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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY

“To understand who’s vulnerable, think whatdrives a company’s cash position.”Chris Higson, Associate Professor of Accounting Practice

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Accounting and Financial Analysis programme starts 26 September 2012

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THE EGG-SENTIAL GUIDEISSUE 1,607 THURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

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UK economy on the mend But euro slump deepensBY TIM WALLACE

AS THE UK seemed to be hinting atrecovery yesterday, data from the conti-nent showed the Eurozone economy iscontracting as consumers cut back,output fell in the manufacturing andservices sectors, and borrowing costsrose in weak countries as the sovereigndebt crisis reared its head again.

France, Spain and Italy all saw outputfall in March, Markit’s purchasingmanagers’ index (PMI) showed yester-day, while Germany’s economy slowedto a crawl. Employment fell for thethird straight month, Markit said, ashigh oil prices pushed up costs at theirfastest pace in nine months and new orders declined again.

Retail sales fell 2.4 per cent in the yearto February as consumers remainedunwilling to spend in a tough econom-ic environment. The drop was led by huge falls of 9.6 per cent in crisis-hitPortugal and 6.2 per cent in Spain. Worries over sovereign debt also

flared up again, as Spain failed to raiseas much as it hoped in an auction, sell-ing only €2.59bn (£2.14bn) in eight-year bonds when it wanted €3.5bn. Thenews saw markets plunge with theFTSE 100 closing 134.5 points down –its worst daily fall in four months.

Borrowing costs on 10-year debt roseto 5.4 per cent for Italy and 5.7 per centfor Spain – above the level in December when the European Central Bank stepped in to stabilise markets with a €1 trillion cash injection.

Unrest also returned to Greece,

sparked by the suicide of a pensioner who blamed crippling debts for his act.

BY JULIAN HARRIS

SERVICESECTOR GROWS

PMI highest sincespring 2010

BORROWINGCOSTS JUMP

Spain and Italy feelthe pinch

JOB VACANCIESUp 9% on last year

Highest sinceFebruary 2010

EUROZONERETAIL SALES

DOWNConsumers cut back

BUSINESS ACTIVITY

PMI comes in negative

SERVICE ACTIVITY SLIDES

THE UK’S economic recovery is back on track after a raft of new figuresreleased yesterday showed the econo-my growing in the first quarter of 2012. The country’s services sector output

expanded at its fastest pace for almosttwo years in March, Markit’s purchas-ing managers’ index (PMI) showed yes-terday.

Sales and jobs increased, pushing theindex to 55.3 in the month, well abovethe “no change” level of 50 – and join-ing data from the construction andmanufacturing sectors that showedstrong growth over the whole firstquarter.

In addition, economic activity is now at its highest since mid-2010, YouGov’stracker survey showed yesterday, withconsumer confidence remaining highand business activity close to its high-est level ever. The positive outlook is feeding

through into the jobs market, with vacancies in the first quarter up nineper cent on the same period last year,recruiter Reed revealed this morning,and rising perceptions of job security among workers in YouGov’s survey.

“The threat of a technical recessionhas disappeared,” said Andrew Goodwin, senior economic advisor tothe Ernst and Young Item Club.

“Our estimates, based on the month-ly official data and the business surveys, suggest that GDP is likely to havegrown by at least 0.3 per cent in the

first quarter, reversing the decline inthe final quarter of 2011.”

EUROZONE ECONOMICS: 4-15▲▲

GREEK PROTESTS : Page 6▲▲

ALLISTER HEATH: Page 2▲▲

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


[email protected]

Follow me on Twitter: @allisterheath

IN BRIEFJP Morgan pays Dimon $23.1mn JP Morgan Chase chief executive

Jamie Dimon received $23.1m(£14.5m) in compensation in 2011, an11 per cent increase in a year when thebank’s shares have lost 22 per cent.Dimon, 56, was paid a bonus of $4.5mand given $17m in stock and optionson top of $1.4m in salary, according toa disclosure to the US Securities andExchange Commission. Dimon’s pay ashead of the biggest US bank by assetswas higher than that of chiefs of thenext three biggest banks.

Acas fuel strike talks beginn Fuel tanker firms and union bossesstarted talks with mediation bodyAcas yesterday, with hopes growingthat fuel drivers will scrap potentiallydisruptive strike action. The Uniteunion, which has already ruled outindustrial action over the Easter

weekend, is taking part in ongoingtalks at an undisclosed location, Acasconfirmed last night. More than 2,000drivers voted in favour of strike actionin response to what they argue aredangerous working conditions.

Tax changes hit average familiesn The average family will be £511worse off in the new financial yearthanks to various tax credit and benefitchanges, according to figures from theInstitute of Fiscal Studies. The researchclaims that any gains from raising theincome tax threshold for low to middleincome families are wiped out by otherchanges. Labour jumped on the figures,with shadow chancellor Ed Balls callingit a “tax credit bombshell”.

G E T T Y

Banks short of €2 trillionin liquid assets, says EBA EUROPEAN banks need to find €485bn in new capital and €1.9 tril-lion in new liquid assets in order tocomply with tough new Basel IIIrules, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said in a report yes-terday.

The EBA’s report also highlightedthe degree to which banks are beingforced to rely on buying public debtto fulfil the requirements.

Fifty-four per cent of banks’ liquidassets “eligible” to count towards liq-uidity requirements are publicly guaranteed, being made up of instruments issued by central banks,sovereigns or other public entities.

Another 30 per cent are made upof cash hoarded at central banks. The heavy reliance on such assets isdue to the Basel Committee’s insis-tence that only publicly guaranteedassets are “risk-free”, making them by far the least costly way to fulfilBasel III’s liquidity requirements.

The EU agency said that its find-ings were valid as of June last year,since which there has been signifi-cant progress. But although bankshave already started to raise some of the total, the EBA emphasised thescale of the challenge by pointingout that lenders’ net profits for June2010 to June 2011 were just €102bn.

The huge shortfall in capital

THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was yesterday denied more time toprepare for a trial over its handlingof the 2011 arrests of real estateinvestors Vincent and RobertTchenguiz.

The high court judge, who ruledthe trial should go ahead on 22 May as planned, criticised the SFO for itsconfession that it did not have aclear record of the information itused to obtain search warrantsagainst the Tchenguiz brothers.

SFO’s legal representative JamesEadie QC admitted that “there isn’ta record of precisely whatinformation or documentation wasrelied upon by the team,” adding:“there isn’t a clear,contemporaneous record of what

was and wasn’t relied upon.”High court judge Sir John

Thomas called this “sheerincompetence”.

Lord Justice Thomas criticised theSFO, saying the warrants were“issued in a blaze of publicity a yearago” and calling for the watchdog’sdirector Richard Alderman to“burn the midnight oil” and canceltrips abroad in order to puttogether a file of source.

The SFO admitted in February ithad “inadvertently miscast”information to obtain warrants tosearch the Tchenguiz brothers’homes and offices last March.

Judge slams SFO

incompetence inTchenguiz case

EBA chief Andrea Enria’s report highlights the dept of the capital and liquidity hole

2 NEWS

BY LAUREN DAVIDSON

BY JULIET SAMUEL

To contact the newsdesk email [email protected]

BORIS is right: London shouldkeep more of its tax money. Toomuch of London’s GDP istransferred via the tax system to

other parts of the UK, a situation which is bad for both sides.Londoners pay too much tax, andthose in receipt of the cash become

too dependent on it. The Mayor’sproposal – part of his economicmanifesto released yesterday – should be seen in the context of astonishingfigures revealed by the Centre forEconomics and Business Research. The taxes paid by Londoners are

equivalent to 45.2 per cent of London’s GDP; public spending is just34.9 per cent of London’s GDP, mak-ing a huge surplus of 10.3 per cent of GDP in 2010-11. In the south east, thetax burden is 41.1 per cent of localGDP, against spending of 40.3 percent, equivalent to a surplus of 0.8 per

EDITOR’SLETTER

ALLISTER HEATH

Boris is right to want to transform London into a city-state

THURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

cent. In both cases, the difference issent to the rest of the UK. Because,tragically, there is so little high-valueprivate economic activity in theseother regions, the north east raises just 29.7 per cent of its GDP in tax yetspends 61.9 per cent of GDP; thenorth west raises 37.5 per cent andspends 55.9 per cent; Wales raises 30.3per cent yet spends 66.3 per cent;Northern Ireland raises 27.7 per centand spends 67 per cent; and Scotlandraises 43 per cent (thanks to North

Sea oil and gas) and spends 53 percent. The picture is grim nearly everywhere else in the UK.

Boris is right to want an independ-ent commission to study a revisedfunding formula for the capital; healso wants funding allocated withoutring-fencing, which is sensible. The

only flaw in all of this – and unfortu-nately it is a problem without ananswer – is that the economic distinc-tion between what is technically London and a huge swathe of south-ern England – including the homecounties commuter belt – is limited. What ought to be called the Londoneconomic region is much larger thanthe capital’s political borders; andregrettably, while there may be a slimchance of some sort of devolution forLondon, there is no chance of one forthe entire London / south east eco-nomic powerhouse.

ECONOMY RECOVERINGFOR once, the perma-bears got it wrong. The OECD, which has been warning that the UK is already inrecession, and that the contraction inthe final quarter of last year would befollowed by another in the first threemonths of 2012, may soon have egg

on its face. It is impossible to predictGDP precisely, of course, but yester-day’s service sector purchasing man-agers’ index and previous positivestats suggest growth of at least 0.3 percent. This would still be a poor per-formance – even if much better thanthe Eurozone – and is caused in part by the government failing to pushthrough enough supply-side reforms.But weak growth is better than noneat all. Happy Easter.

So what chance has Boris of getting what he wants? Perhaps more than we realise. At some point, the UK’sconstitution will have to be torn up,including if Scotland remains part of the union (something which will bedetermined in the forthcoming refer-endum). The current system is rife

with inequities and problems – forexample, Scottish MPs controlEnglish matters but English MPsaren’t involved in domestic Scottishaffairs. So London may be in a posi-tion to extract far more autonomy from Westminster when the shake-upeventually comes – and assumingthat the coalition is still in power by then, Boris would almost certainly bemore likely than Ken Livingstone to be able to negotiate a good deal. Anautonomous, low-tax London, akin toa city-state trading with the world –one can but dream.

means that banks are likely to have todeleverage and so cut lending, issueshares, sell assets and rejig the compo-sition of their balance sheets to meetrequirements.

And as City A.M. revealed in January,international regulators are becomingconvinced that it is no longer tenableto treat sovereign debt as “risk-free”given the crisis in Europe.

There are also fears that the rulesare exacerbating the “sovereign-bank feedback loop”, with public debt prob-lems spreading instantly to the finan-cial system.

But if Basel III scraps the “risk-free”designation, it could significantly increase costs for banks.

Meanwhile, EU finance ministershave agreed to hold an extra, urgentsummit to thrash out a deal onBrussels’ version of Basel III. The row over the capital rules was one of themajor sticking points at the December“veto” summit, with the UK arguingthat the current draft won’t allow it toimplement the Vickers or macro-pru-dential reforms. The extra summit will be held on 2 May before a final negoti-ation between all EU bodies.

Threat to UK access to venture capitalEuropean rules on state aid have

jeopardised small UK companies’ access toventure capital funding worth hundreds ofmillions of pounds each year, placing furtherstrain on a sector already starved of credit.Under a measure included in the FinanceBill, venture capital trusts that invest in smallgrowth companies could lose generous taxbenefits as a result of a new cap on state-backed investment sources.

Rothschilds eye cross-Channel unityThe Rothschild family plans to secure “long-

term control” over its international bankingempire by merging its French and Britishassets into a single entity and implementinga new form of governance that providesimmunity from hostile takeover.

Tweedie criticises cosy auditor tiesSir David Tweedie has added his voice tocriticism of the decades-long relationshipsthat bind auditors to the companies they aresupposed to be vetting. The formerchairman of the International AccountingStandards Board criticised the estimated 48years that a FTSE 100 auditor remains inplace on average. “I think 48 years is prettycosy,” he said.

Ofcom to foil shock huge phone billsDialling an 0800 number from a mobilephone could be free by the end of the yearafter Ofcom moved to clear up consumerconfusion about the cost of calling a non-geographic number. It could reduce revenuefor the telecoms industry by almost £1.5bn.

Winners on global money-go-roundIndians living and working abroad will sendat least $60bn to their friends and family inIndia this year — more than any othercountry in a trend set to deliver a boost tothe country’s building industry.

Single currency floated down underAustralia and New Zealand will consideradopting a single currency under a proposal

jointly floated by the countries’ productivitybodies. The two nations indicated a sharedTrans-Tasman currency could reducebusiness costs but pointed to Europe as anexample of possible downsides.

Jobs at risk at UK plastics companyHundreds of jobs were left hanging in thebalance on Wednesday after Birkby’sPlastics, the 145-year old manufacturer,called in receivers.

Settlement near on e-book pricingTalks to resolve US and European price-fixing probes into e-books are heating up,with three international publishers inclinedto settle the matter, according to peoplefamiliar with the matter.

As carbon prices sink, unease risesThe market for carbon emissions is runningout of gas. Prices of emission allowances,which award the holder the right to releasecarbon dioxide into the atmosphere, havetumbled this week to a record low. They aredown 11 per cent from the start of the year.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

The new jobs website for London professionalsCITYAMCAREERS.com

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


NETWORK Rail has been fined £4m for

“preventable” safety failings that ledto a fatal train crash in Cumbria in2007. The publicly-funded owner of

Britain’s railways was sentenced atPreston Crown Court yesterday for a breach of health and safety law thatcaused a Virgin Pendolino to come off the tracks on the West Coast Mainline. The fine is Network Rail’s biggest

sanction for safety breaches since thecourts imposed a £4m penalty for the1999 Paddington disaster.

One passenger died and 86 more were injured, 28 of them seriously,after a train hit a set of faulty points at95mph and tumbled down a bank near Kendal in February 2007.

It took until 2011 to bring the case tocourt because of an ongoing coroners’inquest into the death of 84-year-oldMargaret Masson, who was travelingin the front carriage when she was

fatally injured in the crash.In February, Network Rail

Infrastructure Group admitted failingto ensure a stretch of the West CoastMainline was properly maintained, in breach of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. The rail infrastructure group must

pay the £4m fine plus £118,052 costs within 28 days.

The Office of Rail Regulation said yesterday the derailment “was a devas-tating and preventable incident.”

Network Rail isfined £4m forfatal train crash

BY MARION DAKERS

BORIS Johnson yesterday pledged tocreate more than 200,000 jobs in thecapital as he unveiled his economicmanifesto ahead of next month’s elec-tion.

Calling London “the economicengine room of the nation”, the cur-rent mayor said he would invest£221m in transforming high streetsand supporting small businesses, and

would launch a new London GrowthFund with a £70m allocation fromthe chancellor. The Tory candidate spoke of his

work over the past four years in themayoral seat, claiming to have “stoodup relentlessly for the interests of theLondon economy, combating point-less red tape and crippling taxes.” Johnson also took the opportunity

to turn on his opponent and predeces-sor Ken Livingstone, blaming him for wasting “millions of pounds” because

Boris outlinesgrowth ideas in

economic plan

his London Development Agency “lacked credible systems” to create eco-nomic growth. “Instead, he spent

more time on flights to Havana and Venezuela than on securing the invest-ment London needs, and more timesniping at and undermining theindustries that provide hundreds of thousands of jobs for Londoners thansupporting them,” Johnson added. Johnson further pledged to establish

a London Enterprise Panel acrossGreater London, create an average of 1,000 apprenticeships a week and look into a Barnett style funding formulafor the city.

ALEX Hope, the 23-year-old foreignexchange trader who was arrestedon Tuesday by the Financial

Services Authority (FSA), has goneto ground after City A.M. brokethe news of his arrest.

Hope first came to prominenceafter spending £125,000 on a single

bottle of champagne as part of a£200,000 bar bill in a Liverpoolnightclub.

But he lost his appetite forpublicity after our revelations

yesterday were covered worldwide.Hope deleted his Twitter

account on Tuesday night and his

Alex Hope goes to ground afterCity A.M. reveals his FSA arrest

BY JAMES WATERSON website became unavailable from Wednesday afternoon.

His public relations firm, whichin the past has repeatedly offeredthis newspaper interviews with

Hope, could not be contacted yesterday.

Despite confirming to City A.M.on Tuesday night that Hope had

been arrested and that he deniedthe charges, yesterday the samefirm was telling other outlets thatit could not comment.

But sources confirm Hope wasarrested on suspicion of beinginvolved in an unauthorised for-eign exchange trading scheme.Nobody has been charged.

THURSDAY 5 APRIL 20123NEWScityam.com

For BT residential customers, calls will cost no more than 4.5p per minute, plus 13.1p call set-up fee (current at March 2012). The price on non-BT phone lines maybe different. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes. Over £14billion of new lending includes all credit made available to SMEbusinesses, with a turnover of up to £25million, between 1st January 2011 – 31st December 2011. Barclays Business provides services to firms with a turnover of upto £5million. Loans are subject to application and status. Excludes online applications and automatic overdraft renewals. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply.

Barclays Bank PLC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Registered No 1026167. Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

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AL E X Ho p e, the 23-y ear -o ldtr ader w ho hit theheadlines af ter sp ending £125,000o n a singlebo t tleof c hamp ag ne, hasb een ar rested onsusp ic iono f being inv olv ed inanunaut ho r ised f o reignex c hang et r ading scheme.

H op e, w ho claimst o bea self –made f o reign

ex c hang et rader , became infamous af ter r unning up a £200,000 bar billino neev ening at a L iv erp o o l nig htc lub. M o sto f t his w assp ent o na single99lbbot t leo f c hamp ag ne.T he sto r ys ubsequently bec amef ro nt- p ag enew s af t er t herec eip t w as leaked t o t he p ress.

