, but have fallen off the pacea little, winning just once in five gamessince beating Crystal Palace over two legsin the semi-final. With the final cloudingtheir focus, the Bluebirds can be forgiven

that blip, but hitting your worst form of the season before such a big match is hard-ly ideal preparation. By contrast, Liverpool

will be full of beans after bashing Brighton6-1 on Sunday in the FA Cup.

I don’t doubt Steven Gerrard will be theone handed the trophy at the end of thismatch, but there are better bets than sim-ply backing Liverpool to win at odds on.

It’s often worth a look at the half-time/full-time market in these situations.

The Liverpool/Liverpool double result isfavourite at evens, but the half-timedraw/Liverpool win is far more attractiveat 3/1 with Coral. In the last three, and infour of the previous five, League Cupfinals, the scores have been level at theinterval.

It will be interesting to see how Liverpool line-up, with Andy Carroll final-ly beginning to give an indication of why Dalglish made him the most expensiveEnglishman of all time and Luis Suarez

back among the goals following hisenforced lay-off.

But Craig Bellamy is the name fans of the Welsh outfit will dread seeing most.

The Cardiff fan and former player has been a star performer since his move to Anfield and could well return to haunthis old employers. Coral’s offer to refundlosing bets if he scores the final goal inthe Carling Cup final will no doubt temptCardiff supporters.

It is not too far fetched to see Bellamy getting a late winner and Liverpool to win

by a goal, at 12/5 with Coral, has caughtmy eye, while selling the Reds’ supremacy at 1.3 with Sporting Index is advised.

FOOTBALL TRADER BEN CLEMINSON BRINGS YOU THE BESTOF THIS WEEKEND’S FOOTBALL BETS

POINTERS...

Draw HT/Liverpool FT at 3/1 with CoralLiverpool to win by a goal at 12/5 with CoralSell Liverpool’s supremacy at 1.3 with Sporting Index

SUNDAY – 4.00PM BBC ONE

LIVERPOOL

CARDIFF CITY

CAN Arsenal’s season get any worse? Afterthe week they’ve just had, with their spine-less 4-0 defeat in the San Siro followed by Sunderland’s comfortable 2-0 FA Cup winagainst the Gunners, the club’s fans willhardly think so.

However, a third loss in a row at home to Tottenham in the North London Derby could have the most lasting repercussionsof all. Arsenal are already 10 points behindtheir visitors, who sit third in the table,

and look to be in a four-way tussle withChelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool forfourth place. Taking nothing from thisgame will seriously put at risk theirchances of Champions League qualifica-tion for a 14th straight season.

Having ruled this part of the capital forso long, Arsenal are under huge pressuregoing into the game – and Spurs’ recentdominance of this fixture only turns thatup a notch.

Harry Redknapp’s side are unbeaten inthe last four league meetings, during

which time they’ve mustered three wins,including a maiden Emirates victory lastseason when a two-goal half-time deficit

was wiped out with three unansweredstrikes after the interval.

The hosts are also handicapped by ahuge injury list, which has decimated theiralready dodgy backline, but, despite alltheir problems, the hosts are rightly favourites for this contest, at 6/4 with Coral.

Amidst this season’s traumas their homeform has stood relatively strong, with only two defeats coming at the Emirates, com-

pared to six on their travels.Spurs’ overall away record is good, butCoral’s 9/5 shots have stumbled a little of late, having not won on the road in the topflight since a Gareth Bale brace earnedthem three points at Carrow Road in late

December.Redknapp hopes to welcome back a

number of key players who missed theirgoalless draw at Stevenage, including LukaModric, Rafael van der Vaart andEmmanuel Adebayor, and his team willcarry a huge attacking threat, but I can seethe sides cancelling each other out. Neithermanager would be distraught with a pointand the stalemate looks a decent bet at 9/4

with Coral.Most draws are low scoring at 0-0 or 1-1

but there’s every reason to expect goals inthis contest. There has been an average of four-per-game in the seven league meet-ings, since the start of the 2008/09 cam-paign, so back the draw with bettingconcierge service Bet Butler at a best priceof 14/1. Sporting Index’s spread of 2.9-3.1total goals should, therefore, be bought.

SUNDAY – 1.30PM SKY SPORTS

TOTTENHAM

ARSENAL

POINTERS...

