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Manchester United shares dive after Van Persie splashSHARES in Manchester Uniteddropped nearly two per cent duringtrading in New York yesterday,making it the latest so-called brokeninitial public offering (IPO).

The stock closed at $13.77 lastnight, having sunk to depths of$13.30 earlier in the day, below the

BY JULIAN HARRIS $14 it floated at just a week ago.The dip followed news on

Wednesday night that United willsplash up to 24m on Arsenalscentre forward Robin van Persie.

Some analysts suggested that theextravagant outlay which will seethe club pay tens of extra millions inwages over the course of the 29 yearolds contract may have dented

investor appetite. Yet others pointedto the stocks fundamentals, arguingthat a slide was inevitable.

Earlier in the week New Yorkanalysts PrivCo said the shares wereworth less than $5 each, describingthe launch price as having noreasonable economic basis.

The American Glazer family, theclubs majority owners, initially

announced a $16-20 price range forthe new shares in its $233m float.

Manchester United are in dangerof becoming the latest in a series ofdisappointing high profile IPOs,following in the unenviable footstepsof Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

The IPO has been heavily criticisedby fan groups who are unhappy atthe Glazers for pocketing part of the

raised cash, and for only offeringshares with weak voting power.

Given the overwhelmingscepticism regarding the ambitiouspricing of this IPO it seems there isonly one way for the price to gonow, said Duncan Drasdo of theManchester United Supporters Trust.

Also yesterday, United revealed acommercial deal with Bwin.Party.

Lonmin PLC

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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY

Women fallback in KPMGpartner race

KPMG is struggling to find top-classfemale employees, having includedjust three women in its latest roundof partner promotions, City A.M. haslearned.

Just one in ten of the 30 staffpicked for promotion in October arewomen, down from one in four ayear ago despite efforts at KPMGand across the professional servicesindustry to foster female talent.

We agree that it would havebeen better to employ more womenas partners this year, but we dontpractise positive discrimination,said a KPMG spokesperson. On thisoccasion it wasnt possible toincrease the number of womenpartners from the range of peoplein front of us.

The firm has recently appointedtwo women to its UK executivecommittee and has several schemesto help its female staff progress.

Yet some at KPMG are worriedthat former chair John Griffith-Jones legacy of encouragingdiversity has been lost in a round ofstaffing cuts.

KPMGs efforts and those at otherfirms are not yet producing thedesired results. Deloitte added 13women and 50 men in its latestpartner round in June, while Ernst& Young found two women topromote compared to 17 malecandidates. PwC chose 30 men andnine women for its partner round.

Accountancy body the ICAEWsaid firms are trying to promotewomen to senior positions but facechallenges. Although nearly half ofthe new people coming into the

chartered accountancy professionare women, in their 30s manywomen drop out, said executivedirector Sharron Gunn.

Lonmin miners who work at the Marikana platinum mines in South Africa had been calling for wage increases before the violence escalated yesterday

LONDON-listed miner Lonmin wasbattling to keep control of its SouthAfrican mining operations last nightas violent clashes between police andarmed mineworkers left several dead.Violence erupted between 3,000

protesting Lonmin employees, somecarrying machetes and knives, andpolice at the platinum mines inMarikana following a tense standoffthat has been threatening to escalatesince the start of the week.

Last night, reports from SouthAfrican Press Association said 18 weredead. Video footage appears to showpolice firing on protesting workers,who are demanding higher wages.

In London, Lonmin announced thatin a separate incident chief executiveIan Farmer had been rushed to hospi-tal after being diagnosed with a seri-ous illness, leaving chairman RogerPhillimore in charge.

Shares in the miner, which hadenjoyed a lift earlier in the day alongwith the rest of the sector, closedalmost seven per cent lower, as newsof the violence broke.Tensions have been rising at the

mines over a dispute between tworival unions, the National Union ofMineworkers and the more militantAssociation of Mineworkers andConstruction Union. They are fight-ing over the recruitment of members.

Last weekend, eight Lonmin employ-ees and two policemen were killed inclashes.

Phillimore said last night: It goes

www.cityam.com FREE

without saying that we deeply regretthe further loss of life in what is clear-ly a public order rather than labourrelations associated matter.

Lonmin, which is the third largestplatinum producer in the world, saidit was unlikely to meet its produc-tion targets following the disruptions.

Forecasts for an annual increase inunit costs, issued this month, havealso been raised and the crisis couldpile additional pressure on its ability

to pay back its bank debts, the firmsaid yesterday.

Platinum, which is used to make cat-alytic converters for car engines aswell as jewellery, jumped 2.8 per centto a six-day high yesterday as tradersdigested the news.

Lonmin, which has a joint listing on

the FTSE and Johannesburg StockExchanges, lost 258,000 tons of pro-duction last year following similarindustrial action.