But y ester da yt he F inanc ial Ser vic es Autho rit y( F SA ) said t hati t had arr ested aman in east Lo ndo n “on susp icio n o f

c o mmitt ing of f enc esunder theF inanc ialSer v ic es and M ark ets Ac t 2000 and t heF raud

A ct 2006 ”.H op e’s p ublic ist last night c o nf irmed that

he had been arr est ed but said t hat hedeniesallalleg at ions. T he FS A c o nf irmed no o nehasbeen c har ged in c o nnec t io n w ith theinvestig at ionand t hat the ar resti s no t link ed t o any ot her inv estigat io ns.

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E X C LU S I V E : £ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 b a r b i l l t r a d e r a r r e s t e d i n F S A p r o b e BY JAME S W AT ER SO N

Trader Alex Hope. Inset: How yesterday’s City A.M. broke the news

BY LAUREN

DAVIDSON

MAYORALELECTION

n Safeguard investment in our transportnetwork and cut council tax.

n Stimulate growth through EnterpriseZones and relief for business rates.

n Invest £221m to transform high streetsand support small businesses.

n Launch a new London Growth Fund with£70m from the chancellor.

n Create more than 200,000 jobs and anaverage of 1,000 apprenticeships a week.

n Plant 20,000 street trees, restore 300acres of green space and retrofit homes.

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


STRUGGLING sports retailer JJB last

night revealed it had secured up to£65m worth of fresh investment as it battles to safeguard its future.

The company, which saw its shareprice almost double earlier this week when it confirmed talks with astrategic partner, said that US sportschain Dicks would be investing£20m in new shares in the firm, with the right to invest a further£20m in convertible loan notes.

Existing shareholders, IAML,Harris Associates, Crystal Amber andBill Gates’s foundation, have alsoagreed to invest an additional £10min the firm by subscribing for new shares.

Separately, key supplier Adidashas agreed to provide a loan worthup to £15m to aid the chain inaccelerating the turnaround of itsremaining stores, ahead of theOlympics.

Meanwhile, Bank of Scotland hasagreed to extend JJB’s existing debtfacilities until May 2015.

JJB Sports chief executive Keith Jones said the investment package would enable it to accelerate itsturnaround.

JJB has been refitting stores andexpanding product ranges in a bid to boost sales. The retailer secured£65m in a capital raising fromshareholders when it ran intodifficulties last year.

...As firm getsup to £65m infresh funding

BY KATIE HOPE

THE former chief executive of JJBSports, Chris Ronnie, has beencharged after a two and a half yearprobe into an alleged £1m fraud. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yes-

terday announced that Ronnie has been charged with three fraudoffences, two counts of money laun-dering and two counts of furnishingfalse information, in relation to con-tracts he entered into during his timeas JJB boss.

But Ronnie’s lawyer, Anthony Barnfather at Pannone, said that theformer chief executive was “surprised

and disappointed at the decision”.He added: “[Ronnie] strenuously

denies the charges, has always main-tained his innocence and is confidenthis position will be vindicated in duecourse.”

Ex-JJB supplier David Patrick Ballhas also been charged with threecounts of furnishing false informa-tion. Both men were released on bail. The Office of Fair Trading was

called in three years ago to look into whether JJB had fixed prices with

Ex-chief of JJBcharged amid

£1m fraud caseBY LAUREN DAVIDSON

rival retailer Sports Direct. The SFO, which took over the

inquiry, announced in October 2010that it would not bring chargesagainst either sports retailer but thatthe investigation into individuals wasongoing.

However, the charges against Ronnieand Ball are understood not to be con-nected to the original inquiry intoanti-competitive behaviour.

Separately, the SFO yesterday saidthat £50m of assets were recoveredfrom the proceeds of crime last year,up from £42.5m in 2010, and averagesecured prison sentences grew to 55months from 30 months previously.

JJB Sports PLC16.254 Apr

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THURSDAY 5 APRIL 20124 NEWS cityam.com

PROFILE:CHRIS RONNIE

THE starting whistle blew onChris Ronnie’s career in thesports industry in a Bramhallshop when he was 16.

The Glaswegian then made his way through a series of directorpositions at Ellesse, Diadora andUmbro and was promoted to

chief executive of JJB in August2007 – shortly before he boughta 27.5 per cent stake in thesports retailer from its founderDave Whelan for £190m.

But he was fired less than two years later after neglecting tonotify the JJB board that hisstake, which was half owned by Kaupthing, had been seized by administrators when theIcelandic bank collapsed.

Under Ronnie’s tenure, JJB wasled to the brink of insolvency ina string of unsuccessfulacquisitions and strategy changes. He took the firmdownmarket in a bid to rivalSports Direct, before changingtack to compete with fashion-savvy JD Sports. He thenattempted to remodel JJB as a

specialist retailer, with the tagline “serious about sport”.

The brand lost more than 93per cent of its value in its oneand a half years under Ronnie.

The ex-JJB boss, whopreviously worked at SportsDirect under Mike Ashley, ownerof Newcastle United footballclub, has also come underscrunity for his close friendship

with the rival sports retailer.

BY LAUREN DAVIDSON

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


BRITISH recruitment firm Hays

expects strong double-digit growthin its Asia business this year onstrength in the resources andinformation technology sectors,and is more optimistic about theglobal outlook, its top executivesaid yesterday.

Chief executive Alistair Cox saidthat while consumers, companiesand employees seemed paralysedlast year by uncertainty over the world economy, they had since begun to adapt to tougherconditions and started hiring andchanging jobs.

“I’m much more optimisticabout the world in general than I was maybe four months ago,” Coxsaid at the company’s Tokyooffices. “I certainly don’t think the world’s problems have been fixed, but I do think in many areaspeople are just learning to deal

with how the world is right now and how to go on with t heir lives.”

Hays, which specialises inplacing workers in accountancy, IT and engineering jobs, wasparticularly encouraged by astrong start to 2012 for Asia-Pacific, where two of its top five marketsare located.

“I would expect very strongdouble-digit growth across our Asia business in this calendar year because all the fundamentals arethere,” Cox said.

Hays predictsstrong 2012growth in Asia

BY HARRY BANKS

TESCO has scrapped its blue-and- white striped Tesco Value range of products in favour of a new updated brand, as chief executive Philip Clarkecontinues to shake up the business inan attempt to revive UK sales. The Everyday Value range, made up

of 550 products, will feature morecolourful and “softer” packaging com-pared with the old Value brand, but it will also see an improvement in qual-ity, Tesco claimed yesterday.

Orange squash, for example, willcontain 10 per cent more fruit juice,and grated cheddar will come in a

resealable bag. The supermarket was the first to

pioneer the discount category twenty years ago, during the previous reces-sion. Asda and Sainsbury followedshortly after with Smartprice andBasics. Tesco Value now has morethan £1bn in sales.

“Almost 20 years on and an afford-able quality range is more relevantthan ever, but customer needs havechanged,” said David Wood, Tesco UK marketing director. The move comes as chief executive

Tesco sheds itsvalue stripes in

UK rebrandingBY KASMIRA JEFFORD Philip Clarke prepares to announce his

turnaround strategy for Britain’s biggest supermarket after it stunnedthe City with its first profit warning intwenty years in January. As well as hiring 20,000 new staff

over the next two years and revampingstores, Tesco also plans to step up itsonline business and focus on pricingas it battles to regain market share. Tesco also closed its second hand car

website Tesco Cars yesterday just a yearafter its launch, saying it had failed tosecure a good supply of vehicles. Tesco said that “given time we would

have overcome the challenge but atthe moment it’s right to focus on our

core business”.

PHILIP Clarke’s power grab forTesco’s UK business last month

was a bold move by the flailingsupermarket’s chief executive.

It left analysts predicting acrunch year for Clarke – who took

over from Terry Leahy in March last year – with a clear case of sink orswim on the cards should he fail toshake up domestic operations

within 12 months.The shift in Value branding

means the first box has been tickedon Clarke’s checklist. By droppingthe iconic blue and white stripes

but saying it will raise the standardof ingredients, Tesco is looking toappeal to the new recessionista –the frugal shopper who’s lookingfor cheaper options but just won’t

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compromise on quality. It’s a smartopening move by Clarke, andinvestors should expect more

visible changes over the next fewmonths as he asserts his authority.But a simple change of packaging

won’t keep investors sated for long.Clarke will need to prove he’s gotmore than a few new fonts up hissleeve if he really wants to show hecan be master and commander.

Out with the old a nd in with the new: Philip Clarke has ditched Tesco’s Value packaging

SKYPE yesterday unveiled anexpansion plan that will see theonline phone group increase itsEuropean presence and hire 400extra people across five cities

worldwide.The Microsoft-owned company,

which already has an office in the West End, is upping its London workforce by 100 and opening anew technology centre in the city.

Skype is hiring software

...But Skype hires 400 and puts100 workers in new London hub

BY LAUREN DAVIDSONengineers, product managers anddesigners for its new Londonlocation, and looking to recruitstaff for its recently formed Xboxdivision.

This will come as good news toGeorge Osborne, who announcedin the Budget that he wanted theUK to become the technology hubof Europe.

Skype, which was bought by Microsoft for $8.5bn (£5.3bn) inOctober, will have 1,600 employees

worldwide after this hiring round.

YAHOO yesterday began notifying2,000 of its staff that their jobs nolonger exist, as the internet company embarked on its sixth major roundof jobs cuts in the last four years.

Yahoo said it expects to realise$375m (£235.7m) of annual savingsfrom the restructure, but it couldincur a one-off charge of $125m to$145m from the move, visible in itssecond quarter results in a fortnight.

The tech group branded the moveto cut 14 per cent of its workforce as“taking important next steps to

Yahoo cuts 2,000 staff...BY LAUREN DAVIDSON reshape the company for the future.”

Chief executive Scott Thompson, who joined Yahoo from PayPal in January, said the actions will takethe company towards a “bold, new Yahoo” which is “smaller, nimbler,more profitable and better equippedto innovate as fast as our customersand our industry require”.

Thompson is Yahoo’s fourth bossin five years after former chief CarolBartz was ousted in September forfailing to revamp the strugglingcompany. Its co-founder Jerry Yangresigned from the board soon after.

Clarke makes a play to showinvestors he means business

BY LAUREN DAVIDSON

Amazon picks upTech City offices

PUSHBUTTON is relocating from itscurrent 2,000 square foot digs to anoffice 25 times the size as Amazonshows its support for London’sflourishing Tech City.

The ten year old company, which was bought by Amazon last year,designs tools that allow TV viewersto watch and interact with mediaacross a range of devices.

Pushbutton will pay £30 a squarefoot for the Glasshouse Yard office.

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


Competition commission set toinvestigate private healthcare THE OFFICE of Fair Trading (OFT)

has asked the CompetitionCommission to investigate whetherBritain’s £5bn private healthcaremarket needs reform.

Following a public consultationthe regulator decided that aspects of the industry “could work better forpatients” and that there arereasonable grounds for suspectingthat aspects of the market prevent,restrict or distort competition.

“Private patients and their GPs

BY JAMES WATERSONface difficulties selecting privatehealthcare providers on the basis of quality or value for money, and this

may ultimately result in patientspaying higher prices, or receivinglower quality care,” said JohnFingleton, the OFT’s chief executive.

Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald,managing director of Bupa Healthand Wellbeing, welcomed thedecision: “For too long, the cost of private healthcare has been rising tounsustainable levels, in large part because of a lack of competition andefficiency in the private hospital

market and among consultants inprivate practice.”

The OFT began investigating the

business last year and found anumber of concerns. These include the lack of easily

comparable information availableregarding the quality and costs of private healthcare services; thelimited number of large privatehealthcare providers and healthinsurance providers at a nationallevel, which it said combined tocreate significant barriers to new competitors entering the market.The OFT, led by John Fingleton, has asked for a probe into private healthcare


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His achievements to date comprise numerous

victories including three gold medals at the Olympic

Games in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. For Ben Ainslie

and his Corum watch, each day is a new adventure.

A cash-strapped Greek pensionershot and killed himself outsideparliament in Athens yesterday,

saying he refused to scrounge forfood in the rubbish, touching anerve among ordinary Greeksfeeling the brunt of the country’seconomic crisis.

Greek suicide over financial crisisBY HARRY BANKS The public suicide of the 77-year-

old retired pharmacist quickly triggered an outpouring of sympathy in a country where onein five is jobless amid tough

austerity measures required as partof Greece’s international bailout.

A few hundred protestersmarched into Syntagma square topay tribute to the man.

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


G E T T Y

WILLIE Walsh picked up a £1.155mpay package for last year but missedout on £1.35m of bonus paymentsafter International Airlines Group(IAG) failed to hit some performancetargets. The group chief executive received a

base salary of £825,000 and a£302,000 bonus, according to theannual report of the owner of British Airways and Iberia, which was pub-lished yesterday. He missed out onthe rest, however, after IAG did notmeet “stretching” targets includingmeasures on profits.

Keith Williams and Rafael Sánchez-Lozano Turmo, the individual headsof BA and Iberia, received packages of €1.12m and €870,000 respectively,including bonuses of €218,000 and €79,000 respectively,

The group reported pre-tax profitsof £425.6m in the year to December2011. When the results were revealedin February, Walsh said: “BA is mak-ing money and Iberia is losingmoney. The Spanish economy is weak and operating costs at Iberia are toohigh, unacceptably so, but this is being tackled.”

Yesterday IAG’s annual report alsoshowed that Walsh and Sánchez-Lozano Turmo asked for their basicsalaries for 2012 to be frozen at 2011levels.

Willie Walsh’sbonus cut afterIberia troubles

BY PETER EDWARDSIt came as IAG posted a strong rise in

March traffic, boosted by continuedgrowth in first and business class trav-el and a buoyant transatlantic market. Traffic, measured in revenue passen-

ger kilometres, rose by 6.2 per cent versus March 2011, while passengerload factor – a measure of how well itfills its planes – was up one percent-age point at 73.7 per cent, it said yes-terday.

Its Spanish operations face thethreat of up to 30 days of strikes between April and July, however.

•Low cost airline Ryanair said yester-day its passenger traffic during Marchfell four per cent, as its decision toground planes to save on fuel costscontinued to dent its growth. Ryanairsaid it carried 5.7m passengers duringMarch, with 79 per cent of its avail-able seats taken – down one percent-age point on a year ago.

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA

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7NEWScityam.com

JOHN Hourican, the head of RBSinvestment banking division,

yesterday pocketed £4.8m afterselling shares in the state-backed

bank.Hourican, who heads its global

banking and markets (GBM)division which has had to slashthousands of jobs, sold 17.6mshares at a price of around 27p pershare, after exercising lucrativeshare options, a regulatory filingrevealed.

The share options were grantedto Hourican in 2009 as part of his

RBS investment chief Houricannets £4.8m in options sell-off

BY KATIE HOPE bonus award.Hourican, who was paid around

£7.5m in 2011, faced pressure to give up some of his bonus awardearlier this year after both RBSchief executive Stephen Hesterand chairman Philip Hampton

gave up their bonuses following apublic outcry over the plannedpayments.

RBS has cut around 34,000 jobssince the 2008 crisis, and its GBMdivision has sold off or shut downmuch of its equities operations inorder to focus more on its

stronger fixed income and foreignexchange businesses.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh has asked for his salary to be frozen this year

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


Private PropertyFinance•Individuals, companies, SPVs etc.•We will arrange funding for you

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IN BRIEFTwitter cosies up to car companies

n Twitter, looking for better proximityto car companies with hefty adbudgets, said yesterday it will open anoffice in Detroit. The San Franciscosocial media firm has located an officein the Motor City following a notablefinancial recovery by General Motors,Ford Motors and Chrysler after yearsof painful restructuring and depressedauto sales. Google made a big splashin Detroit a couple of years ago whenit opened offices in a nearby suburb.Robert Weeks, a spokesman forTwitter, said the company will have a“handful” of employees in Detroit.

Crackdown on tobacco smuggling

n Health officials yesterdayprovisionally agreed a global deal tocombat tobacco smuggling, a tradethe World Health Organisation (WHO)said makes harmful smoking toocheap and robs finance ministries ofup to $50bn (£31.5bn) a year. Theagreement requires manufacturers tobe licensed and tobacco packaging tobear markings so that any goods soldillegally can be traced back throughthe supply chain, including to thecompanies that shipped them, to seewhere they were diverted.

Fiat sees falling Europe salesn European new car sales will declinefor the fifth year in a row in 2012 to13m vehicles, Fiat chief executiveSergio Marchionne said yesterday, asthe group moved a step closertowards a full-blown merger with USautomaker Chrysler. “For 2012 themarket expectations in Europe are notencouraging,” Marchionne, who alsoruns Chrysler, told a shareholdermeeting in Turin at which a shareconversion that paves the way forFiat's merger with the US car makerwas approved. G

E T T Y

GDF SUEZ said yesterday it was con-sidering whether to sweeten its£6bn offer to buy out minority shareholders in International Powerafter the British company rejectedits offer for the 30 per cent it doesnot already own. The French power company said it

was seriously thinking about ditch-ing the bid but was weighing up itsoptions.

Its statement came less than anhour after International Power saidan independent committee appoint-ed by its board had rejected the

390p-per-share bid tabled by GDFlast week.

“Any decision by the group will be based on a strict disciplined and value-driven approach to earnings,indebtedness and returns,” said GDFSuez.

Shares in both companies edgeddown after the announcement. The GDF bid had valued

International Power at £19.9bn –only slightly above its market valua-tion immediately before the offer.

Deutsche Bank analyst MartinBrough predicted GDF will end uppaying close to 420p for each of theoutstanding shares.

Meanwhile IP investor RobinGeffen of Neptune, who helped

InternationalPower rejects

£6bn GDF bidBY JOHN DUNNE scupper the Prudential’s bid for AIA,

spoke out against the offer, saying itshould “begin with a four ratherthan a three”. The International Power commit-

tee “unanimously concluded thatthe indicative proposal of 390p pershare undervalues IP”, the company said.