Draw at 9/4 with Coral2-2 correct score at 14/1 with Bet ButlerBuy goals at 3.1 with Sporting Index

MARK Hughes is widely respected as amanager, but he hasn’t made the idealstart to life back in the Premier League

with QPR. In five league games under histutelage, Rangers have picked up just fourpoints – not a great return, especially

when four of those teams are currently inthe bottom six.

QPR began the season reasonably well, but they dropped off alarmingly inNovember and it’s only the failings of oth-ers that have kept them just outside therelegation zone. Hughes will be expectingto see some more from his players as weenter the business end of the season, anda win against his old club Fulham would

be the perfect fillip. The Cottagers are having a solid if

unspectacular campaign and are current-ly 12th in the table on 30 points. Thehome win against Stoke last weekend wasa big result for Martin Jol’s side and they

will go into this game with confidence

having beaten the Hoops 6-0 at CravenCottage back in October.

QPR have won only two of their 12home games this term, while Fulhamhave managed just the one away successfrom 12 road trips. The bookmakers arefinding it hard to split the sides and so amI. The draw looks the most likely result at23/10 with Coral and I’m also going totake some of the 6/1 available with BlueSquare about a 1-1 correct score. Spread

bettors are advised to sell total goals at 2.4 with Sporting Index.

TOMORROW – 3.00PM

FULHAM

QPR

POINTERS...

Draw at 23/10 with Coral

1-1 correct score at 6/1 with Blue SquareSell total goals at 2.5 with Sporting Index

Craig Bellamy could cause problems for his old club Picture: GETTY

Punter | Sport

36

Carling Cup looks to beAnfield-bound

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


RUGBY TRADER DAVID WILD SUGGESTS THE BEST BETS FOR ALL THESIX NATIONS ACTION THIS WEEKEND

THIS is the one many of us have

been waiting for. Wales at Twickenham always gets the blood flowing, but there seems to

be more at stake this year.

It’s the first real test for StuartLancaster’s new-look England. Theinterim coach can be pleased to havesecured two wins from two againstdefensive teams in tricky conditions,

but no one can pretend the rugby has

been spectacular. Wales, aside from winning the Triple Crown and stayingon course for a Grand Slam, have theopportunity to prove that they are thereal deal — that they can comfortably carry the tag of favourites and improveon their record of just two wins in 24

years at HQ. The Red Dragons are playing some of

the most thrilling rugby of any Northern Hemisphere side and it isproving somewhat effective, as theirrun to the World Cup semi-finals andcurrent Six Nations form shows. In

their first two matches, they havescored 50 points and six tries. It’s no

wonder the bookies make them odds-on to beat an England side that hasshown little more than promise so far.

Strangely, favouritism is also the visi-

tors’ biggest burden. For all the praiseheaped on coach Warren Gatland, clos-er scrutiny of results reveals that thereis still a way to go. In their last ninegames Wales have not beaten any teamranked higher by the IRB.

The venue is a real leveller. Wales would be a cast-iron certainty in frontof 75,000 in full voice at theMillennium Stadium, but that’s not soat Twickenham. England’s young play-ers will get a massive boost playing heretogether for the first time and, further-more, Lancaster has been brave enough

to tinker with the side this time, offer-ing starts to scrum-half Lee Dickson,number eight Ben Morgan and return-ing centre Manu Tuilagi.

Even with these improvements, inalmost every position Wales have more

TOMORROW – 4.00PM BBC ONE

WALES

ENGLAND

talented and experienced players;from the Lions prop duo of Gethin

Jenkins and Adam Jones to MikePhillips — arguably the best scrum-half in the world at the moment —and Jamie Roberts in the centre.

These players won’t be fazed by the

crowd. Wales may struggle to over-come their three-point handicap, butCoral’s 4/6 for an outright win is agood price. If they win by 13 points,Coral will even pay a 20% bonus.

It’s going to be mild, with low

winds and glimpses of sun, condi-tions that should give both sides achance to play some attractive,attacking rugby. The last five meet-ings at Twickenham have averaged52 points, with a lowest score of 42,so it’s worth buying total points at

that mark with Sporting Index.

DOGGEDNESS is a trait thatScotland have exhibited in their twoChampionship games so far this

year, but they have never really looked in danger of getting a result. Idon’t suppose for a second that they

will find one against France onSunday.