BUT CAN LONDON CLUBS HALT MANCHESTER DUO?

FTSE 100 L5,834.51 +1.47 DOWL13,250.11 +85.33 NASDAQL3,062.39 +31.46 /$ 1.57 unc / 1.27 unc /$ 1.23 unc

BY MICHAEL BOW

CRISIS ESCALATES

AT LONMIN MINE

FOOTBALLS BACK GET OUTDOORSTHIS WEEKENDSee Page 18See Pages 2 and 22-23

EXCLUSIVEBY MARION DAKERS

ISSUE 1,698 FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 2012

Certified Distribution28/05/2012 till 01/07/2012 is 132,857

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IN BRIEFCare home costs to be cappedn David Cameron is to push ahead

with proposals to cap the cost of carehome fees for the elderly, following alengthy debate within governmentover the affordability of the plans.Last month Andrew Lansley, thehealth secretary, suggested that theTreasury was blocking the plan on costgrounds. But the Prime Minister is nowexpected to announce the change inpolicy this autumn. The proposal aimsto remove the need for elderly peopleto sell their houses to pay for care inold age. No figure has been set for thecap but the original intention was a35,000 limit on fees, with thegovernment meeting all additionalcare costs. This would cost the countryapproximately 1.7bn per year.

Ecuador grants Assange asylumn Ecuador yesterday granted political

asylum to WikiLeaks founder JulianAssange after the governmentthreatened to storm the Ecuadoreanembassy in London to arrest theformer hacker. Assange has beenholed up inside Ecuador's embassy inKnightsbridge for eight weeks sincehe lost a legal battle to avoidextradition to Sweden, where he isaccused of rape and sexual assault.Assange fears he will ultimately besent to the United States which isfurious that his website leakedhundreds of thousands of secret USdiplomatic and military cables.Ecuadors decision is likely to deepenthe political dispute with Britain. TheForeign Office said it wasdisappointed with Ecuadorsbehaviour.

Fed and FSA pushing newregulator to play by rulesSTANDARD Chartereds treatment atthe hands of the New York stateDepartment for Financial Services(DFS) has shocked the more estab-lished authorities, which are in fran-tic negotiations with the newregulator to ensure it doesnt strikeout alone again.

Regulators in the UK, US and HongKong are understood to be furiousthat they were given almost noadvanced warning of last weeksexplosive accusations by the newly-established DFS, which sentStandard Chartereds share priceplummeting. The Bank of England,which will soon take over many reg-ulatory responsibilities from theFSA, and the chancellor have alsomade their concerns clear.A source with knowledge of the

relations between the authoritiestold City A.M. the rest of the regulato-ry establishment feels blindsidedby the surprise publication of claimsthat the bank had broken sanctionswith $250bn (158.8bn) of transac-tions involving Iran from 2001 to2007.

Four other US regulators werealready negotiating with StandardChartered, which hopes to settle thecharges with all four simultaneously.

But the DFS did not join in the co-ordinated approach.

Gold price fall as Asian demand dipsGlobal demand for gold is seeing asignificant slowdown as top consumers inIndia and China pare purchases amid weakeconomic growth, abruptly halting aconsumption boom that started five yearsago with the onset of the financial crisis.The World Gold Council, a lobby group forthe gold miners, said yesterday thatdemand for the yellow precious metal fellto 990 tonnes during the second quarterof the year, the lowest since the firstquarter of 2010 and down seven per centfrom last year.

Nestl loses bid to stop rival capsulesNestl has lost a bid in Germany to stoptwo rivals from selling coffee capsules thatwere marketed as fitting Nespresso coffeemachines, in the latest round of legalwrangling over the lucrative premiumcoffee market.

Pressure on Best Buy takeover bidBest Buys founder yesterday warned thecompanys board that I am not goingaway as he sought to raise the pressureon directors to take his near $9bn takeoverbid seriously. Richard Schulze sent a letterto the board repeating a request for accessto the companys books.

Indian tycoon wants a piece of BPBP is in talks to sell one of itspetrochemical plants in Malaysia toReliance, the industrial conglomerateowned by Indias wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani.

Rents hit a high as buyers frozen outRents in England and Wales reached anew high last month as demand fromwould-be buyers blocked out of theproperty market continued to outstripsupply.

Finland prepares for e uro break-upFinland is preparing for the break-up ofthe Eurozone, the countrys foreignminister warned yesterday. The Nordicstate is battening down the hatches for afull-blown currency crisis and has said itwill not tolerate further bail-out creep orfiscal union by stealth.

China blames crisis for trade fallChina has blamed the unexpecteddeepening of the debt crisis in Europe forthe worst decline of foreign investmentand trade since the financial crisis.