Directors in the company alsoadded that under UK takeover rules,GDF is barred from making an offer without their approval before 3 August. International Power has sixpower stations in the UK.

GDF took control of IP last year in adeal that saw it take a 70 per cent

stake in the FTSE 100 listed company.IP shares have been performing bet-ter than GDF’s of late, up by one-third over the past year, as investorshave bet on a full buy-out.

International Power’s shares closedat 402.2p yesterday.

International Power PLC402.20

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Ofgem launches investigation into E.ON sales tacticsBRITAIN’S energy regulator Ofgem hasstarted investigating whether electricity and gas supplier E.ON has usedinappropriate sales tactics in itstelephone and face-to-face marketing,the watchdog said yesterday.

E.ON is the fifth of the “Big Six” energy suppliers to be investigated for

breaching fair marketing rules, with only Centrica’s British Gas retailer left

untouched.The other Big Six suppliers are RWE

NPower, EDF Energy, SSE and ScottishPower.

“The investigation is being launchedfollowing information which has cometo Ofgem’s attention regarding E.ON’smarketing activities,” the watchdog said.

At least three of the six big suppliers,EDF, Centrica and SSE, have stoppeddoorstep sales, after a consumer body called for an end to the practice, which

many see as aggressive.Ofgem last month closed its

investigation of EDF after the utility agreed to pay £4.5m in benefit of UK energy customers and to change some of its sales tactics, the first time such anagreement has been made, Ofgem said.

Most of the sum, £3.5m, will help EDFEnergy’s customers at risk of fuelpoverty to reduce energy bills, while £1m

will support a campaign to encouragecustomers to switch energy supplier.

BY HARRY BANKS

GDF Suez chief executive Gerard Mestrallet is plotting the company’s next move

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


NEXT chief executive Lord Simon

Wolfson sold 125,000 of theclothing retailer’s shares after theclose of trading on Tuesday,sparking a sell-off in the firm’sshares yesterday as tradersfollowed suit. Wolfson sold the shares at 3,057p

each, banking more than £3.8m, which sent shares in the company down four per cent last night to2,937p. Wolfson, who has been chief executive of Next since 2001, hasonly sold stock three times in thelast seven years, most recently inMarch 2007, when he sold a similaramount of stock representing about10 per cent of his holding. The retailer has been one of the

best performing stocks of the FTSE100 over the past two years and Wolfson’s decision is being interpret-ed by analysts as a sign that theshares may have reached their peak.

Chief executive

of Next sells

£3.8m sharesBY KASMIRA JEFFORD

BURGER King will flip back to thepublic markets less than two yearsafter it was snapped up by a US private equity house.

The world’s third-largest hamburg-er chain, currently owned by 3GCapital Management, has agreed tosell a 29 per cent stake to London-list-ed investment firm Justice Holdingsfor $1.4bn (£882m).

Shares in Justice will be suspendedin London and Burger King Worldwide Holdings is expected tolist on the New York Stock Exchangein the next two to three months.

Justice is chaired by former City min-ister Lord Myners and backed by Nicolas Berggruen, the German- American “homeless billionaire”.

3G, which bought Burger King inSeptember 2010 in a $3.26bn deal, will retain a 71 per cent stake in thecompany. Justice co-founder Bill Ackman said

Burger King stock “today is worthsomething in the high $17 to $18range”, but could reach $20 using amore optimistic valuation.

Burger King setto rejoin the US

stock marketBY PETER EDWARDS It marks the latest change in owner-

ship in the chain, which was bought by Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capitaland Goldman Sachs Capital Partnersten years ago, then listed in 2006 before being taken private by 3G.

Justice said it expects Burger King’score profits this year to be nearly double those of 2010. On Tuesday therestaurant launched an expandedmenu in its biggest shake-up since it was founded in 1954.

Yesterday Myners said: “The BurgerKing transaction offers a number of the key features the board was look-ing for in a combination: strong cashflows, an experienced and successful

management team, significant strate-gic growth opportunities and a com-pany that would benefit from Justice’s public ownership.”

Burger King chief financial officerDaniel Schwartz said 3G is in “the very early innings of what is going to be a very long-term investment”.

“It’s the right time for Burger Kingto be public in the US again. Our new investor base will help us maximizethe brand’s future potential goingforward.”

Lord Myners is chairman of Burger King’s new UK investor

AFTER helping to broker a£130bn bailout for several

British banks in autumn 2009,Lord Myners’ deal for $8bn-

valued Burger King might seemlike small fry.

It has the potential to be a whopper of a deal for the formerCity minister, however, as well asthe stellar group of investment

veterans who make up the restof Justice Holdings. One investor,Nicolas Berggruen, is the son of German art collector Heinz

Berggruen and is often describedas the “homeless billionaire”

because of his penchant forliving in hotels around the

world. Another, William Ackman, is a

Harvard-educated hedge fund veteran and activist investor whohas put money into several fastfood companies. Together with

Jarden Corp founder MartinFranklin, they set up Justice, ashell company that went publiclast year and has now succeededin its aim of agreeing a bigmerger or acquisition.

BY PETER EDWARDS


Call 0800 049 4448 or visit carphonewarehouse.com

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G E T T Y

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THE GOVERNMENT yesterday said

that it would not bring down theannual cap on the number of skilled workers allowed into the UK fromoutside the European Union.

The decision to freeze the cap at20,700, proposed in February by theMigration Advisory Committee, was widely applauded by business groupsand other stakeholders.

“[This] will help employers recruitkey skilled workers and increase thechances of export-led growth,” saidthe Chartered Institute of Personneland Development.

“Evidence has consistently shownthat some employers still need non-EU workers to fill highly skilledpositions…despite the current poorstate of the UK jobs market.”

And the London Chambers of Commerce and Industry echoed thesentiment.

“It is good to see the government

is finally listening to the businesscommunity about the need to sourcetalent from beyond the EU,” said theLCCI’s Subhash Thakrar.

“However this announcementmust not distract from the damagecontinuous changes to the UK’smigration system has had on thecapital’s competitiveness”.

The government has also agreed todrop the requirement for firms toadvertise highly skilled roles in JobCentre Plus.

Cap on non-EUworkers frozenby government

BY JULIAN HARRIS

G E T T Y

DAVID Cameron yesterday announced the launch of a “BigSociety bank” that will lend money to charities and other good causes. The fund expects to raise £600m in

capital over the next four years, which it plans to lend to social enter-prises that can prove they can repay the investment from their income. Around £400m of capital will come

from unclaimed cash left dormantin bank accounts for over 15 years while a further £200m will comefrom the UK’s four largest high street banks Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC andRBS.

The institution, which will initially be called Big Society Capital, aims toenable successful social enterprisesto access funding needed to expandtheir organisation.

“What is happening here is really important. For years the City has been associated with providing capi-tal to help business expand. Today this is about supplying capital tohelp society to expand,” said thePrime Minister.

“Big Society Capital is going to

David Cameronunveils new Big

Society bankBY JAMES WATERSON

encourage charities and social enter-prises to prove their business models– and then replicate them. Oncethey’ve proved that success in onearea they’ll be able – just as a businesscan – to seek investment for expan-sion into the wider region and intothe country.”

Under the scheme a local charity that pioneers a successful method of finding work for the long-term unem-ployed may be able to access capitalto expand its mission across the coun-try.

Nick Hurd, the minister for the civilservice, said difficulties associated with accessing investment haverestrained growth in the third sector:

“For many years, charities and socialenterprises have been telling govern-ment how hard it is to access longterm capital. We have listened andhave delivered a new institution that will make it easier.”

Despite a mission statement thatoverlaps directly with the PrimeMinister’s recent “Big Society” con-cept – an attempt to strengthen civilsociety and reduce dependence onthe state – the idea of the fund has been developed over ten years.

WHO WILL WIN THE MAYORALELECTIONS? Interviews by Kendal Gapinski and Joe Softley

Boris Johnson will probably win. I think he hasmore of a persona than Ken Livingstone.

Everyone seems to like Boris. I think he appeals more to a

younger generation.

These views are those of the individuals above and not necessarily those of their companies

DALE CROSSBUSINESS SYSTEMS

”

Boris Johnson should win. The entire thing onLBC radio was such a disaster for Livingstone.

His fare deal plan is rubbish. How are we going to pay forthat when we don’t have any money?

ANDREW SELLERSHISCOX

I think Boris brands himself more and willprobably stay in the office. Personally though,

I think Boris has been mayor for a long time already, andis too much of a comedian for my taste.

MATT BENTONMONEY ADVICE TRUST

” ”

End of tax break prompts house price jump

HOUSE prices sprang upwards lastmonth as first time buyers rushedto beat the expiry of a temporary

break on stamp duty, yet themarket as a whole remainssluggish.

Prices jumped by 2.2 per cent inMarch, the Halifax reported

yesterday, bouncing back fromFebruary’s 0.4 per cent monthly decline.

Yet the average cost of a home was still down 0.1 per cent in thefirst three months of the year,compared to the previous quarter.

And March’s prices came in 0.6

BY JULIAN HARRIS per cent lower than at the sametime in 2011.

Volatility in the month by month figures is being prompted

by “the historically low level of sales”, Halifax said.

And new government initiatives will fail to stimulate activity in themarketplace, according toeconomist Melanie Bowman fromMoody’s Analytics.

The coalition is backing somemortgages on new buildproperties in a bid to reduce thesize of required deposits,particularly for first time buyers.It has also re-launched the right to

buy scheme for social tenants.

Yet the programmes are“unlikely to boost demandsubstantially”, Bowman said.“Households face a number of headwinds this year which willdeter them from moving house ortrying to get on the property ladder.”

Cash purchases in London arestill bucking the trend, accordingto David Newnes of LSL Property Services. “London has bumped upnational prices over the past year,as cash purchases for high-valueproperties have proved a popular

way for wealthy buyers to protectfinance from global economicuncertainty,” he said.

CITYVIEWS

THURSDAY 5 APRIL 201211NEWS

cityam.com

The Prime Minister said the fund will enable social enterprises to expand

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


not be a racing event without thepresence of an official milliner torepresent the requisite f lamboyantheadwear, which this year iscelebrity designer Philip Treacy.

“Horseracing, fashion and beautiful hats go hand in hand andcreating a hat for Laura Bailey to wear to the Investec Derby is afantastic opportunity,” said Treacy, whose hats have crowned the heads

of The Duchess of Cambridge,Madonna and Lady Gaga.

London-based jeweller TheoFennell has also paid homageto the Queen and celebratedthe Derby by designing adiamond necklace “to

celebrate the

Sport of Kings”.Katherine Jenkins

will perform thenational anthem andacclaimed jockey Willie

Carson will be this year’sguest of honour.

BLUE Cow Yoga, the new yogacentre that has opened up inMoorgate, will be hosting“Marathon Mondays” in the run-up to the big event on 22 April.

Anyone running The London

Marathon for charity can enjoy acomplimentary yoga class, whichfocuses on stretching andstrengthening the knees and hips.The Monday before the marathonthere will also be a nutritionistcoming in to help plan what to eat

before the event, and Blue Cow will turn into a marathon recovery drop-in centre on the Monday afterwards. This week’s MarathonMonday will take place on Tuesday

because of the Easter break.

Watch out forMarathon yoga

THE Investec Derby Festival isone of the highlights of thesocial and sporting season, andthis year it promises to be

the grandest yet as the Queenmarks the beginning of herDiamond Jubilee weekendcelebrations on the second day of the festival on Saturday 2 June.

The festival at Epsom,for which City A.M. isthe official paper,kicks off withInvestec Ladies Day on Friday 1 June, when the fashion world pulls out allthe stops and

dons its bestcouture, with modelLaura Bailey announcedas the“official”face’ of this year’s event. And it would

Hats off to a jubilee

epic Epsom festival

Got A Story? [email protected]

Follow The Capitaliston Twitter: @citycapitalist

12cityam.com

cityam.com/the-capitalistTHECAPITALIST


MIDWAY through the first week of the Easter holidays, the City of London was yesterdayfull of children enjoying the sites and many attractions. In the picture above, severalchildren are walking past the Tower of London as the City enjoys the influx of theyounger visitors.

CHILDREN IN THE CITY

Tickets available from £45 via www.epsomdowns.co.uk or 08445 793004

Lady Gaga with hat (left)and Katherine Jenkins

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


IN BRIEFMonsanto sales rise 15 per centn Global agribusiness companyMonsanto posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday,and said early planting in the US anda 15 per cent jump in sales wouldboost its full-year outlook.Monsanto, which is the world'slargest seed company, said it set arecord for its seeds and genomicsunit, driving net income for the

second quarter to $1.2bn from $1bna year before.

Ford raises car sales forecastsn Ford Motor’s president for theAmericas Mark Fields announcedyesterday that a solid first quarter ofUS vehicle sales had caused thecompany to raise its 2012 forecast.The American car maker nowexpects the US auto industry salesfor the year to be between 14.5mand 15m vehicles, including mediumand heavy trucks. That is up from itsprevious forecast of between 13.5mand 14.5m.

Germany opens petrol proben Germany has launched a probeinto possible price-fixing by thecountry’s top five petrol station

chains, German press reportedyesterday. The Federal Cartel Officehas started an investigation byrequesting information from BP’sAral unit, Esso, Shell, ConocoPhillips’Jet unit and Total. The watchdog issaid to have received complaints thatthe big five brands have sold fuel forless than the wholesale price atcertain locations to drive someindependent operators out ofbusiness.

G E T T Y

A L A M Y

RESTAURANT group Prezzo unveiledplans yesterday to open 20 new restau-rants this year as part of its ambitiousexpansion programme, as it reporteda surge in full year profits. The pizza and pasta chain, which

runs 189 restaurants, said adjustedpre-tax profits rose 14 per cent to£16.4m in the year to 1 January, boost-ed by the opening of 27 new sites androbust trading in the final quarter of the year.

Sales rose 18 per cent to £123.9m,helped by its new restaurants, which were launched primarily in cities

including Edinburgh,Manchester and sub-urban London loca-tions.

It now plans toopen morerestaurants inBath, Bristol andCobham.

Chief executive John Kaye said thegroup also had“increasing confidence” in

Prezzo steps upexpansion plan

as profits surgeBY KASMIRA JEFFORD Chimichanga, its Mexican restaurant

chain. “After adding two more suc-cessful units in 2011, further plannedopenings in 2012 will take us forwardto the milestone of 20 branches trad-ing,” Kaye said.

Prezzo was founded in 2000 by Kaye,the scion of a family of restaurateurs, who have built a record number of well-known brands over the past fivedecades.

His father Reginald and uncle Philipfounded Golden Egg, Deep Pan Pizzaand Garfunkel’s, while cousins Adamand Sam Kaye founded rival chains Ask and Zizzi.

Prezzo, which floated on Aim in

2002, also owns Caffe Uno, a brand it bought along with

several sites from Paramountin 2010 after it fell intoadministration.

Despite the uncertainoutlook, the group said it was confident of delivering

solid growth in 2012.

St Modwen buoyed by £2bn Nine Elms win

ST MODWEN said in a tradingupdate yesterday that profitsremained in line with expectations,as it f lagged its appointment toredevelop New Covent GardenMarket in Nine Elms as “a significantcontract win” for the firm.

The government revealed last week that the developer and Frenchgroup Vinci had been picked as thepreferred partners for the £2bnscheme, which analysts predict couldreap significant profits for StModwen.

Chief executive Bill Oliver said its

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD residential business has continued toperform robustly, with a strong salesrate and good ongoing demand forland whilst its pipeline of projectsalso remains strong.

It is currently building pre-soldfood stores for Sainsbury’s and Tescoin Longbridge and Cannock and afactory for Siemens in Lincoln.

St Modwen also announced earlierthis week that it had completed the£135m refinancing of its Key Property Investments joint venture,a five year facility that extends untilMarch 2017.

Oliver said: “While there willundoubtedly be challenges in the

secondary property market, weremain confident in our proven business model and in our ability toadd value to our portfolio throughactive asset management.”

New Covent Garden is in line for a makeover as part of St Modwen’s plans

St Modwen Properties PLC

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Prezzo has accelerated its rate of openings over the past two years,expanding 37 per cent since 2009 as it takes advantage of a more benign propertymarket and the distress of other operators. This should deliver increasedeconomies of scale and benefit margins over the medium term.

ANALYST VIEWS

”“

Profit before tax is up 14 per cent to £16.4m, which is ahead, driven byexpansion and growth in average unit profitability. Prezzo has no debt, but hasused most of its spare net cash to buy freeholds. We are holding ourforecasts which assume no like-for-like sales or margin growth in 2012.

”Prezzo is a well-managed, well-financed business that continues to per-

form well in a difficult market. There is good momentum in the new site pipelineand while 2012 is likely to be challenging, we expect further bottom lineprogress. Shares have been re-rated but we believe there is further to go.

”

IS PREZZO STILL ON TRACKTO DELIVER GROWTH?

Interviews by Kasmira Jefford

WAYNE BROWN CANACCORD

“

DOUGLAS JACK NUMIS

“

NICK BATRAM PEEL HUNT

THURSDAY 5 APRIL 201213NEWS

cityam.com

Restaurant chain Prezzo is looking to open new branches across the UK

Pizza chain Prezzo plansto open 20 stores in 2012

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


IN BRIEFRecord rate of Japanese recovery

n Japanese service sector outputgrew at a record high rate in March asthe economic recovery took hold,Markit’s purchasing managers’ index(PMI) showed yesterday. The index hit53.7 in the month, up from 51.2 inFebruary and comfortably above the“no change” level of 50.Manufacturing activity also rosestrongly, indicating a solid rise inprivate sector output in the month.“Although employment fell marginallyat the composite level, record rises inincoming new business and workoutstanding bodes well for jobsgrowth in the coming months,” saidMarkit economist Alex Hamilton.“What is most encouraging is thatgrowth was broad-based acrossmanufacturing and services, a trendrarely seen in the history of the series.”