Andy Robinson’s men did well toavoid having their behinds handedto them on a plate at theMillennium Stadium a fortnightago, when they cut short a period of

Welsh dominance early in the sec-ond half. Scotland were evenunlucky to have a legitimate try from 19-year-old Stuart Hogg disal-lowed. Still, they ended up losing by 14 points. Against England, they defended well but couldn’t managemore than two successful penalty

kicks.France at their best can be more

threatening in attack than the Welsh and as solid in defence as theEnglish. Les Bleus looked very impressive in their opener againstItaly, winning by an 18-point marginand scoring four tries, despite thefact that Italy played fairly well. How

will the Scots even set out to win thismatch?

Robinson has made significantchanges in the back line as a resultof injury to Max Evans and I can only see this further unsettling a squad

that has previously expressed con-cern about inconsistent selection.Conversely, France appear as com-fortable as ever with Philippe Saint-

Andre at the helm. A six point start doesn’t seem quite

generous enough for the Scots whohave beaten France just once in 13matches in the new millennium.Scotland’s narrowest margin of defeatin these matches was seven points, in2005. France must be backed on thehandicap at 10/11 with Coral and Ialso like the look of a halftime/full-time double at 4/5 with Bet Butler.

Scotland did at least break theirrun of four matches without a try intheir last game, and could well givetheir fans a touchdown to cheer thistime. The French backs were break-ing lines left, right and centreagainst Italy and I’d expect them todo it again. Buy total tries at 3.9 withSporting Index.

Jamie Roberts and Leigh Halfpenny won’t be fazed at Twickenham Picture: GETTY

37

Red Dragons have edgein Twickenham thriller

POINTERS...

Wales at 4/6 with CoralBuy points at 42 with Sporting Index

POINTERS...

France (-6) at 10/11 with CoralFrance HT/FT at 4/5 with Bet ButlerBuy total tries at 3.9 with Sporting Index

SUNDAY – 3.00PM BBC TWO

FRANCE

SCOTLAND

WHILE the Italians may not expectto return home from their trip toLansdowne Road with a first victory

over the Irish since 1997, they cer-tainly have the ability to beat thehandicap. The Azzurri came close toovercoming England in Rome lasttime and will have taken a lot of confidence from that performance,

but also from the way they played atthe Stade de France a week earlier.

The pack is the key. If Ireland areallowed to win ball easily at the

breakdown and distribute to light-ning-quick wingers Tommy Bowe

and Andrew Trimble, they will runaway with it. If, however, the Italianforwards are allowed to flaunt theirphysicality, it will frustrate the Boysin Green and the scores will be keptclose.

Ireland won by a margin of 30points when the teams met in New Zealand last October, but in the few matches under new coach JacquesBrunel, the visitors seem to havegrown into a more rounded side

and will be unlikely to capitulate soeasily tomorrow. Ireland are alsounder a little pressure to end athree-match losing streak at the

Aviva Stadium so are unlikely toattack at all costs.

Only once in the past four meet-ings between the sides in Ireland,including a meeting in Belfast in2007, have the hosts won by morethan 16 points, so backing Italy (+16)at 10/11 with Blue Square is recom-

mended. Bowe is in fantastic formand he scored one and made a try for Rory Best against Wales. It’s

worth a small bet that he crossesthe try line first at 8/1 with BetButler.

POINTERS...

Italy (+16) at 10/11 with Blue SquareTommy Bowe to be first tryscorer at 8/1 withBet Butler

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RACING TRADER BILL ESDAILE, OUR RACING EXPERT, WITH HIS BEST BETS

Haadeeth and

The Strig lookgood in SprintSeries Final

AS we’ve taken a detailedlook at the Blue SquareSprint Series Grand Finalalready, we’re going to

concentrate on the rest of thecard at Lingfield. The

bluesquare.com Cleves Stakes(2.50pm) is a Listed contest oversix furlongs and, on paper, itlooks a match between PALACEMOON and Oasis Dream.

I find it very hard to splitthese two as they’ve both beenreally impressive on their lastcouple of outings and have both

won over course and distance.Palace Moon has a slightly betterdraw, which might just tip the

balance in the favour of WillieMusson’s runner, but I don’t

expect there to be much between them at the winningline.

The Get Your Bet On At bluesquare.com Winter Derby Trial Stakes (3.20pm)is another competi-tive Listed contestand RichardFahey’s Our JoeMac is likely to

be a warmorder. However,this is his debuton the all-weatherand he hasn’trun sincee a r l y

December, so I’m happy to takehim on, especially as the yardisn’t firing.

LOYALTY is the highest ratedin the field and this all-weatherspecialist has a great chance of

notching another big win forDerek Shaw. He won here back in December and

although there is a slight worry about the step up to10 furlongs, he should have

too much for this field.

LUKE MORRIS’ RIDEOF THE WEEKEND

GOOD TIMIN’ 6.00PM

WOLVERHAMPTON (TODAY)

THE Blue Square Sprint Series has

been a tremendous initiative overthe past two months and tomor-row’s £15,000 Grand Final

(2.15pm) looks a cracking contest. Allthe key protagonists from the Series arelining up and any one of the 12 runners

could quite feasibly land the prize. What seems certain is that there will

be a tight finish and the sponsors arerefunding bets if your horse is beatenless than a length.

Sulis Minerva is the 9/2 favourite andshe is undoubtedly the class horse inthe race. However, she is now up to acareer high mark of 80, has to concedeplenty of weight to her rivals and isdrawn out wide in stall 12.

THE STRIG won round two of the

Series and was then second behind SulisMinerva in round three. He has a 6lbpull with that rival for a half-lengthdefeat and is strongly fancied to reversethat form. The f ive-year-old had a recent

pipe-opener over seven furlongs atKempton and he has landed adecent draw in stall three.

William Carson, the Series’ lead-ing jockey, is in the plate and TheStrig is worth a decent bet at 8/1

with Blue Square.

David Evans has already wonthe top trainer award, making it

back-to-back successes. He hasthree entered tomorrow and theone that interests me most, andshould also be backed each-way, isHAADEETH at 10/1.

The son of Oasis Dream won onhis first start for Evans a fortnightago and he has been rated as highly as 90 in the past. There’s no doubtthat he’s still potentially well-in off a mark of 76 and Evans’ sonRichard takes off a valuable 3lb.

Tomorrow’s highlight over the jumps is the Racing Plus Chase atKempton (3.05pm). NACARAT wonthis back in 2009 and I can seehim becoming only the secondhorse to win it twice. He f inisheda close-up second two years agoand was then third 12 monthsago. Those two races were bothrun on softish ground, though,and tomorrow’s quicker condi-tions will suit much better.

He hasn’t run great in either of his starts this season, but this willhave been the target all year andhe’s now 1lb lower than when

winning a Grade One at Aintreein April. Tom George’s horses arein top form and Nacarat has to be

backed at a general 7/2.Looking at today’s action and I

was really impressed with Nicky Henderson’sBELLVANO at Ayr lasttime. He runs in the 3.35pm atSandown this afternoon and is AP

McCoy’s only ride on the card –his first since last Friday atNewbury when suffering a horri-

ble fall. We’re just 18 days away from

the start of the CheltenhamFestival now and our ante-post

portfolio is really beginning totake shape. For Non Stop andMontbazon both burst onto thescene last weekend, while Minsk is expected to make his belatedhurdling debut tomorrow.

Now, the last race on the open-ing day has recently changednames to become the Pulteney Land Investments Novices’Handicap Chase and Nicky Henderson saddles an interestingrunner with a name almost asmuch as a mouthful. TRIOLO D’A-LENE was making his British-chas-ing debut when winning at Ascotlast month and overcame somenegative market vibes to win com-prehensively.

That particular contest was runover 2m3f and he was well on topat the line, showing a step up intrip will only help. The extra cou-ple of furlongs of his Festivalassignment are bang up his streetand there is every chance he isstill the right side of the handi-capper off his current mark. Hecan currently be backed at 10/1

with Paddy Power and I’m surehe’ll trade around half that pricecome the day.

My other entry to the ante-postportfolio comes in the ChristiesFoxhunters’ Chase run immedi-ately after the Gold Cup over the

very same course and distance.Now, it’s not often that I have a

view on an amateur riders race,

but on my trip to Ireland last week I learnt that SALSIFY isextremely well-fancied.