Data analysis has £216bn potential

n “Big data” analysis has the potentialto add £216bn to the UK economy by2017, according to research out todayfrom the Centre for Economics andBusiness research and SAS UK. Thehuge amount of data generated byonline and mobile activity can beanalysed to “unlock previously unseenpatterns, sentiments and customerintelligence,” the report said. By stimu-lating the growth of new companies,tens of thousands of new jobs could becreated, while efficiency gains areexpected to make up most of the directfinancial benefit. The public sectorwould also be expected to benefit, sav-ing £2bn in fraud detection and gener-ating £3.1bn in better performancemanagement, the report estimates. G

E T T Y

SOVEREIGN debt is as big a problemin the US as it is in the Eurozone, andonly a crisis looks likely to prompt itsdysfunctional government into tak-ing action, Legal and GeneralInvestment Management (LGIM) warned yesterday.

Figures out yesterday showed thecountry’s service sector expanded inMarch, but LGIM economist TimDrayson said the longer-term growthoutlook remains weak. The US congressional budget office

(CBO) expects a fiscal tightening of 2.6 per cent next year as tax breaks

expire, but even then sees debt risingto over 90 per cent of GDP by 2022.

LGIM thinks the CBO’s GDP esti-mates are far too optimistic, neglect-ing to take into account the damagedone to the supply side of the econo-my by the financial crisis – and esti-mates debt will reach 110 per cent of GDP by 2022, and keep rising.

Such “unsustainable debt dynam-ics” mean welfare and healthcarereform must be tackled to cut spend-ing, said Drayson.

Economists sayUS debt crisis is

on the horizonBY TIM WALLACE “It is probably going to take a crisis

to knock some heads together andforce the necessary corrective actionto restore solvency,” Drayson warned.

However, in the short-term, the out-look remains better than in Europe. The US service sector expanded

strongly in March, with the ISM non-manufacturing index coming in at56, firmly above the “no change” levelof 50.

Employment rose strongly in themonth, according to yesterday’s ADPnational employment report, with anextra 202,000 jobs created, indicatinga return to solid growth in the firstquarter of 2012.

US debt is climbing fast

LGIMCentral

CBOAlternate

CBOBaseline

02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

110

90

70

50

30

% USpubliclyheldfederaldebt

Forecast


President Obama faces political opposition to any plan to cut the budget deficit

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


GOVERNMENTS must use the cur-rent relative “calm” in financialmarkets to push ahead with vitalreforms, European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi insisted yes-terday, as he left interest rates atone per cent. The ECB pumped over €1 trillion

(£827bn) into banks in two longterm refinancing operations (LTROs)

Frustrated Draghi callsfor faster labour reform

BY TIM WALLACEin December and February, which

“avoided a major credit crunch,easing market pressures”, he said. The resulting period of calm pro-

vides “a window of opportunity for governments to undertake fis-cal consolidation and fiscalreforms,” he added.

Draghi encouraged govern-ments, including those in

Mario Draghi held rates


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ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M.“Hold rates. Strong survey data shows the economy has been recovering through the first quarter, firmly eliminating any need for more eas-

ing. Indeed, markets are already providing some tightening of their own, putting up mortgage rates and borrowing costs.”

SIMON WARD | HENDERSON

“Hold rates and suspend gilt purchases. The inflation forecast that formed the basis for QE2 is being confirmed as too optimistic, while the econ-omy is regaining momentum, as foreshadowed by monetary improvements that predated the policy.”

GEORGE BUCKLEY | DEUTSCHE BANK"Hold policy. With the current round of asset purchases to be completed next month and new economic forecasts to be published, it makes

sense to sit tight before making a more informed decision on quantitative easing in May.”

VICKY PRYCE | FTI CONSULTING“Hold rates and quantitative easing – inflation is heading in the right direction despite higher oil prices. Although there has been better UK

growth data for the first quarter, that could go into reverse as the Eurozone seems to be moving into recession.”

SAMUEL TOMBS | CAPITAL ECONOMICS“Complete the current tranche of QE. While the economy might have narrowly avoided a recession, we can hardly say the recovery is back on

track. And while inflation is showing signs of ‘stickiness’, weak pay and credit growth suggests that it will fall to a very low rate in time.”

TREVOR WILLIAMS | LLOYDS TSB“Although the economy is showing signs of recovery, it remains extremely weak and fragile. With unemployment rising and output some four

per cent below its 2008 peak, ultra loose policy is still required –hold policy for now, though further QE seems likely.”

HOLGER SCHMIEDING | BERENBERG BANK“Hold. Recent data has been mixed, for instance with a downward revision to fourth quarter GDP but a rise in the manufacturing PMI in

March, while inflation pressures continue to recede modestly. We can afford to wait until the next meeting before considering more QE.”

GRAEME LEACH | IOD“Hold rates and QE. Over the last three months the economy has moved out of A&E but it is still heavily dependent on unorthodox medicine

such as QE2. It is too early to contemplate QE3 but money supply growth remains far too weak and needs to accelerate.”

ROSS WALKER | RBS“The asset purchases announced in February have still to be completed so there is no need to expand QE at this stage. Evidence of an underlying,

broad-based improvement in the macroeconomic data also weighs in favour of unchanged policy settings in April.”

CITY A.M. | SHADOW MPC

Spain and Italy, to push

ahead with reforms in spiteof recent protests, arguingthat only increased mar-ket flexibility can create astable platform for long-term economic growth

and start to bring down very high levels of unem-

ployment, particu-larly among the young.

This week we are asking membersof our Voice of the City panel, runin conjunction with PoliticsHome,

whether they are feeling moreupbeat about the economy than atthe start of the year.

VOICE OF THE CITY

PoliticsHome.comPoliticsHome.comIn association with

Apply to join today at WWW.CITYAM.COM/PANEL

Have recent business surveys givenreason for cheer? Do you think theUK has avoided a technicalrecession? Or perhaps you still fearsluggish growth and potential debtcrises still to come. Let us know.

Are you feeling better about the economy?

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


EUROPE’S top court will determine whether a global trade agreementon copyright theft breaches citizens’fundamental rights including thefreedom of expression, the EuropeanCommission said yesterday. The European Union executive said

it had referred the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement(ACTA), which is designed to tackleintellectual property theft, to theEuropean Court of Justice for evalua-tion in response to con-cerns it could damagepeople’s basic rights.

Its decision may complicate anddelay the pact’sentry into forceacross the EU. It is backed by the UnitedStates and others but many c o u n t r i e sthroughoutthe EU have

Fears copyright

deal damagespeople’s rights

BY HARRY BANKS yet to adopt it.“The Commission aims to respond

to the wide-ranging concerns voiced by people across Europe on what ACTA is about and whether it harmsfundamental rights in any way,” theEU executive said in a statement.

Karel de Gucht, the EU commission-er for trade, said the referral wouldallow the court to independently clarify the legality of the agreement.

“Considering that tens of thou-sands of people have voiced their con-cerns about ACTA, it is appropriate togive our highest independent judicial body the time to deliver its legal opin-ion on this agreement. This is animportant input to European publicand democratic debate,” he said. The Luxembourg-based court can

take months before it issues opinionsin such cases.

The pact aims to reduceintellectual property theft.

BLINKBOX SIGNS PARTNERSHIP WITH DISNEY

ONLINE movieservice Blinkbox has joined forces withDisney to bring thefilm company’slatest releases to UKcustomers. Manypopular titles,including War Horse(pictured) and TheMuppets, will be

available to rentonline the same daythat they arereleased on DVD,while Blinkbox userswill also be able toaccess Disneyclassics includingMary Poppins andAladdin. Tesco owns80 per cent ofBlinkbox.

De Gucht says the dealmay breach people’sbasic rights

OUTSOURCING group Capita has bought an employee benef its business from insurance firm Axa for £50m on a cash-free and

debt-free basis.Capita will take over BluefinCorporate Consulting, whichadvises on pension enrolmentand other employee benefits,

while Axa will keep the Bluefintrading name and its insuranceand wealth management arms.

Axa said in a statement thatthe employee benefits operations“are no longer aligned to ourlong-term strategy and core linesof business”.

Capita snaps up Axa’s Bluefinbenefits consultancy for £50m

BY HARRY BANKS BCC made a pro-formaoperating profit of £5.3m last

year, on turnover of £51m, Capitasaid.

The firm employs 548 people,mainly in London.

BCC chief executive Nick Burns will stay on as chief executive of the business, which will merge

with Capita’s existing pensions business Capita Hartshead.

“With the full backing of aFTSE 100 company, this new

business wil l be able to provide genuinely innovative solutions tothe rapidly evolving andincreasingly dynamic employee

benefits market,” said Burns yesterday.

ERIC Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group during itsdoomed takeover of HBOS, hasstepped down from a non-executive directorship at BT.

The telecoms group said Daniels will step down on 13 June afterfour years on its board.

Chairman Sir Mike Rake said in astatement: “Eric has been a greatasset and we have particularly

valued his global businessexperience.”

Daniels joined StormharbourInvestments in January, having left

the top job at Lloyds in February 2011.

Daniels leavesBT directorshipBY MARION DAKERS

THREE EXECUTIVES at fuel explorerBG Group have shared a pay packet worth a combined £5.4m this year –though their payouts were almostflat during a year in which the firmposted a 15 per cent rise in pre-taxprofits

Chief executive Sir Frank Chapman received a total of £2.87m,including a £1.2m bonus. Financehead Fabio Barbosa netted £1.25m,including a bonus and relocationcosts, while chief operating officerMartin Houston was paid £1.33m.

Chapman and Barbosa chose to

take cash instead of a company car,BG’s annual report showed.

BG Group payschiefs £5.4mBY MARION DAKERS


8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


GERMAN fund manager Deka has bought the home of the Guardiannewspaper in King’s Cross for £235m,property agent Savills said yesterday.

Savills, which acted for Deka, saidDeka Immobilien’s open-ended fund WestInvest InterSelect bought theseven-storey Kings Place buildingfrom developer Peter Millican in anoff-market transaction.

Property consultant DTZ represent-ed the seller.

Kings Place, which also houses twoconcert halls and art galleries, hasabout 300,000 square feet of officespace. It is also the head office of railways operator Network Rail.

Deka is among a number of cash-rich foreign investors that have

stepped up their pursuit of top quali-ty properties in central London over

German fundspends £235mon Kings Place

BY HARRY BANKSthe past year.

It was first reported that the build-ing was up for sale in October.

Kings Place was designed by archi-tecture practice Dixon Jones, a part-nership established in the 1980s whenits founders won a mandate to rede- velop the Royal Opera House inCovent Garden.

It has also designed new wings forthe National Gallery and NationalPortrait Gallery, and redeveloped theExhibition Road area in SouthKensington.

Developer Peter Millican gifted a 99- year lease over the music facilities when the building was completed,renting it to the Kings PlaceFoundation for a nominal rent.

King’s Cross has been a hive of con-struction activity in recent years, with

Google and BNP Paribas set to moveinto the area.

JP Morgan ordered to pay $20mto settle charges over Lehman THE Commodity Futures Trading

Commission (CFTC) said yesterday that JP Morgan Chase will pay $20m(£12.6m) to settle charges that itunlawfully handled customersegregated funds at LehmanBrothers Holdings.

The action comes as the CFTC andother regulators continue to probe what happened to segregatedcustomer funds in the October 2011collapse of MF Global Holdings, acommodity trading firm that alsodid business with JP Morgan.

BY HARRY BANKS In the Lehman case, the CFTC saidthat for about 22 months, ending with Lehman’s bankruptcy in

September 2008, JP Morgan hadimproperly extended intra-day creditto Lehman Brothers based in part oncustomers’ segregated funds Lehmanhad deposited at the bank.

JP Morgan also violated rules by refusing to release customers’segregated funds for nearly two weeks after the bankruptcy, theCFTC said.

In a statement, JP Morgan said it“mistakenly factored the balance inthe account into a daily calculation

of (Lehman) assets to determine theamount of credit the firm was willing to extend to (Lehman).”

JP Morgan went on to say that “nocustomer funds were ever used tosatisfy any (Lehman) debt to JPMorgan, nor were any funds in theseaccounts lost.”

Lehman spokeswoman Kimberly Macleod declined to comment.

The CFTC’s order requires JPMorgan to implement reforms toensure the proper handling of customer segregated funds in thefuture and to release customer fundsupon instruction from the CFTC.

17NEWSTHURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

Kings Place is home to the Guardian Media Group and Network Rail

KRAFT’S IRENE ROSENFELD NETS $22M IN 2011KRAFT chairmanand chief executiveIrene Rosenfeldreceived totalcompensation of$21.9m (£13.7m) in2011, 13.5 per centhigher than 2010.The rise was largelydue to her $4.2mperformance-based

bonus – almostdouble that of theprevious year.Rosenfeld receiveda base salary of$1.5m and her stockand option awardsrose to $9.7m from$9.5m, according toa Securities andExchangeCommission report.

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


IN BRIEFLester to leave Neptune

n The fund management groupNeptune said yesterday that one of itspartners, John Lester, had left the firmwith immediate effect. Lester issetting up a new investment boutiquewith two members of his team.Richard Green, deputy managingdirector at Neptune InvestmentManagement said: “With Neptune’stenth anniversary imminent andnearly £7bn under management, we

are moving to the next stage of ourbusiness development, building onbut also consolidating our earlierrapid growth. Since entrepreneurialspirit remains integral to our culture atNeptune, I accept that there will beoccasions when those involved inNeptune’s earlier successes, shouldaspire to try and achieve it againelsewhere, at a more senior level. Wewish them well.”

Geithner wary about US housing

n The United States is far behind onreforming the country's housingfinance system, where thegovernment's mortgage buyersFannie Mae and Freddie Mac providefunding for the bulk of US homeloans, Treasury secretary TimothyGeithner said yesterday. “The biggest

source of unfinished business in thefinancial reform effort is in thehousing finance area,” Geithner toldthe Chicago Economic Club. TheObama administration has proposedunwinding mortgage agencies FannieMae and Freddie Mac.

Talos Energy attracts investors

n Private equity firms Apollo GlobalManagement and RiverstoneHoldings said yesterday they willback a new company that will investin oil and gas opportunities in the USGulf Coast and Gulf of Mexicoregions. The private equity firms saidin a statement that they will invest upto $600m (£378m) in Talos Energy,backing a management team that hasworked with Riverstone previously.The Talos management team's

previous company PhoenixExploration was sold to Apache Corplast year for an undisclosed sum.

ASSET management giantBlackRock has put money back into

Italy after technocrat PrimeMinister Mario Monti beganpushing through a series of austerity measures.

The world’s largest money manager is overweight on Italy following the fall of SilvioBerlusconi, efforts to cut the publicdebt and planned labour reformsto boost competitiveness.

Nigel Bolton, head of theEuropean Equity Style Diversified

Team, who runs about $14.6bn(£9.19bn), said Italy’s banks now “look more interesting”.

He told Bloomberg: “We’ve gone back overweight Italy, after havinghad virtually nothing there for anumber of years.

“As the direct result of Berlusconi going, we started to putmoney back into Italy and it’s oursecond-biggest overweight country in Europe.”

Yesterday Monti called for hisproposed labour reforms to bepassed swiftly as he prepared for aparliamentary campaign to passmeasures that would make iteasier for companies to fireemployees.

The government has spentseveral months negotiating withemployers, workers’ organisationsand parties over the initialagreement. The deal was criticised,however, by the CGIL, Italy’slargest union, which said it wouldlead to an avalanche of layoffs.

A scandal- weary Berlusconiquit inNovemberas bond

yields hiteuro-erarecords.

BlackRock putsmoney back inItalian firms

BY PETER EDWARDS

G E T T Y

Puma claws at Shore’s results

Fresh slump in value of buyouts

SHORE Capital slipped into the red last year after losing more than £6m on itsinvestments in hotels and telecommu-nications firms. The small broker and independent

investment group posted a statutory

annual loss of £875,000, compared to aprofit of £8.37m in 2010.It lost £4.8m on Puma Hotels, which

owns 20 hotels around Britain, and£1.3m on Spectrum Investments, the

vehicle used to hold its 29 per cent

BY PETER EDWARDS stake in German telecoms firm DBD.Shore executive chairman Howard

Shore said last year had been “one of the most challenging” for the industry since he set up the firm in 1985.

“Activity levels so far in 2012 havepicked up well from the quietermonths of last year’s second half but

are still behind the comparable periodlast year,” he added.Both large and small investment

banks have been hit by the marketslump. Shore’s pre-tax profit fromoperating business nearly halved to

£5.4m although the equity capitalmarket business performed well andHoward Shore told City A.M. that work picked up at the start of this year.

“There has been a reduction in risk aversion from the extreme conditionsof last year. If you have the right offer-ing with the right audience with the

right price you should get it away.”Shore also said the year-end break and the European Central Bank sup-port for the region’s banks had helpedto improve sentiment and market con-ditions.

THE value of private equity-backed buyout deals fell by a fifth in thefirst three months of the year,according to data published

yesterday. The 669 deals were valued at

$46.3bn (£29.1bn) in total, down 20per cent from the final quarter of

last year and the lowest value of buyout activity for two years,

BY PETER EDWARDSaccording to Preqin.

It said, however, that deal volume has held up, with thenumber of deals in the first quarterof 2012 matching the average of 663 deals per quarter during 2010and 2011. Manuel Carvalho, privateequity deals manager, said: “Thisdecline in deal and exit flow hascome during a prolonged period of

volatility in the financial markets, which has led to a difficult global

merger and acquisitionenvironment, particularly when itcomes to obtaining leveragedfinancing for larger-sized deals.”

European deal values in the firstquarter hit a two year low. Two of the few bright spots came whenDutch cable company Ziggo andSwiss group DKSH listed lastmonth. Buyout firms Warburg

Pincus and Cinven were the biggest beneficiaries of the Ziggo issue.

Shore Capital’s investments in hotels have fallen on hard times


INDIAN firms listed on London’s Aimindex outperformed the FTSE 100and Bombay’s Sensex in the firstquarter, according to new research.

They rose 26 per cent according tocorporate research firm Hardman,compared to a gain of 3.6 per cent in

the FTSE 100 and a rise of 12.6 percent in the Sensex.

London-listed Indian companiesbeat FTSE 100 in the first quarter

BY PETER EDWARDS“As far as British investors are

concerned, India’s Aim companiesare being recognised as an easy way to get exposure to India’s rapidly growing economy, without thecomplications of trading in anoverseas stock market,” Hardmansaid.

There were, however, no new

initial public offerings of Indiancompanies on Aim in the quarter.

MarioMontihas putin placetoughausteritymeasuresfor Italy

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


IN BRIEFCove advances in Mozambique

n Oil explorer Cove Energy yesterdayannounced a successful conclusion todrilling offshore Mozambique withfurther success at Barquentine-4. Thewell is located approximately 30 kmnorth of the Lagosta discovery well.This was the ninth successful well inArea 1 Rovuma offshore project. Chiefexecutive John Craven said: “Theappraisal drilling programme hasconcluded with another success atBarquentine-4 which is an importantdelineation of the northern part of theProsperidade gas area.”

Falkland Holdings in profit jump

n Falkland Islands Holdings, the Aim-listed international group that ownsessential services businesses on theislands, yesterday said pre-tax profitsbefore amortisation and non tradingitems were £3m for the year to 31March 2012. Its profit was £2.3m in theprevious year. The company’s boardsaid that the total dividend paymentwill be not less than 10p per share. Thecompany also owns a slice ofFalklands Oil & Gas.

Lonrho revenues on the climb

n Lonrho, which specialises in Africaninvestments, saw growth across all ofits divisions in the final three months of2011. Revenue in the final quarter of2012 jumped 67 per cent to £46.1mfrom £27.5m a year earlier. Meanwhilelike-for-like sales grew 30.2 per cent.The Infrastructure division saw salesgrow 30.2 per cent, and the companysaid it was working to reward its share-holders with a dividend in 2013.

AUSTRALIAN coal mines owned by BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi face asecond seven-day strike after a thirdof the mines’ workforce rejected aBHP labour deal, union officialssaid yesterday. The mines, operated under the

BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture, have a combined out-put capacity of more than 58mtonnes a year, representing about afifth of annual global trade. About 3,500 employees led by the

Construction, Forestry, Mining andEnergy Union (CFMEU) completed aseven-day strike on Tuesday.

The union did not give a date forthe second strike and union offi-cials were not immediately avail-able for comment. The strike will not close mines,

but again reduce operations. Themines employ around 10,000 peo-ple.

On Monday, BHP declared forcemajeure on deliveries from the pre-dominately metallurgical coalmines in the Bowen Basin, citinglong-running labour stoppages

BY HARRY BANKScompounded by heavy rains thathave impeded production runs.Force majeure is a legal clauserelieving companies of immediatesupply obligations due to circum-stances beyond their control.

CFMEU district president StephenSmyth said workers rejected theoffer because BHP had changed itsposition on roster issues.

“The workers are ropable (angry)that these negotiations have goneon for so long and just when they thought a resolution was gettingnearer, the company comes back tothe table having altered in-principleagreement clauses,” Smyth said in astatement.

Bhp Billiton PLC1,877.00

4 Apr


2,000

1,950

1,900

1,850

1,800

1,700

1,750

p

THURSDAY 5 APRIL 201220 NEWS

cityam.com

GERMAN car maker Daimler istargeting earnings before interestand tax from ongoing business atlast year’s level of £7.5bn as vehiclesales and revenue keep rising.

Sales at Daimler’s Mercedes-Benzluxury division rose 11 per centin March to 131,334 vehicles,extending first-quarter deliveries

by 12 per cent to a record313,902.

“Daimler is on the way to its best form,” chief executive officerDieter Zetsche said in a speech

yesterday distributed at the group’s annual general meeting inBerlin.

Mercedes, which slipped behind

Daimler sales rising as luxurycar market drives forward

BY HARRY BANKS Volkswagen’s Audi division last year, is seeking to boost sales tomore than 1.6m vehicles in 2015,Zetsche said, reaffirming previoustargets.

Mercedes intends to overtakepremium-market leader BMW

and Audi on profitability andsales by 2020.

Daimler, also the world’s biggesttruck maker, increased truck sales

by about 20 per cent in the firstquarter to 107,000 vehicles, withstrong demand from North

America offsetting decliningsales in Europe and Latin America,Zetsche said.

Full-year sales may exceed last year’s level but Zetsche would notelaborate on the specific figure.

Daimler saw March sales in its Mercedes-Benz luxury division rise 11 per cent

BHP faces freshstrike action at

Oz coal mines

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


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Universal Music

The music company haspromoted Laurence Hulin to vicepresident, emerging markets,effective immediately. Hulin willreport to Olivier Robert-Murphy,global head of new business inthe Universal Music Group. Hulin joined Universal Music in 2005,and for the past two years hasserved as vice president, businessdevelopment. He has more than fifteen years experience inmarketing, management and business development. In hisnew role he assumes responsibility for developing andenacting strategies to expand the firm’s emerging marketssubsidiaries.

Nova Capital

The specialist acquirer of corporate and private equityportfolios has announced the expansion of its team withtwo senior appointments. Jan Kreminski has become

operating partner. Since 2005, he has worked as chiefexecutive or executive chairman of a number of Novaportfolio companies. Jonathan Seal has joined as an

associate partner. Since 2007, Seal has worked as a foundermember of the team managing the Rapid RealisationsFund, an Aim-listed growth capital fund.

KPMG

The professional services giant has announced that TimElliott has been appointed partner in its debt advisorybusiness. Elliott has served as a managing director at bothBarclays Capital and JP Morgan, and has over thirty yearsexperience in providing debt finance advice to majorcorporations.

Advanced Capital

Advanced Capital, an independent group within thealternative asset management industry, has announced thehire of Alberto Clo as a special adviser for investments inthe energy industry. Clo is an energy expert, academic andformer Italian politician. He held the position of minister of

industry and foreign trade in the 1990s. Clo’s appointmentis intended to underline Advanced Capital’s move towardsincreasingly targeted fund launches.

Lewis Silkin

The City law firm has appointed Colin Leckey as partner inits employment, reward and immigration team. Leckey joins Lewis Silkin from Baker & McKenzie, where he was asenior associate in the employment department. Leckeyhas extensive experience in complex pan-European andglobal employment issues, with a particular focus onadvising clients in the financial services sector.

Baker Tilly

The chartered accountancy firm has ma de two senior-levelpromotions within its tax practice. Terry Oliver, whopreviously held the position of manager, has beenappointed director. He has worked for Ba ker Tilly since1988, specialising in trusts and estates. Mark Abbott hasalso been promoted to director. Abbott has 28 years of

experience in the firm’s private client department.

WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Tom Welsh

+44 (0)20 7092 0053morganmckinley.comSPECIALISTS IN GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT

BRITAIN’S blue-chip index fell toa two-month low yesterday,dragged down by commodity stocks after reduced prospects

for fresh US stimulus and deepeningconcerns over the Eurozone’s debtand growth outlook weighed on risk appetite. The FTSE 100 index closed at5,703.77, down 134.57 points, or 2.3per cent – its steepest fall since mid-December. Every stock in the indexlost ground yesterday.It still outperformed Europe peers,however, with both France’s CAC 40and Germany’s DAX down between2.8 per cent and three per cent, weighed by weak regional economicdata and warnings from European

Central Bank chief Mario Draghi onthe outlook for the Eurozone’speriphery.However, after a strong first-quarterrally which saw the FTSE rise morethan 3.5 per cent, the marketconsolidation was to be expected,analysts said.Mining and energy stocks were the biggest drag on the index andInternational Power was among themost traded, seeing volume nearly three and a half times its 90 day average after the electricity supplierrejected a takeover bid.

Firstgroup PLC

29 Mar 30 Mar 2 Apr 3 Apr 4 Apr

255250245240235230225220

p

216.904 Apr

FIRST GROUPJP Morgan has maintained its “neutral” rating on the transport group but cut

its target price from 364p to 262p, blaming significantly lower guidance for2013 bus margins in the group’s pre-close trading statement. However, thebroker sees the problems in the bus division as “fixable”.

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US stocks fell for a second day yesterday as investorscontemplated a world withoutmonetary stimulus and a

poorly received bond auction inSpain suggested the effects of Europe’s funding operations were waning.Selling was broad as indexes trackingnine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors endedlower, with financial, materials andtechnology shares the worstperformers. The S&P’s financialindex fell 1.6 per cent. Shares of Morgan Stanley , often sensitive toconcerns over Europe, dropped 3.5per cent to $18.69.Stocks continued to feel the fallout

from minutes from the FederalReserve’s latest meeting, publishedon Tuesday. They showed the Fed’spolicy-setting Federal Open MarketCommittee was moving away fromintroducing more monetary stimulus. The Dow Jones industrial average fell124.80 points, or 0.95 per cent, at13,074.75. The Standard & Poor’s 500Index lost 14.42 points, or 1.02 percent, at 1,398.96. The NasdaqComposite Index dropped 45.48points, or 1.46 per cent, at 3,068.09.McDonald’s lost 1.9 per cent to$97.48 after Goldman Sachs removedit from its “conviction buy” list.

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Fed’s cautionhits Wall Street

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PREMIER FOODSCiti rates the food manufacturer as “neutral/high risk” with a targetprice increase from 5p to 20p, saying that the outlook for thecompany is much improved over the past four months. The brokerpredicts more than £100m in free cash flow over the course of 2012-2013.

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AFTER Rick Santorum wonLouisiana’s primary latelast month, MSNBC’s DavidGregory endeavoured tokeep his viewers interested

in the Republican race by claimingthat the result had officially created “a two-man race.” After Tuesday night, despite their bestefforts, not even the media areclaiming this race is competitive.

Despite his commanding delegatelead, Mitt Romney had never beforeenjoyed an election night sweep with more than two states at thepolls. However, Tuesday night wasn’t just a three state sweep – it was an 85-6 delegate rout. If Romney didn’t get the “knock-out”

blow he was looking for, the former

E VERY year about this time, asthe daffodils start bloomingthere is a call from some think tank, academic or economistfor major tax reform. This year,

it was Andrew Sentance, writing in The Forum.

There are two responses that a politi-cian can make to this. The wise butcautious one pays lip service to theidea and then ignores it. The rash butprincipled politician sometimes fol-lows the advice and always suffers.

The reason is simple, in any taxreform where you are adjusting therules for relief allowances and taxesthere will be winners and losers. The iron law of politics is that the

winners generally keep quiet for fearof losing their tax privileges and thelosers will make a huge noise; so it hasproved once again in GeorgeOsborne’s recent Budget. The winnersare those who gain from raising thepersonal allowance or the cut to the50p rate and the losers are pensioners whose age allowance will be erodedover time – not to mention pasty-eaters.

cityam.com/forum

Tax commissions

keep coming up withproposals that amountto kamikaze politics

In association withTHEFORUM

Twitter: @cityamforum on the web: cityam.com/forum or by email: [email protected] Agree? Disagree? Got a sharp comment?

The Forum wants you to join the debate. Top responses will be reprinted in The Forum.

‘

24THURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

JEREMY MINDELL

Real tax reform is an impossibilityuntil we shrink the size of the state

A neutral observer might point outthat the pensioners’ reform was fairly timid, there was no sweeping aboli-

tion of the age allowance. Yet thestorm of protest paints the picturethat Osborne has cut the widow off and taken all her money, rather thanthe cut amounting to 1 per cent of herincome.

Osborne’s experience isn’t new. Taxcommission after tax commission hascome up with proposals that may seem logical and consistent but arethe equivalent of kamikaze politics.

For example, the idea of extending VAT to food defies a century of consis-tent public opinion on this subject. The last time the Conservative party tried it was in Joseph Chamberlain’s

tariff reform of 1903: they lost the sub-sequent election by a landslide. Another chancellor who tried toextend the scope of VAT (NormanLamont) to domestic fuel not only found that he was defeated in theHouse of Commons but that thismeasure caused more opposition andunpopularity to the government thanany other tax-raising proposal. What seems logical on paper is often

disastrous in practice. A tax commis-sion headed by Lord Forsyth suggested

the abolition of the 10p tax rate andthe abolition of tax relief on termina-tion payments, share schemes, reloca-tion allowances – all of which wouldmake sense if the rate were goingdown to 15 per cent, but otherwise it was just a recipe for huge dissatisfac-tion and rebellion. Something GordonBrown found out when he tried toimplement a couple of the proposals.

Finally, even if you manage to estab-lish a new lower tax rate on the back of the abolition of allowances, thepublic will be naturally suspiciousthat this new tax rate will disappearafter a decent or indecent period of

time. For example, the capital gainstax rate was set by Alistair Darling, inone of the few genuine Labour taxreforms, at 18 per cent. This was fund-ed by the abolition of a substantialnumber of valuable reliefs such asindexation and taper relief, whichrecognised the time you held onto theassets. However, the coalition govern-

ment judged the 18 per cent rate toolow. The fact that it was arrived at by abolishing a number of reliefs wasoverlooked and the rate went up to 28per cent. A lower VAT rate could beachieved by its extension to all sorts of essential items, but how long would ittake to creep to 20 per cent?

The only chancellor who was suc-cessful in genuine and sustained taxreform in recent years was NigelLawson, who abolished a substantialnumber of income tax reliefs, allow-ing him to reduce the basic and toprates of income tax as well as corpora-tion tax. Lawson benefited from previ-ous measures by Sir Geoffrey Howe to balance the budget and also from arecovering economy. He was thereforeable to cushion the effect for losers by reducing the general amount of taxa-

tion. There were also a lot more reliefsand allowances that could be abol-ished at that time.

Now, however, the cupboard is near-ly bare. The only way to reduce taxa-tion is to tackle the size of the stateand make some radical changes to what the state does and how it is fund-ed. Otherwise there will always be los-ers who will cause a politician seekingre-election inordinate amounts of grief. Jeremy Mindell is a senior reward and tax

manager who has worked in accounting firms and in-house in the City for over 20 years.

governor has certainly leftSantorum staggering aroundlooking for a dignified exit.

On the night, Wisconsin was the big prize. Santorum had banked ona victory in the Badger State to helphim maintain some momentum,only to see representative Paul Ryanand senator Ron Johnson endorse

Romney days before voters went to

the polls. The Republican Party isnow well on its way to coalescingaround Romney and preparing forNovember. Others, probably including Ryan, will now have theireye on sharing Romney’s ticket. TeaParty senators Marco Rubio andMike Lee endorsed the frontrunnerafter his win in Illinois, as didformer President George H. W. Bushand his son, former governor JebBush. Senator Jim DeMint, thefounder of the Senate’s Tea Party caucus, didn’t go as far as to give anendorsement, but encouragedRomney’s rivals to “do a little self-reflection here.”

Santorum’s candidacy has beenone of the most astonishing bids in

recent presidential history, the

story of the quintessential American underdog. People lovethat. But by continuing to run suchaggressive and personal attacksagainst Romney, Santorum alsoruns the risk of squandering thepolitical capital that he’saccumulated during the course of this race. By staying in, he is notonly delaying the inevitable, butmaking the race more costly forRomney and his party. His eye must be on 2016, but right now Santorum is on the cusp of appearing almost Gingrichean indefeat.

In his concession speech on Tuesday night, Santorum pledgedto fight on – “it’s only half-time” –

and win in his home state of

Pennsylvania on 24 April and then win in Texas. But in just two weeksSantorum has seen an 18 point polllead in Pennsylvania turn into a tie. What’s more, even if Santorum were to eke out a victory in thestate’s popular vote, he could easily see a repeat of the 1980 primary between Bush and Ronald Reagan, where the former won on votes, butthe latter won on delegates. ThePennsylvania primary is a beauty contest, with the state party machine largely deciding who toallocate its delegates to. And thesedelegates will likely go to thepresumptive nominee.

Ewan Watt is a Washington DC-basedconsultant. You can follow him on

@ewancwatt

THE WHITEHOUSE RACE

EWAN WATT

Rick Santorum is on the ropes and risks an ugly beating in Pennsylvania

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


25

Tough love[Re: Let’s stop wasting our aid budget on funding lobbyists , yesterday]Raheem Kassam is right to expectmaximum value for money from Britain’said budget and that is why tackling thecancer of fraud and corruption is a toppriority for the coalition. Our message isclear: those who undermine progress inthe world’s poorest countries, put Britishtaxpayers’ money at risk, or treat the UKas a safe haven for stolen assets, will bebrought to justice. The DFID-fundedMetropolitan Police investigation intoformer Nigerian governor James Ibori,who pleaded guilty to embezzlement ofNigerian public funds that should havebeen spent providing services toNigerians, shows that our tough

The Forum is open for you to take part. Got a sharp commenton one of today’s columns or rapid response topics? Do youhave another subject relating to business and the economy youwant to share your opinion on? We want to hear your views.

TOP TWEETSWhat happened to the quango bonfire?Where’s David Cameron’s backbone?@sparkie

I’ve applied for a £250,000 loan from the BigSociety Bank. I need it to pay for a dinnerwith David Cameron.@carlmaxim

You always know when Cameron is inbother because Downing Street dustsdown another Big Society announcement.@MichaelDugherMP

Squatters can’t use empty buildings to live in,but social entrepreneurs can tap unused bankaccounts through the Big Society Bank.@aaronjohnpeters

With the Prime Minister issuing an Eastermessage, should the government do God?