The seven-year-old won both theprestigious hunter chases last sea-son at Fairyhouse’s Easter meet-ing and the Punchestown Festival.

The key to this horse is goodground and it would be a majorsurprise if he didn’t get his idealconditions on Gold Cup day.

Our selection showed his wellbeing when running out a com-prehensive winner of a decenthunter chase at Leopardstown ear-lier this month and the 8/1 freely available looks really decent each-

way value as he’ll be a lot shorteron the day.

Finally, Epsom have announcedthis week that the InvestecCoronation Cup will be renamedthe Diamond Jubilee CoronationCup and will be run on InvestecDerby Day, Saturday 2 June, aspart of the Diamond Jubilee cele-

brations. You can follow me on Twitter

@BillEsdaile.

POINTERS...

BELLVANO 3.35pm Sandown (today)

THE STRIG e/w 8/1 2.15pm Lingfield

(tomorrow)

HAADEETH e/w 10/1 2.15pm Lingfield

(tomorrow)

NACARAT 3.05pm Kempton (tomorrow)

TRIOLO D’ALENE 10/1 Pulteney Land

Investments Chase

(Cheltenham)

SALSIFY8/1 Christies

Foxhunters’ Chase (Cheltenham)

The Blue Square Sprint Series reaches its climax at Lingfield Park tomorrow

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


SO FAR, SO GOODEngland coach Stuart Lancaster should be veryhappy with his two wins so far because thoseopening games were banana skins. One losswould have been a disaster, no matter how theyhad played. There’s been criticism of their stylebut it’s a new team; they’ve only had a few weeksto come together and learn plays. I think he’ll beextremely happy but he knows the Six Nationsfor England begins tomorrow against Wales.

WARBURTON IS A WORRYThe odds are probably stacked 60/40 againstEngland but on our day, with Owen Farrell kick-ing penalties, anything can happen. Wales cap-tain Sam Warburton’s return is a concern. Wewill need to concentrate on the breakdown and

delivery of quick ball, because it could be a prob-lem for us and will be a crucial factor in thismatch. If England can have parity in that respectthen they have a chance, otherwise Wales willplay the game they like to play.

SELECTION WILL UNNERVE WALESI think Lancaster is right to make changes to theteam. You have to keep players on their toes andhe’s picking them on form. He’s had a stroke of luck with Charlie Hodgson’s injury; there was noobvious reason to drop him but even if he hadbeen fit I think it would have been the rightthing to do. No disrespect to Hodgson, but nowyou’ve got probably the best 10, 12 and 13, aswell as players who can come on and make a dif-ference, like Toby Flood. Courtney Lawes canplay second row or back row, while Ben Youngsis a very good impact player. I think Wales willbe nervous after seeing this selection.

England are facing a very good side whoknow how to control the tempo. Now we havegot strike power and it will be vital. We needmatch-winners and I think, with Manu Tuilagiback, we have one.

THROW CAUTION TO THE WINDEngland have to change to win this game. Theyhave to throw a bit of caution to the wind, ratherthan trying to stop Wales playing and looking forpenalties. In the cold light of day everyone wantsto see a win, but after the last two games unlesswe see something from the England attack it willbe a disappointment regardless of the result. Weneed to keep hold of the ball more and hurt themwith anything. That’s the way Wales play andthat’s what I hope England will do.

Kyran Bracken was speaking courtesy of GamePlan Solutions: Managing high pro-file and popular sport stars; speakers,leaders, motivators, ambassadorswww.gameplansolutions.co.uk

KYRAN BRACKEN’SPRE-MATCHVIEW

ENGLAND Twenty20 captain StuartBroad admitted a substandardfielding performance cost his sidedear as a superb display of death

bowling from Saeed Ajmal andUmar Gul helped Pakistan take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Alastair Cook’s one-day side setthe standard in the recent 4-0

whitewash over the same opposi-tion but England dipped below that benchmark in Dubai lastnight, particularly in the field

where Graeme Swann was especial-ly culpable.

Pakistan made 144-6 having beeninstalled, with Shoaib Malik (39)and Misbah-ul-Haq (26 not out) pro-ducing some lusty blows. Swannpartially atoned for giving Asad

Shafiq an extra life by returningcareer-best figures of 3-13 in fourovers.