YESIt was Gandhi who said those who think religion has nothing to

do with politics understand neither religion nor politics. Both areconcerned with what a good life and a good society look like -they will always overlap. Political leaders, like every citizen,should be able to speak authentically about their religious ornon-religious faith perspectives, while holding true to theircommitment to govern for the good of all. The bogeyman of“theocracy”, held up by the National Secular So ciety et alwhenever a democratically elected leader gestures towards faithis scaremongering. However, religious people and non-religiouspeople hold in common the desire for leaders to be real and notuse people of faith, or indeed any other group, to score politicalpoints. Cameron can applaud Christianity all he likes, but he's yetto prove that it's really about piety and not about polling.Elizabeth Hunter is director of Theos .

Elizabeth Hunter

NO Andrew Copson

Britain is a diverse country where, according to the last major

British Social Attitudes Survey, 51 per cent of us describeourselves as having no religion. 87 per cent of people don’t go toa place of worship in the average week and, although practisingreligious people of any religion are a minority, we have citizensof an enormous number of religions from Animists toZoroastrians. In this context, governments should not “do God”(which God would they do?) any more than they should “doatheism.” The role of government in a society that is so diverse isnot to privilege and highlight only one religion, but to create aspace for people of all different beliefs to live together intolerance. When a Prime Minister talks about “we Christians” heputs that inclusiveness in jeopardy and excludes and alienatesmany of us from the government of our country.Andrew Copson is chief executive of the British Humanist Association.

RAPIDresponses


JEREMY HAZLEHURST

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You can check out

anytime – but canthe clients follow?

WOULD the City be betterif it was more likeCalifornia? Obviously,the sunshine and beaches would be nice.

But what about the Golden State’semployment law?

Restrictive covenants (RC) are con-tracts that many people in the City sign when they start a job, whichtell them what they can and can’tdo when they come to leave thatemployer. Typically, they’ll say that

you aren’t allowed to take clients orother members of your team with you. A high-profile RC case recently dealt with the dispute followingthe departure of seven advisersfrom financial adviser Towry forrival Raymond James. A number of clients followed the advisers and Towry claimed that the clients had been solicited – which was forbid-den by the advisers’ employmentcontracts, but the court disagreed. The case also raised a fundamen-

tal point about RCs – namely, arethey worth the paper they’re print-ed on? Many in the City think not. The winning side’s lawyer in theRaymond James case has publisheda wide-ranging report about them, which I helped to write. We foundthat 14 per cent of the 116 City firms questioned said that they did-n’t use RCs at all, while 28 per cent believed that they were unenforce-able. Over a third had never even written to a former employee to try to enforce them. The report con-cluded that RCs do work, but only if they are regularly updated and if you are willing to spend the money enforcing them. Which raises the Silicon Valley

issue. A Cambridge professor of law interviewed in the report pointedout that RCs are unenforceable inCalifornia. In many respects theCity, with its highly-mobile, talent-ed employees, resembles Silicon

Valley. So if they don’t need themthere, he asked, do we need themhere? Already some opt not to usethem. One barrister said that in the

more “testosterone-fuelled” end of the City, RCs are seen as weak. Why would an employee want to leaveus? And why on earth would aclient want to go to a so-calledrival? A laissez-faire attitude pre- vails there. Why not everywhere?

Of course, firms might be lessinclined to pay top-dollar if they knew that you could zip off to acompetitor any moment. And sinceRCs are recognised in English law,they are here to stay. But they couldstill be simplified. Instead of usingthe courts as the f inal backing forRCs, they could make use of theemployee’s rational self-interest. The rise of deferred remunerationgives former employers a hold overstaff even after they have left, and asimple clause threatening to turnoff the tap if they, say, poachclients, would be a simpler way toget the effect of the currently com-plex RCs. This is becoming com-mon practice at some firms.Obviously, smart lawyers wouldstill be needed, but time-consum-ing and complicated litigationcould be avoided. A little bit of California dreaming might be bet-ter than a Hotel California thatnever lets clients leave. How to Lose Friends, Keep Clients and

Influence People was commissioned by Faegre Baker Daniels and undertaken by Jures. The report is available at: www.faegrebd.com/18045

approach is working. This government hasoverhauled Britain's aid programme tofocus on getting results for the world'spoorest people. In the next four years wewill vaccinate more than 55m children andhalve the number of deaths from malariain the ten worst affected countries.In partnership with City A.M., we will alsohelp Opportunity International give10,000 of the poorest people inMalawi access to savings accounts andmicro-finance to help pull themselvesout of poverty. Stephen O’BrienConservative MP for Eddisbury, and parliamentary under-secretary of state for international development

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


G E T T Y

Digitally-enhanced marketeers must fight for themselves as well as their company

26

MARKETING MANAGERSOUTH EAST£45k pa

A leading financial services provider is looking torecruit a marketing manager to its building soci-ety distribution channel. The role requires signif-icant experience and strong numeracy.

http://www.cityamcareers.com/job/7688

HEAD OF BRAND AND COMMUNICATIONSHOME COUNTIES£60k-£80k pa

This small, dynamic firm requires someone withhigh energy levels, a positive outlook and a will-ingness to get his or her hands dirty to develop,manage and refresh its brand positioning.


SENIOR FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANTCENTRAL LONDON£50k-£60k pa

A world-leading insurance company wants torecruit a senior financial accountant. The suc-cessful candidate will have recent regulatoryreporting experience in a large insurance firm.


CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERCENTRAL LONDON£180k pa

An experienced chief financial officer, withaccountancy qualifications and capital marketsexperience, is required by exciting, innovativeand fast-growing new venture.


CONSUMER INSIGHT MANAGERCENTRAL LONDON£55k-£65k pa

The marketing team for a global brokeragehouse is looking for a digitally savvy person toestablish a world class consumer insight team,using both quantitative and qualitative data.


JOBSoftheWEEK

TODAY ON

SIMON Middleton, in his book What You Need to Know About Marketing,describes the profession as “one of the earliest activities ever

undertaken by mankind.” Like anotherearly profession, it is often perceived as “of dubious morality.”

Middleton explains that the impulse tomarket is misunderstood. Marketing issimply about building relationships between businesses and customers, not

about spin or selling the unwanted.But marketing today, especially in

financial services, seems far from simple.Not only do marketeers have an array of diverse career paths to choose from, butthe internet is changing the profession. Allthis is happening against sustained badpress against banks and financial services.

How should a prospective marketeermarket themselves?

MARKET FOR MONEY Tim Gilbert, director of marketingrecruitment at Robert Walters, emphasisesthat marketing is “a very broad sector.”Roles range from “communications

Marketing is changing, butwon’t be unrecognisable

Digital and analytical savvy are now increasingly important, writes Tom Welsh

professionals to product and propositionpeople.” There is no marketing type, but a“range of people who are calledmarketeers who do very dif ferent jobs.”

Not only is financial services itself diverse, but within certain sectors (forexample, retail banking), marketeers helpsell particular products, reassureinvestors, communicate messagesinternally, and build a brand within ahighly commoditised market.

As such, recruiters don’t look for amarketing person, but a set of skills, andone of the most important is financialacumen. Simon Basset, managing directorof the specialist marketing recruiters EMR,highlights the need to show that “you can work within your marketing budget” andthat you are “commercially aligned to thesales strategy of the organisation.”

Marketing departments in banks have been the focus of significant consolidationin recent years. Marketeers have to “justify their expense” and, when looking for new roles, must show that they can be creativecommunicators, despite more limitedfinancial means.

DIGITAL ANALYSISOne area where marketing spend has notdeclined is in on the digital side, and theincreasing use of digital communicationstrategies by financial institutions meansthat marketeers must increasingly demonstrate digital savvy. Gilbert says thisis more than just knowing about theinternet, websites or Twitter. It’s about being analytical. “Digital marketing ismuch more measurable in its impact than

direct marketing”, he says, as it “requiresthe ability to look at data, numbers, andextrapolate trends from that.” Trendanalysis is not enough on its own, but “amarketeer who is creative and numerateand can follow a commercial process willalways do extremely well.”

But how should marketeersdemonstrate this savvy? Basset thinks apersonal “online brand profile” isessential. A CV can often be too one-dimensional, a simple list of standardachievements. By using online tools likeLinkedIn, a marketeer can show off their“three-dimensional network, theirpersonal testimonials” and cancommunicate a much more creativepersonal message. It is possible to overkillon online persona, but as long as thecandidate does not “blur the line betweenprofessional and the personal,” effectiveand clever use of LinkedIn and other socialmedia networks can distinguish.

BACK TO BASICSMarketeers, however, shouldn’t get too wrapped up in the allure of technology.Paul Sykes, managing director of MichaelPage Marketing, thinks “we won’tsuddenly see the digital marketing side become hugely dominant.” Althoughspending will increase, “there will always be roles which don’t require people tohave digital expertise.”

Nor should marketeers worry too muchabout the impact of banker-bashing ontheir careers, or the perception thatmarketing professionals in financialservices are suddenly having to defend theindefensible. As Gilbert says, “banks havealways been tough places to work, andmarketing people are fairly hardened topublic attitudes.”

What marketeers should really beconcerned about is their own career

development within the industry. Givenits diversity, the key problem is beingpigeon-holed, and it’s important to gaingeneralist experience before plunging intothe latest exciting marketing venture. Alongside the shock of the new, marketingis still about building relationships.

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8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


ACCOUNTANTS needn’t feel

judged by their acronyms. While the ACA, the ACCA, theCIMA, and the CA all bear their

own associations, accountancy qualifications are slowly shirkingtheir historical prejudices. Nowhere isthis more obvious than in their

international recognition. The ACA, offered by the Institute of

Chartered Accountants in Englandand Wales (ICAEW), has always hadthe snob factor. Many think its kudosis sustained by accountants hiringothers in their own image. The ACCA,offered by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants(ACCA) is known for itsinternationalism and proudly advertises itself as for globe-trottersand the outwardly-mobile.

But this distinction is no longer soprofound. ACA is not the only excellent qualification. ACCA is notalone in its international recognition.So how should an ambitiousaccountant choose?

MARKETING ACCOUNTANCYHelen Brand, chief executive of ACCA,says its qualification is sustained by itsglobal brand. “We have a globalinfrastructure and network of eighty-three offices.” These offices, and useof online learning, allow would-bequalified accountants the world overto study towards an internationalstandard.

This emphasis on branding issignificant. Alongside the practicaleducational benefits of a qualification“developed to meet globalrequirements,” its value toaccountants is maintained by tie-ins with foreign statutory bodies and itsreputation for excellence.

ACCA is not the sole global brand. According to Gavin Aspden, directorof qualifications at the ICAEW, hisorganisation “represents members inover 160 countries,” and an ACA’s value is sustained by its “blend of rigorous examination and practical

experience.” The same symbiosis of excellence, and promotion of thatexcellence through international ties,is at work in the ACA.

JOBS FOR EXPATSBeing global isn’t an advantage initself. The benefit of recognitionabroad is mobility, being able topractice anywhere. Brand thinks it isincreasingly important, not just foraccountants in multinational

corporations, but also for those insmaller companies “which areincreasingly developing businessesthrough export arrangements.”

Zen Bawany, managing director of Maze Executive Search and Selection,says they are both accountancy standards “you can take anywhere in

the world,” with a few provisos. Somecountries have historical preferences -- the ACA is more useful in Australia,North America and Singapore. ACCA is “slightly better recognised in moredeveloping countries.”

EMPLOYERS’ CHOICEBut this is a matter of degree, and thechoice between them should be driven by the needs of employment. Bawany says the “ACA encourages a goodcontrol mindset,” a “naturalmanagerial focus.” This explains why eighty of the FTSE 100 have ICAEW chartered accountants on their boards. The majority “qualify from topten accountancy firms,” mostly the BigFour, which require an emphasis onexternal audit.

The ACCA encourages what Branddescribes as a “broad base – you don’tspecialise early in your career, andcover all the fundamentals.” As such,according to Bawalny, it is increasingly in-demand in large bluechip firms, or businesses that require “morerounded talent” in an in-housearrangement.

ETHICAL REALITY This distinction is likely to fade.International accountancy standardsare becoming more internationally standardised. As Brand says, “being aprofessionally qualified accountantanywhere is a lifelong commitment toa code of ethics,” and regulators,governments and companies want toensure that, in a globalised world,ethics are enforced consistently.

Although providing bodies willtailor their curricula to students’subtly different needs, a high standardof professional recognition will still be

essential in a global context. And alarge part of that recognition doesn’tcome from the qualification but fromthe professional membership that sooften accompanies it. As Brand says,the certifying bodies will “strikemembers off the register” if they don’tmaintain this professionalism.

The choice between qualificationsmay be one of degrees, but they aredegrees within an internationally recognised standard of excellence.

The global recognition of ACA and ACCA is areflection of their merit, writes Tom Welsh


cityam.comCITYAMCAREERS.com

n ACCA

Run by ACCA, 424,000 studentsworldwide are studying towards it, and147,000 belong to the professional body.n ACA

Run by the ICAEW, eighty of the top FTSE100 companies have an ICAEW chartered

accountant on their board.

n CIMA

Issued by the Chartered Institute ofManagement Accountants, there are195,000 CIMA members and students.

n CA

The Institute of Chartered Accountants inScotland has 3,000 students working

towards a CA.

THE QUALIFICATIONS AND THEIR PROVIDERS

Course selection is not

easy in accountancy asall qualifications excel Accountants

have plenty ofchoice if they

want to bemobile and

certified

BUSINESS EDUCATION

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


There’s not enough time to explore in Kinect Star Wars.

There is fun to be had with these games, but not nearly enough


LIFE&STYLE

HANDSET REVIEW: HTC ONE XBY STEVE DINNEEN

The HTC One X will go on sale in the UK todayafter impressing at Mobile World Congress.The Taiwanese manufacturer hopes its newflagship handset will remind people that it canstill play amongst the big boys, with theformer golden boy of the mobile world goingsomewhat off the boil last year. I've beenputting the handset through its paces. The OneX is all about power. Not only is it the first UK-release to have a quad core chip (that's fast, ifyou're not geeky enough to know about phonechips) – it also has a fifth single-core chip,

which it uses when you're not pushing it hardenough. That's a bit like the snooker match inwhich Ronnie O'Sullivan famously decided toplay left-handed because he was so muchbetter than his opponent: it's quite cool but it'salso showing off. It means you can run any appout there without a glitch – this is one of thespeediest handsets on the planet and it's notgoing to go out of date any time soon. Thegigantic 4.7 inch screen is bright and sharp,although the chassis seems disappointinglyfamiliar – it looks a bit like the Sensation XL.

Having so much power means the handset –which runs Google's latest Ice Cream Sandwichsoftware – isn't the longest lasting piece of kit.If you're a heavy user, take a charger with youif you're out for the day – you'll need it.With all this pent up power, the HTC One Xshould be an exciting prospect. The problemis, it's not. It feels pretty dull – the exactopposite of what a flagship handset should be.It's a solid, rugged handset but you can't helpfeel it isn't quite enough to give HTC the boostit needs.

GAMESKINECT STAR WARSCert: 12A

hhiii

TECHNOLOGY

Remember that bit in Return of the Jedi when Princess Leahsings a version of Christina Aguilera’s Genie in a Bottle

entitled Princess in a Battle? No? What about the bit when Han Solo busts out his disco moves? It didn’thappen, did it? Well, it does inKinect Star Wars. This may be the Star Wars universe

but it is very much grounded in Attack of the Clones rather than TheEmpire Strikes Back. If you walk intoKinect Star Wars expecting anything

kitsch or deadpan or even particular-ly original, you’re going to hate it.Really hate it. Despise it. It will make you want to throw yourself into theSarlacc (before they edited a CGI

Kinect Star Wars fails to deliver fireworks

venus fly trap into it’s mouth). Butapproach it as a spin-off cartoonfrom Attack of the Clones and youcan have some fun. Not always ahuge amount, but some. After all,swinging a Lightsaber around wasthe reason the Kinect was invented, wasn’t it?

The main game, Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising, sees you take the role of a young trainee Jedi. It largely involvesfighting your way through increasing-ly infuriating cut scenes, which arrive with such regularity that at times itfeels like you’re a peripherally involved bystander in someone else’s game. Youare otherwise tasked with smashing

your way through wave after wave of clones, mercenaries and droids, whichis great to start with but gets both visu-ally and physically exhausting (sorearms rather than cardiovascular work-

out). It’s relentless – I longed for thegame to take things down a notch andlet you do some exploring. But it’s very much on rails, lurching from set-pieceto set-piece. There is some respite when you take control of a Star Cruisergun turret or drive a speeder bike butthese sequences are so interminably dull you’ll soon want to be back on theground throwing droids aroundagain. The Kinect reads your Lightsaber

swing pretty well and twirling your vir-tual weapon in a figure of eight,knocking back laser beams, is especial-ly satisfying. Using The Force (con-trolled with your other hand) can be

trickier, with the sensor often strug-gling to work out what you want topick up, meaning you end up levitat-ing a rock instead of chucking clonesinto each other. Frustratingly, it also

struggles to tell the difference between“kick” and “run”.

One glaring defect is that the mecha-nism to pause the game – which you’ll want to do after a couple of non-stopstages of repetitive gameplay – is thesame as the command to hold yourlightsaber in your other hand. Insteadof taking a break you tend to find your-self taking on another swarm of clones, this time with your bad hand. The biggest disappointment, though,

is the horribly overcomplicated duelmode. Here’s what they should havedone: get some Star Wars characters,let you choose two of them, put themin an arena, let you slash away with

your lightsaber – it’s a winning formu-la. Instead you get a running battle in which you take turns to attack anddefend. Making contact seems arbi-trary and getting the timing right to

block is incredibly frustrating (dodg-ing, on the other hand, is too easy). You’ll want to play it all the way through to face off against CountDooku and Darth Vader but it’s unlike-ly you’ll play it again when you’re fin-ished. There are other sub games in the

package: a pod-racing tournament, theaforementioned galactic dance-off andan arcade-like game in which you con-trol a giant, berserk Rancor. These arefun additions – if a little on the easy side – but you can’t help feeling they are a form of compensation for thelacklustre main game. To expect Kinect games to be as fine-

ly honed as other console titles isunfair – not to mention slightly miss-ing the point. But Kinect Star Wars is just too clunky and too frustrating to

be a great title. Its relationship to Star Wars is like that of Camelot the themepark to Camelot the mythical castle. Ihad a bad feeling about this – it turnsout I was right.