England’s response got off to apositive start as Kevin Pietersen car-ried over his good from the one-day series with 33 in 21 balls. Butdespite contributions of 39 and 22not out from Ravi Bopara and

Johnny Bairstow, England wererestricted by Gul who took 3-18 and

Ajmal who returned figures of 1-27.Broad said: “Pakistan batted

quite nicely in the first three orfour overs and made it difficult forus.

“Obviously Twenty20 is a very different game to one-day cricket.

There’s not as much value for hold-ing length and sticking in there.

We’ll certainly review the game.“We bowled pretty well and field-

ed not as well as we have done inthe ODIs but we’re happy to keepthem to 144.”

Pakistan take series leadthanks to Gul and AjmalBY JAMES GOLDMAN

CRICKET▲

Gul recorded impressive figures of 3-18 Picture: GETTY

5 Overs: Pakistan 38-1 with Dernbach’s vari-

ety causing problems. Zia’s opening burst of

18 off 12 balls got the hosts of to a flyer

10 Overs: Pakistan 73-3 with Shafiq and

Hafiz back in the hutch. England and Swann

looking to contain Afridi

15 Overs: Pakistan 99-5 with Afridi having

bitten the dust skipper Misbah and the expe-

rienced Malik look the only real threat

15 Overs:Pakistan finish on 144-6 thankslargely to Malik’s unbeaten 39

5 Overs: England are 40-0 and Pietersen,

ably assisted by Kieswetter, is seeing it like a

water melon

10 Overs: England 65-2 after Pietersen

holes out unluckily to deep square leg.

Morgan and Bopara don’t look comfortable

15 Overs: England 110-3 after Morgan’s sub-

standard tour continues. Bopara, unbeaten

on 39, looks likely to be the key to victory

15 Overs:England end on 136-6 after somesuperb death bowling from Gul and Ajmal

FIRST T20 PAKISTAN 144-6 | ENGLAND 136-6

MANCHESTER UNITED defenderPhil Jones admitted his side wereguilty of complacency after they sneaked into the last 16 of theEuropa League despite losing athome against Ajax last night.

United looked set for a comfort-

able evening when JavierHernandez clinically opened thescoring after just six minutes, but

Aras Ozbiliz’s equaliser and Toby Alderweireld’s late headerensured a nervy finish.

“We got off to a great start,scored and seemed to be in con-trol of the game,” said Jones,

whose side will meet AthleticBilbao in the next round. “But alittle bit of complacency set in.“The manager said at half-time

we’ve got to up the tempo and wedidn’t do that for whatever rea-sons. We weren’t good enough inthe second half, nowhere near.”

ARSENAL great Thierry Henry admits Tottenham have turned the tables ontheir rivals ahead of Sunday’s crunchnorth London derby.

Spurs look safe bets to finish in the

top three while the Gunners are in adesperate four-way scrap to snatchthe last Champions League spot.

Henry said: “For years we’ve beenused to being on top of Tottenham by a mile, and now it’s the opposite. Butthis is the derby and we need thosethree points massively.”

United progress aftersurviving Ajax scare

FOOTBALL▲

Spurs betterthan Arsenal,admits Henry

BY JAMES GOLDMAN

FOOTBALL▲

1

2

MANCHESTER UTD

AJAX

Results

email [email protected]

SPORT | IN BRIEF

Stoke crash out of EuropeFOOTBALL Stoke City exited the EuropaLeague at the last 32 stage following a1-0 defeat in Valencia last night. Jonasscored the only goal of the game mid-way through the first half to hand theSpaniards a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Hook to miss England crunchRUGBY UNION: Fly-half James Hook is

out of Wales’ Triple Crown bid againstEngland on Saturday with chicken pox

Sport 39CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

Man United win 3-2 on aggregate

8/3/2019 Cityam 2012-02-24


ENGLAND Under-21 boss StuartPearce has told the Football Association he would like to extendhis temporary stint as manager of the senior team and leadthem into this summer’sEuropean Championship.

Pearce was handed thereins as an emergency measure earlier thismonth, after FabioCapello suddenly resigned following a dis-pute with the FA over John Terry’s suitability as captain.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is the overwhelmingfavourite to replace the Italian long-term, but Pearce has made plain hiseagerness to stay in charge for Euro2012 should that deal be derailed.