WORDS BY

STEVE DINNEEN

cityam.com

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


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The City A.M. team tastetests London’s finest eggs

BOISDALE OF CANARY W HARF‘‘GREAT MUSIC, AMAZING FOOD... A FANTASTIC NIGHT OUT”

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Jazz FM’s Discovery show presentsHannah Francis.‘‘A beautiful slice of soulful magic’’Soul Music

Liz Fletcher’s new show celebratesthe beautiful and soulful music of Nina Simone. Featuring the majorhits My Baby Just Cares For Me andmany more.

Kevin Fitzsimmons presents the greatsongs as featured in the repertoires of Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé and ahost of other classic crooners.

“Some musicians are talented,some brilliant and a few just aremade out of music. Liane Carroll isone of these” The Observer

Jazz FM’s discovery show presents Ava Leigh.“a powerful voice like retro-soul divasDuffy and Adele” The Telegraph

Award winning vocalist GeorgiaMancio sings the songs of Jobim fromthe famous “ Getz/Gilberto” album,the celebrated 1964 recording.

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Have some trulyegg-cellent fun

this Easter breakLa Maison du Chocolat

Chococoque, £56Absolutely delicious: “milky, sweetcreamy, yummy”. “Cutepresentation”, too. One detractor sthe “dark chocolate eggs tasted a blike cardboard.” But “the milk/praleggs were much better, with the rigcreamy feel and strong but notoverwhelming nutty taste.“Obviously beautiful to look at.” Smbut perfectly formed, we say. 9/10

Rococo Hens Eggs Stuffed With Praline,£24.99, Selfridges“Having actual eggs full of praline is a good idea,” saidtasters, “but there are some serious structural problems”.For one: “it all gets sticky and messy after a few minutesof peeling the egg shell. A lot of cleaning up required.”Another complained that “the praline is a bit rich in suchquantities”. 6/10 (for creativity).

Paul A Young Sea Salted CaramelEgg, £19.95The clear winner. “Frankly near-orgasmic,” said one taster. “TO DIEFOR” and “DR EAMY. INTENSE.ADULT”, said a chorus of reporters,unable to control their voices. “Thedeliciously buttery and salty caramelinside the egg contrasts with theslightly bitter dark chocolate shell”and “it’s like a pot of meltedWerther's Original.” Bloody brilliant.That about sums it up, really. 11/10

Harrods White Chocolate andRaspberry Inclusion Egg, £24.95It’s impressive to look at, but “verysickly; the texture with the creamychocolate and freeze-dried fruit

became cloying in the mouth.”“Good,” mused another, “but a bit likesomething you find mixed intounhealthy breakfast cereal.”“Excellent presentation, which countsfor a lot,” said a more charitabletaster. 6/10.

Hotel Chocolat ChampagneTruffle Egg, £34“Amazing,” raved one chocolatemuncher. “I love the champagnetruffles – alcoholic content versussweetness is just right.” Beamedanother: “The presentation of the boxwith the pink and white champagnetruffles is very aesthetically pleasing.”“Delicious,” said another. What’s not to

love? 9/10Damian Allsop Limited EditionEgg, £39.95, Mount Street DeliThis gold-coloured egg “looked quclassy, but was fairly standard darkchocolate”. Still others rated it morhighly: “dark, bitter, good” and“10/10 for dark chocolate lovers -deliciously smooth” but for a smallbut vocal minority, presentation waniggle: “it looks like a corporate giOverall, classic and elegant. 7.5/10

Waitrose Dark Chocolate Eggwith Orange Swirl, £6.99Rich and meaty: dark chocolate madesweeter with chunks of dried orangethat lends both “sex appeal” and“crunch”. In the words of one taster:“The orange lends a lovelyMediterranean-y orange twang. Makesone think of the man from Del Monte,dressed as a bunny.” Good oldWaitrose. 9/10

MELT Hockney-inspired Egg, £58, 59Ledbury Road, W11 2AA Utterly stunning. “I honestly don’t want toeat this egg because it’s so beautiful.” “Theegg is even more lovely than Hockney’spaintings”. Get the idea? The chocolate isgood and creamy, but this is a class-act eggto give to someone you really want toimpress. Panache incarnate. 10/10

Prestat Sea SaltCaramel Truffle EasterEgg, £22.50“Truffles were good” and“egg itself a bitdisappointing for darkchocolate lovers. But ifyou prefer mild darkchocolate, you'll probablyappreciate the egg too.”More importantly:“courageous salt levels.Not for the sodiumaverse.” Well, it’s acombination that works,so why not? 7.5/10

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


THURSDAY 5 APRIL 201231TV & GAMEScityam.com

T E R

R E S T R I A L BBC1

SKY SPORTS 17pm The Masters – Live 12.30am

Premier League World 1am

Premier League Darts 4.25am

Premier League World 4.55am

America’s Cup Uncovered

5.25am-6am Live Test Cricket

SKY SPORTS 27pm Live Premier League Darts

10.30pm Ringside11.30pm

Football League Weekend

12.30amTime of Our Lives

1.30amRingside2.30amEuropean Challenge Cup Rugby

Union5.30am-6am ATP Tour

Uncovered

SKY SPORTS 37pm Super League’s Supermen

8pm Live Super League 10pm

Test Cricket 11.30pmAmerica’s

Cup Uncovered 12am ATP Tour

Uncovered 12.30amSuper

League 2.30am Super League’s

Supermen 3.30am-4.30am Time

of Our Lives

BRITISH EUROSPORT6.55pm Live MotoGP 8.35pm

World Superbikes 9.35pm

MotoGP 10.35pmCycling

12am-12.30am Mountain Bike

World Cup

ESPN6pm Football 7.30pm Press Pass

2012 8pm Live UEFA Europa

League Football 10pm Off the Ball

10.30pm Goal! Bundesliga

Preview 11pm Premier League

World 11.30pmPress Pass 201212am ESPN Kicks: MLS 12.15am

Off the Ball 12.45am ESPN Kicks:

Extra 1am UEFA Europa League

Highlights2am AMA Supercross

Lites 3am AMA Supercross 4am

FIBA Basketball4.30am Goal!

Bundesliga Preview 5am Press

Pass 2012 5.30am-6am Off the

Ball

SKY LIVING7pmCriminal Minds 8pm Ringer

9pm The Biggest Loser USA

10pmCriminal Minds 11pm

Unforgettable 12am Bones1am

Criminal Minds 3.30am Bones

4.20am Maury5.10am-6am

Jerry Springer

BBC THREE7pm The Apprentice 8pm Great

Movie Mistakes III: Not in 3D

10pm EastEnders 10.30pm Angry

Boys 11pm Family Guy 11.50pm

American Dad! 12.35amWorld

Series of Dating 1.05am Sun, Sex

and Suspicious Parents 2amGreatMovie Mistakes III: Not in 3D

4am-5am Mugged

E47pm Hollyoaks7.30pm How I Met

Your Mother 8pm The Big Bang

Theory: Access All Areas 8.35pm

The Big Bang Theory9.30pm The

Big Bang Theory: It All Started

with a Bang 10pm Rules of

Engagement10.30pm The IT

Crowd 11.05pm PhoneShop

11.35pmThe Big Bang Theory

12.30amScrubs 1.35amHow I

Met Your Mother 2.05am The IT

Crowd 2.30am PhoneShop

2.55am Rules of Engagement

3.20am Greek 4amUgly Betty

4.45am-6am Switched

HISTORY7pm Storage Wars 7.30pm Pawn

Stars 8.30pm American

Restoration 9pm IRT Deadliest

Roads: The Andes 10pm Mud Men

11pm American Pickers 12am

Storage Wars 12.30amPawnStars 1am IRT Deadliest Roads:

The Andes 2am Ice Road Truckers

3amMud Men 4amHeir Hunters

5am-6am Ancient Discoveries

DISCOVERY7pmBear Grylls: Born Survivor

8pmWheeler Dealers 9pm

Licence to Drill 10pm Auction

Hunters11pm Auction Kings

12am Bear Grylls: Born Survivor

1am Licence to Drill 2amAuction

Hunters3amDeadliest Catch

3.50am Ice Pilots 4.40am

Wheeler Dealers 5.30am-6am

Destroyed in Seconds

DISCOVERY HOME &

HEALTH7pm Supernanny US 8pm 18 Kids

and Counting 9pm Secretly

Pregnant 10pm I Didn’t Know IWas Pregnant 11pm Trauma Unit

12am Secretly Pregnant 1am I

Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant 2am

Trauma Unit 3am Supernanny US

4amA Baby Story 5am-6am

Birth Days

SKY17pm The Middle 7.30pm Modern

Family 8pm The Simpsons 9pmA

League of Their Own Unseen

10pm House 11pmNCIS: Los

Angeles12am Dog the Bounty

Hunter 1amFILM Infected 2008.

2.45am Big Trouble in Thailand

3.40am Transvestite Wives

4.35am Crash Test Dummies

5.05am-6am Oops TV

BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

S A T E L L I T E &

C A B L E

6pm BBC News

6.30pm BBC London News

7pm The One Show

7.30pm EastEnders: BBC News8pm Watchdog

9pm CHOICE Land of the Lost

Wolves

10pm BBC News

10.25pmRegional News10.35pmAdele Live at the

Royal Albert Hall11.35pmFILM Small Time Crooks. 1999.1.05am Skiing Weatherview1.10am Sign Zone: The GreatApprentice Scandal – Panorama1.40am Countryfile2.40am Orbit:

Earth’s Extraordinary Journey3.40am-6amBBC News

6pm Just a Minute

6.30pm Eggheads

7pm The Hairy Bikers’

Bakeation: Si King and Dave

Myers go baking in Slovakia,

Hungary and Romania.

8pm Natural World: The Real

Jungle Book Bear

9pm White Heat10pm The Sarah Millican

Television Programme

10.30pmNewsnight: Kirsty

Wark presents: Weather

11.20pmModern Spies

12.20amMedium1amMedium 1.45am BBC News

3.45am-6am Close

6pm London Tonight

6.30pm ITV News

7pm Emmerdale

7.30pmBecause We’re Worth

It: Tonight

8pm Emmerdale

8.30pm Coronation Street

9pm CHOICE Fraud Squad

10pm ITV News at Ten10.30pm London News

10.35pmTake Me Out11.50pm The Unforgettable MollieSugden 12.20amThe Zone:

Interactive gaming; ITV NewsHeadlines2.20amBecause We’reWorth It: Tonight 2.45am ITV

Nightscreen 4.30am-5.30amTheJeremy Kyle Show

6pm The Simpsons

6.30pm Hollyoaks

7pm Channel 4 News

7.55pm 4thought.tv

8pm Get Your House in Order9pm One Born: WhatHappened Next?

10pmCHOICE Death Row

10.55pmRandom Acts11.05pm Embarrassing Bodies

12.10amThe Undateables1.10am Love Rat 1.35amThePerfect Murder 2.05am The Real

Dr Crippen 3am Portrait of a YoungMan Drowning 3.15am Drifting3.30amThe Bible: A History4.25am Time Team5.20am-6.05amCountdown

6pm Home and Away

6.30pm 5 News at 6.30

7pm Holiday Heaven on Earth

7.25pm Ultimate Police

Interceptors

7.55pm Live UEFA Europa

League Football: Athletic

Bilbao v Schalke 04 (Kick-off

8.05pm).10pmFILM The Glimmer Man:

Action thriller. 1996.

12am Inside Hollywood

12.05amSuperCasino4amHouse Doctor 4.25am

Wildlife SOS 4.45am Wildlife SOS

5.10am HouseBusters

5.35am-6amHouseBusters

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 BREAK

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

WORDWHEEL

Copyright Puzzle Press Ltd, www.puzzlepress.co.uk

4 19 14

8 21

26 11

34 15

11 4

24 27

12 25

8 16

21 29

32 10

16 10 8

26

22

8

10

36

28

7

39

24

3

9

10

7

23

35

14

21

22

30

13

6

12

ACROSS

1 Large deep dish

in which food canbe cooked (9)

8 Forbidden (5)

9 Small rodent (5)

10 Tavern (3)

11 Creepy (5)

13 Humble (5)

15 Thin biscuit (5)

18 Ermine in its brown

summer coat (5)

20 Young newt (3)

21 Cleave (5)

22 Anoint with oil (5)

23 Member of

the Protestant

denomination

founded by

Wesley (9)

DOWN

2 Deep yellow

colour (5)

3 Gradient (5)

4 Dance of Cuban

origin (5)

5 Mrs George W

Bush (5)

6 Else (9)

7 Number represented

by the Roman

XVII (9)

12 Slang term for

diamonds (3)

14 Club (3)

16 Artificial (5)

17 Heave,

regurgitate (5)

18 Characterised

by dignity and

propriety (5)

19 Follows orders (5)

L

R

N

O

ED

G

U

S

S L A N G C O C O A

P I L E A M

O D D B A L L S K I

R D E H S

T A S T E B L I S S

T E

B L A S T C U R D S

O G R O C

L O G A N A E M I A

A E C S A R

S U R G E T O N N E

8 6 9 3 4 1 3

7 2 6 3 1 5 9 4 8

9 4 9 6 7 8

3 1 6 2 8 2 9

2 8 2 1 3 4

7 8 5 9 6 5 9 8

2 9 1 3 9 3

1 7 1 9 2 1 3

6 7 8 9 6 8

9 8 3 2 4 7 1 5 6

5 1 5 2 2 8 9

The nine-letter word was

FEATURING

T E R R E S T R I A L

S A T E L L I T E

&

C A B L E

BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

LAND OF THE LOST WOLVES

BBC1,9PMGordon Buchanan presents a two-partprogramme documenting the return of wolves to the snowy peaks of Washington’s Cascade Mountains.

FRAUDSQUADITV1,9PMFollowing the work of detectives fromthe City of London and Metropolitan

police forces’ Dedicated Cheque andPlastic Crime Unit.

DEATH ROWCHANNEL4, 10PMIn the last episode of the series,Werner Herzog concludes hisexploration of prisoners awaitingcapital punishment in America.

TVPICK

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


Four Commanders can strike

for Mouse in Irish National

Gunners to put finalnail in City’s title bid


THEPUNTER SPORT TRADER

BEN CLEMINSON AND BILL ESDAILE WITH THE BEST FOOTBALL AND RACING BETS OVER EASTER

ARSENAL .......................................

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n Pointers…Arsenal at 6/4 with Paddy PowerOne team only to score at 8/5 with CoralSell total match goals at 2.8 with Sporting Index

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THE racing fare this weekend ispretty poor and there is nothing

really to get stuck into on Saturday or Sunday. However, we do havethe Irish Grand National on EasterMonday and I like the look of FOUR COMMANDERS, who wastipped up in this column for thefour-miler at Cheltenham lastmonth.

Mouse Morris’s six-year-old, a brother of Kicking King, ran acracker to finish third and lookedlike the winner for a long way before just running out of puff

coming up the hill. The drop back to 3m5f should suit perfectly andhe is worth backing each-way at ageneral 10/1.

There are a number of dangerslurking in the line-up and the oneI’d be most scared of is AlleeGarde, who fell in the four-miler. Willie Mullins’ inmate has somereally solid form from earlier inthe season behind Last Instalmentand he has to be a big danger.

I’ll be up at Aintree next week and there will be Punter pages on both Thursday and Friday. Follow me on Twitter @BillEsdaile for allmy views.

ROBERTO Mancini could be forgivenfor playing Oasis’s ‘Where Did It All Go Wrong?’ on repeat on his iPod. Justover a month ago Manchester City were still five points clear of localrivals Manchester United, but now, with only seven games to go, they are

five points adrift.City were playing such incredible

football in the first half of the seasonthat they were huge favourites to winthe title, but we’ve seen time and timeagain that teams have to performconsistently throughout the nine-month campaign if they’re going tofinish top. In fairness to Mancini’sside, they have only lost one of theirpast eight league games, but back-to- back draws against Stoke andSunderland have effectively ended

their title dreams. The problem for City is that they

have dropped points in games they shouldn’t have and Sunday’s testagainst Arsenal could prove a step toofar. The Gunners have won seven of their last eight league games andalthough they lost at QPR last weekend they have been in excellentform at the Emirates.

With United hosting QPR at Old Trafford earlier on Sunday afternoon,I have little doubt that City will be

eight points behind come kick-off andthat will be very difficultpsychologically for the City players toovercome. Mario Balotelli is clearly atalented but erratic figure and bothDavid Silva and Sergio Aguero look shadows of the players they wereearlier this term.

Another worry for City is theirdefence, having shipped seven goals intheir last four games across allcompetitions, and they just look likea side whose confidence has been shot

to pieces. City can be backed at 7/4 with Coral, but Paddy Power’s 6/4about an Arsenal win is moreappealing.

Games between these two clubshaven’t been especially high scoringin recent years, with one or bothteams failing to score in eight of thepast nine meetings. Coral offer 8/5about just one team scoring and thatseems a reasonable bet. They are alsorefunding losing bets on firstgoalscorer, correct score and

scorecasts if the last goal of the gameis scored directly from a penalty.

Robin van Persie has to be of interest in the f irst goalscorer marketat a general 4/1 and I wouldn’t besurprised if Arsenal were to win this 1-0. However, my other main bet is a sellof goals at 2.8 with Sporting Index.