“I’m available and I have tourna-ment experience if they need me tostep into the breach in the summer. They know exactly where I am,” saidPearce (inset), who yesterday namedan experimental squad for Wednesday’s friendly with Holland.

“I’ve not fluffed around it. I’ve notturned around and said I’m not sure what I want to do. They know exactly

what I want to do. If they need me totake the squad in the summer I’ll dothat with pleasure.

“If they need me to coach a manag-er that’s coming through the door, I’lldo that with pleasure as well. Beyondthat I consider myself, after the sum-

mer, as the Team GB managerand Under-21 manager.”

Pearce has left out estab-lished names such as Frank Lampard and RioFerdinand for the Hollandmatch, England’s last

before the end of the sea-son, on the grounds it is a

final chance to test youngsters.Sunderland striker Fraizer

Campbell’s first call-up was the biggest surprise, while ManchesterUnited youngster Tom Cleverley andManchester City defender MicahRichards are also included.

Red Rose bank on HQ factor

ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster is banking on the Twickenham roarcompensating for his team’s lack of caps in tomorrow’s Six Nations show-down with Wales.

L t h d th t

centre. But Lancaster said: “If you look at the experience of the two sides,people would say they have a lot moreconsistency in terms of playingtogether and their evolution is fur-ther down the line.

“I’d like to think we’re pretty confi-dent internally and have the confi-dence of the English public – and

certainly the crowd at Twickenham will be a

huge factor for us. We’re not getting

caught up in who isfavourite, we’re goingt b t ti

The return of World Cup star Tuilagifrom injury is not the only change incrucial areas, with Northamptonscrum-half Lee Dickson preferred toLeicester’s Ben Youngs. Fly-half Toby Flood and lock Courtney Lawes alsomake comebacks but will start on the bench. Scarlets’ youthful No8 BenMorgan is promoted in place of PhilDowson, while Leicester lock Geoff Parling is set for his first start, withno place for Tom Palmer in the 22.

KYRAN BRACKEN’S PREVIEW: P39

CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boasinsists he does not feel threatened orundermined by speculation linkingformer Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez with his job.

Tuesday’s 3-1 Champions Leaguedefeat against Napoli represented thelatest in a series of blows to the youngPortuguese’s authority.

Chelsea entertain Bolton tomorrow l ki t j h d f f th

Under the circumstances it represent-ed a gamble, one that subsequently backfired, to omit Frank Lampardfrom his starting line-up in Naples,and Villas-Boas admitted ownerRoman Abramovich had demandedan explanation.

“I have spoken to the persons nearto him [Abramovich],” he added. “Heis disappointed and asking questionsabout how we set up the team, which were duly explained.”

A hl C l h i t d d

FOOTBALL▲

Villas-Boas unruffled byBenitez Chelsea rumours

Pearce: I’llboss Englandat Euro 2012

Sport40 CITYA.M. 24 FEBRUARY 2012

PAKISTAN WIN FIRST

T20 INTERNATIONALENGLAND LOSE BYEIGHT RUNS IN DUBAI

BY FRANK DALLERES

FOOTBALL▲

BY FRANK DALLERES

RUGBY UNION▲

ENGLAND

WALES

ENGLAND TEAM | TO FACE WALES

GK: Carson, Hart, Green; DF: Cahill, Cole,Baines, Johnson, Jones, Richards,Smalling, Walker; MF: Barry, Cleverley,Downing, Johnson, Gerrard, Milner,Parker, Young, Walcott; FW: Bent,Campbell, Sturridge, Rooney, Welbeck

ENGLAND SQUAD | TO FACE HOLLAND

DISAPPOINTMENT FOR DIVERS DALEY AND WATERFIELD

lCaretaker keen to extend time in chargelCampbell and Cleverley get call-ups

BRITAIN’S Olympic poster boy Tom Daley and his partner Peter Waterfield disappointed in front of a partisan crowd at the London Aquatics Centre last night after they finished seventh in the 10m synchronised dive at the Fina World Cup. In the women’s 3m individual springboard competition, Rebecca Gallantree secured Great Britain a place in the event at London 2012 after finishing in ninth position, with a score of 317.85, which qualified her for today’s semi-finals. Picture: GETTY

cityam 2012-02-24

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