RACING

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


Matches and special bets: Oppose Garcia against homegrown talent

G E T T Y

TALK of the 76th US Masters being the bestever before a ball has even been struck is a

tad optimistic but the ingredients are nev-ertheless all there for a classic tournament. All the big names seem to have peaked atprecisely the right time.

Tiger Woods, 15 years on from themoment he won his first green jacket, isin the best form since his personal life became headline news over two yearsago. Paddy Power and Coral make him5/1 favourite for a fifth victory at the Augusta National. His arch-rival, 12/1shot Phil Mickelson, looks like he is alsoin the mood for a fourth Masters title.

These two share top-billing with Rory McIlroy, who seemed destined to win herein 2011 until the 10th hole of his finalround. Leading by four shots after roundthree, the Northern Irishman imploded inspectacular fashion and ended the Sunday by posting a score of 80 and finishing 10shots behind eventual winner CharlSchwartzel.

As lessons go, that is one of the harshest

for a professional sportsman, but theexperience has made McIlroy a better play-er and is part of the reason he is my toptip, at 6/1 with Coral. Should he lead afterround three but not win the Masters likelast year, Coral will refund your bet.

Like Woods, McIlroy has the perfect gamefor Augusta. He hits the ball for miles, natu-rally shapes it right-to-left and the high tra- jectory of his iron shots will negate thechallenges of the course’s hard and fastgreens. He wasted no time at all in banish-ing any demons from 12 months ago, win-ning the US Open in emphatic style, and henow possesses the self-belief andindomitable aura that once exclusively belonged to McIlroy’s boyhood hero Woods.If you still require convincing that Mclroy isthe man to beat, his worst finish this year isfifth. His other results are third, two sec-onds and first.

Debutants rarely succeed at Augusta –only one rookie has slipped on a green jacket since the tournament’s early days.But, if ever there was a player capable of winning on his first visit, it is AmericanKeegan Bradley. He won the PGA Championship last August on his firstmajor outing and few of those in the know

would be surprised to see the 25-year-oldgo two-from-two. He boasts many of thesame attributes as McIlroy – he is a long,high hitter and a really gritty competitor –exactly what is required to tame thecourse and beat your peers to the top of

the leaderboard. Selling Bradley’s finish-ing position at 28 with Sporting Index isrecommended.

An interesting outsider is Scotland’sMartin Laird. He finished a respectable20th on his Masters debut, two weeks after victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational,last year. While he hasn’t enjoyed quite thesame success in the build up this time, heis playing steadily and showed he can com-pete with the best when he shot a third-round 66 at the WGC-CadillacChampionship last month. You have theoption to back him each-way the first fiveplaces at 150/1 with Coral, but I preferPaddy Power’s offer of six places each-way at 125/1.

BOOKMAKERSare falling over themselves tooffer imaginative bets that will make youpart with your hard-earned for the first biggolf tournament of 2012. Coral, for instance,have introduced their exclusive Mastersshotcast, which allows you to combine achoice of a winner and their margin of victo-ry. But for those who find it daunting pick-ing a champion from a field of 96, there areplenty of other match bets and special betsavailable.

One that stands out is Steve Stricker to beat Sergio Garcia over 72 holes at 10/11 with Totesport. The best putters often pre- vail at the Augusta National and few are bet-ter on the dancefloor than ‘Strick’. He

should be expected to finish significantly higher up the leaderboard than Garcia,

whose record at the Masters is poor. In thelast five years the Spaniard has missed thecut twice and finished a best of 35th.

For the same reasons, Bill Haas to beatGarcia at 11/10 with Coral appeals. 29-year-old Haas lives a short distance away, inGreenville, South Carolina, so is likely tofeel more at home in Augusta than most.He has proved his mettle when underpressure, beating Hunter Mahan to the Tour Championship title in a play-off lastSeptember and holding his nerve to beatKeegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson in asimilar scenario for the Northern TrustOpen in February.

If Australian Adam Scott is to win any

Major, then surely it is the Masters. Two 67son the Saturday and Sunday earned him a

share of second place with compatriot JasonDay last year, making him a tempting out-right option this time round at 33/1 withPaddy Power. However, I think he is a must- buy at 28 with Sporting Index in their top Australian market. His only real challengeris Day, but Scott’s confidence has improvedin the past year and on a track like Augusta, where knowledge of the course is para-mount, caddie Steve Williams, a three-timeMasters winner with Woods, is one of the best men to have by your side.

33

GOLF TRADER

DAVID WILD PICKS THE BEST BETS FOR THE U.S. MASTERS

cityam.comTHURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

n Pointers…Rory McIlroy at 6/1 with CoralSell Keegan Bradley’s finishing position at 28 with SportingIndex

Martin Laird e/w at 125/1 with Paddy Power

Text MOBILEto 65559

coral.co.uk

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E X C L U S I

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We’ll REFUND LOSING BETS if your player LEADS AFTERROUND 3 but DOES NOT WINTHE MASTERS

5/1 T. Woods

6/1 R. McIlroy

12/1 L. Donald

12/1 P. Mickelson

20/1 L. Westwood22/1 J. Rose

25/1 K. Bradley

30/1 A. Scott

30/1 H. Mahan

33/1 J. Day

40/1 B. Watson

40/1 C.Schwartzel

40/1 S. Stricker

50/1 M. Kuchar

50/1 N. Watney50/1 S. Garcia

60/1 K.J. Choi

60/1 W. Simpson

70/1 B. Van Pelt

70/1 L. Oosthuizen

Each-way 1/4 odds a place 1-2-3-4-5Others on request.

2012 US MASTERSOUTRIGHT

MASTERS SHOTCASTPLAYER TO WIN THE MASTERS AND BY WHAT MARGIN

Others on request. Masters Shotcast available until 12.50pm today.

Other markets available. Prices subject to fluctuation.

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O N E S H O T

T W O S H O T S

T H R E E S H O T S

F O U R S H O T S

F I V E S H O T S

O R M O R E

T. Woods 14 14 18 25 40 25

R. McIlroy 16 16 20 28 50 28

L. Donald 33 33 40 50 100 50

P. Mickelson 33 33 40 50 100 50

L. Westwood 50 50 66 80 150 100

J. Rose 60 60 80 100 175 100

K. Bradley 66 66 80 125 200 125

NOT A MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Maximum refund £200 per customer on win bets or the win part of each-way bets.Singles only qualify. Dead-heat rules apply to refunds if more than 1 player shares the lead at the end of the 3rd round.For example should 2 players share the lead, 1/2 of win stakes will be refunded on each player. Any remote refunds willbe credited within 24hrs. Coral rules apply. For additional terms see coral.co.uk. NEW ACCOUNT OFFER: Available onmobile, online and by phone. New customers, 18s + & UK residents only. Deposit and stake up to £30 on any sportingevent(s) to receive a matched deposit free bet on selected markets. Free bet stake not returned with any winnings. Fullterms at coral.co.uk/30tc You will be charged the cost of a standard SMS by your mobile network provider. Mobileservice compatible with all i nternet enabled handsets. Bet Responsibly. Gambleaware.co.uk - Call 0808 802 0133

n Pointers…Steve Stricker to beat Sergio Garcia at 10/11 with TotesportBill Haas to beat Sergio Garcia at 11/10 with Coral

Buy Adam Scott’s Top Australian Index at 28 with SportingIndex

U.S. MASTERS..........................................

From today, 3.45pm –Sky Sports 1, from 7pm

McIlroy is ready tobanish memories of Augusta nightmare

SO, Tiger is back and it’s certainly made for an interesting bettingmarket ahead of this week’s USMasters. And to make it even more

interesting Paddy Power have thrownthe mother of all spanners in the works– we will be refunding all losingoutright bets if Tiger wins his fifth USMasters this week.

As the 5/1 favourite that really is someoffer and shouldn’t be ignored for aman with four green jackets to hisname. It’s also had the effect thatpunters have been piling onto 11/2

second favourite Rory McIlroy and 14/1 world number one Luke Donald like

there’s no tomorrow.But with Paddy Power also paying

each-way bets on the first six places whoelse in the field should we be looking at with the Tiger refund insurance in our

back pocket? Justin Rose is worth aneach-way poke at 30/1. The Englishman

has been in great form in the lastmonth with a win and a top-five finish.He’s also had some exceptionalperformances around Augusta.

The second is Jason Day at 40/1. The young Australian has had a steady butunspectacular 2012 so far but had agreat Majors record last year with twosecond places including one at Augusta.I’d certainly take him at 10 times theprice of Tiger or Rory in terms of valuefor money.

TIPS FROMTHE TOP

PADDY POWER

We’ll be hoping Tiger doesn’t roar around Augusta

McIlroy’s worst finish this year is fifth

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


Di Matteo admits his Bluesstars are still hurting

G E T T Y

Swann: Strauss bestcaptain in the worldENGLAND spinner GraemeSwann hailed Andrew Strauss as“the best captain in worldcricket” after the skipper’sreturn to form helped thetourists to a commandingposition in the second Test inSri Lanka yesterday.

Under-fire Strauss hit 61 –

only his second half-century of a miserable winter –and shared a patient122-run stand with

Alastair Cook (77 notout) as Englandfinished day two inColombo on 154-1,121 behind the hosts.

It was a robustresponse, as Englandseek a series draw that

would safeguard their statusas the No1 Test side, to whatSwann regards as unfairpersecution of a captain whohas earned greater respect.

“There has been what I see asa bit of a witch hunt towardshim, which I think isunjustified, but you wouldn’ttell from the way he carrieshimself and the way he’s

captained,” said Swann.“He hasn’t shown any signs.

We only realised he was underscrutiny because some of us canread and we’ve seen the papers.

“He’s very phlegmatic, very laid-back. He’s the best captainin world cricket and a world-class opening batsman.”

Swann (4-75) took threemorning wickets as England,looking to end a run of fourTest defeats, skittled out Sri

Lanka for 275, havingresumed on 238-6.Batting has been

England’s weaknessthis year but there was a markedchange in approach

when Strauss andCook took to the

crease, eschewingrisky sweeps for

composed singles – andit paid off.

Strauss, without a Test tonsince November 2010, survivedtwo edges to first slip before he

was caught by wicketkeeperPrasanna Jayawardene off adelivery from off-spinnerTillakaratne Dilshan.

Cook, whose own struggleshave been overshadowed by hisfellow opener’s, delighted in

amassing a steady total, abetted by Jonathan Trott (15 no).

Chelsea survive late scare to reach sixth semi in nine seasons


SPORTcityam.com/sport

BY FRANK DALLERES

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CHELSEA manager Roberto diMatteo last night warned that hisplayers are out for revenge after set-ting up a mouth-wateringChampions League semi-final tieagainst holders Barcelona.

An injury-time piledriver fromsubstitute Raul Meireles securedtheir place after an 86th minutegoal from 10-man Benfica hadforced the caretaker Blues boss toendure a nail-biting end to theirquarter-final second leg.

Three years ago Chelsea facedBarcelona in the last four, and wereleft heartbroken when anoth-er late goal, scored by Andres Iniesta, knockedthem out. A series of controversial refereeingdecisions that nightinfuriated and stillhaunt many of theplayers.

“We’ve faced them alot of times over the yearsand a lot of ourp l a y e r s

CHELSEA ..................................2BENFICA ...................................1

BY JULIAN HARRIS

at Stamford Bridge

CHAMPIONS LEAGUEhave some history againstBarcelona,” said Di Matteo.“Certainly they feel a bit hard done by for the last time we playedagainst them.”

Four of this team’s starting XIalso started the 1-1 draw withBarcelona in May 2009, which saw Chelsea dumped out on away goals.One of them, captain John Terry, was withdrawn last night with asuspected injury.

“He got a knock on his rib andthat’s why we had to take him off,”added Di Matteo, whose staff willassess Terry today ahead of a hecticend-of-season run-in. “We hope

that he’s going to be ok.” Terry disappeared down the tun-

nel on the hour and would have been unimpressed by his fellow defenders’ subsequent displays, asBenfica defender Javi Garcia wasleft entirely unmarked to headhome a corner from close range.

Just one more goal would havedenied Chelsea a sixth semi-final in

nine seasons, and Benficastormed forward despite play-ing most of the match with anumerical disadvantage – but boss Jorge Jesus wasultimately left frustrated.

“We were the best teamin both legs,” said Jesus.

“Even with 10 men we made

Chelsea look ordinary. We werepenalised by the referee unjustly, Ifeel.”

Damir Skomina – the official who last month provoked the ire of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger –flourished eight yellow cards, andone of his early bookings went toGarcia when he blocked full-back Ashley Cole in the penalty area.

Stalwart Frank Lampard – a vet-eran of several Barca clashes inrecent years – drilled the penalty into the bottom left corner of thenet, putting Chelsea two goals upon aggregate after 21 minutes.

Just before the break Benfica’s

evening went from bad to worse when skipper Maxi Pereira wasshown a second yellow for leavinghis foot in on midfielder Jon ObiMikel. Yet the visitors put in a valiant second-half display, register-ing 14 attempts at the home side’sgoal after the interval.

Chelsea were often pinned back and resorted to attacking on the break, with forward SalomonKalou and midfielder Ramires, who somehow squandered a close-range chance, culpable of missingseveral opportunities to kill the tie.

Garcia’s equalising header star-tled Stamford Bridge as Benficapushed for a winner. Yet they werefinally caught on the break whenMeireles capped a burst throughthe middle by slamming the ballhigh past goalkeeper Artur.

GREAT Britain’s Geraint Thomas believes the men’s pursuit team cango faster still at London 2012 afterthey laid the foundations for Olympicglory with gold at the Track Cycling World Championships yesterday.

Thomas, Ed Clancy, Pete Kennaughand Steven Burke set a new worldrecord of three minutes 53.295seconds to beat arch-rivals Australia inMelbourne by one tenth of a second.

The time shaved less than twohundredths of a second off theprevious best, which Thomas andClancy helped set at the last Olympics, but the Welshman insists they canclock 3:50 in London this summer.

“Like we did in Beijing, I’m sure we’re going to be two or three seconds

quicker come London,” said Thomas.“There’s nothing we can do about how fast they [Australia] are going to go; we know we’re going to get faster.”

Britain’s sprinters suffered

Thomas expects to smash records

in London after Melbourne gloryBY FRANK DALLERES

IN BRIEFReal set up Bayern semi-final

n FOOTBALL: Cristiano Ronaldoscored twice as Real Madrid beatCypriot minnows Apoel Nicosia 5-2last night, and 8-2 on aggregate, toset up a Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.

McGeechan to leave Bath

n RUGBY UNION: Former Lionscoach Sir Ian McGeechan is to leavehis post as Bath director of rugby atthe end of the season. The 65-year-old arrived at the Premiership clubas performance director in 2010.

4 2 .4 7 C ook and S tr auss’s

av er age as anopening pair

Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate

Thomas and team edged out Australia

disappointment, with a two-womanteam featuring Victoria Pendletonfinishing fourth and a three-man

squad including Sir Chris Hoy disqualified from their race.

Ben Swift made up for missing outon a team pursuit place by winningthe scratch race, a non-Olympic event.

Results

Meireles earns Blue

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


IRELAND’S Padraig Harringtonfound form on the eve of theMasters by winning the traditionalpar-three tournament last night –

but could be forgiven for notdreaming of adding to his threeMajors just yet.

Harrington’s five-under-partotal, matched by American

Jonathan Byrd, earned him thedistinction of becoming the firstman to win the light-heartedcontest on three occasions.

However, the victory is seen assomething of a jinx, as no player inits 51-year history has gone on todon the Green Jacket the followingSunday, as Harrington’s previousexperiences attest.

In 2003, when he tied for firstand bad weather prevented a play-off, as it did last night, he failed toeven make the cut. Twelve monthslater he won the par-three outrightand tied for 13th at the Masters.

World No1 Luke Donald, a par-three winner last year who endedfourth in the Major, swerved the

warm-up this time, preferring toprepare on the main course

instead ahead of today’s tee-off.Four-time Masters winner Tiger

Woods and US Open championRory McIlroy were prevented fromplaying by a thunderstorm which

brought a premature end to the

nine-hole tournament. Stormshave dogged the build-up to the

year’s first Major, with trees felledand bunkers washed out onTuesday night. More bad weatheris forecast today and tomorrow.

Open champion Darren Clarkeshunned the par-three in favour of an early nine holes of practice butadmitted he was still sufferingfrom a groin injury.

35cityam.comTHURSDAY 5 APRIL 2012

BY FRANK DALLERES

Harrington risks Masters jinx bycompleting par-three hat-trick

CHELSEA v

BARCELONA Champions League

history

2008-09, semi-finalBarca 0-0 Chelsea

Chelsea 1-1 Barca

2006-07, group stageChelsea 1-0 Barca

Barca 2-2 Chelsea

2005-06, last 16Chelsea 1-2 Barca

Barca 1-1 Chelsea

2004-05, last 16Barca 2-1 Chelsea

Chelsea 4-2 Barca

1999-2000, quarter-finalChelsea 3-1 Barca

Barca 5-1 Chelsea

n 1:56pm Harrington, Stricker, Cink

n 2:29 Rose, Immelman, Fowler

n 3:35 Woods, Jimenez, Bae

n 3:46 Donald, F Molinari, Watney

n 4:41 McDowell, Oosthuizen, Wilson

n 4:52 Poulter, Johnson, Cantlay

n 4:58 Westwood, Singh, Furyk

n 6:42 McIlroy, Cabrera, Watson

No winner of the pre-Masters par-three contesthas claimed the Green Jacket days later. RaymondFloyd, second in 1990, came closest

Substitute Meireles sealed the win with an emphatic injury-time finish, after Garcia’s late header had thrown 10-man Benfica a lifeline

Barca revenge shot

G E T T Y

First round selected tee times

8/2/2019 Cityam 2012-04-05


cityam 2012-04-05

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