New details on Apples TV visionApple vision for a new television set-topbox includes features designed to simplifyaccessing and viewing programming anderase the distinction between live and on-demand content, people briefed onApples plans said. The Cupertino-basedcompany proposes giving viewers theability to start any show at any timethrough a digital-video recorder thatwould store TV shows on the internet.Viewers even could start a show minutesafter it has begun. Time Warner Cableoffers a limited version of this feature.

DELOITTEs senior partner hascalled on UK PLC to step up its partin helping the country return to

growth, telling firms its time tostep forward.

[There are] UK corporate cashreserves of some 750bn; low levelsof public trust in big business; aneastward shift in global demand;and record levels of public andpersonal debt, said Sproul. Allpoint to the need for a recoverythat has to be corporate-led.

Sproul was speaking as the firmrevealed revenues have continuedto bounce back, after it returned to

growth in 2011 following severalyears of stagnation.

Deloittes UK arm posted an 11per cent rise in revenue for the yearto 31 May, bringing in a total of2.3bn compared to 2.1bn theprevious year. Profits distributableto the firms partners edged up to569m, a 6.3 per cent increase on

last years 535m.Sproul called the

results a robustperformance in whatcontinues to be anuncertain economic

environment.

Deloitte calls on

UK businessesto drive growth

DFS boss Benjamin Lawsky made a name for himself over the Standard Chartered case

2 NEWS

BY ELIZABETH FOURNIER

BY TIM WALLACE

To contact the newsdesk email [email protected]

Theres been too much writtensince the end of the Olympicscomparing the (admittedlyinspiring) event with the

oncoming football season, most ofwhich maintained that football starsare poor role models, football fansare foul-mouthed and more

generally that football pales incomparison with the great sportingdrama that we witnessed early thismonth at London 2012.

None of this has managed to dentmy appetite for the beginning of thenew football season, which startsagain in earnest this weekend. Forevery football fan, each season beginswith such hopes and such dreams.

There are many reasons why thecomparison between the football sea-son and the Olympics is a poor one.The Olympics, albeit sensational inspirit and atmosphere and achieve-

It cant come soon enough. Welcome to the new season

FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 2012

ment on a personal and team level, isa once every four year event that lastsfor two weeks.The training for the athletes is obvi-

ously a lot longer than that but thewatching public comes out in forceonly during this period for many ofthe sports and therefore the experi-ence is an immensely different one tofollowing ones club to the likes ofWigan, to Middlesbrough or even toScunthorpe United on a regular basisduring a period of nine or so months.

Whereas Olympics fans are general-ly supporting nations, football sup-porters are tribal. Often they supporttheir local team but even if they sup-port a club hundreds of miles awayfrom where they live their associa-tion is intense and usually for life.There is little to equal the bonding

experience of following ones teamaway to former industrial towns inthe north in midwinter.

English football, especially thePremier League, is a global successstory. The last overseas televisionrights deal brought in 1.4bn to thePremier League and its clubs for athree-year deal, an 80 per cent upliftfrom the previous year.

English football is watched in morethan 700m homes worldwide and in212 countries. People across theworld often know more about thecountry through their knowledge of

seat at City A.M.s upcoming awardsas a short-listed candidate for busi-ness personality of the year.Aside from its commercial success,

football, while by no means perfect,does try to do its bit for the commu-nity. Last year alone, 20,000 PremierLeague seat tickets were distributed

to servicemen and women and theirfamilies; and countless football starshelped out in their communities orvisited the sick in hospital.

Of course football could do morebut sometimes it gets no credit forwhat it does at all.

It was easy to love the Games. Theywere magnificent. But for those wholove football, there is no better sportin the world.

SEASON PREVIEW: Pages 22-23

Liverpool, say, or Manchester United,than they do about our literature ormovies.

Overseas fans love the competitive-ness of the league. There are usuallyfour to five clubs capable of winningthe most important trophies inEngland compared to maybe two to

three in many other leagues. Theyalso love the vibrant atmosphere inthe stadiums, the compact grounds,the occasionally witty sing-songs andthe array of domestic and foreign tal-ent on offer.

Domestically, the appetite for foot-ball is as strong as ever, with lastyears domestic television rightscontract extracting a 70 per centuplift from broadcasters BSkyB, thesatellite company (whose very suc-cess owes so much to football) andBT Vision. That deal earnt PremierLeague chief Richard Scudamore a

Different regulators usually discussthese announcements weeks inadvance, said the source.

We have made it clear that this isnot a satisfactory way to do things. Butregulators are pragmatic about this we are working through what hap-pened with the DFS to make sure itdoes not happen again.

Bank of England governor Sir MervynKing last week suggested British bankswere being unfairly targeted by US reg-ulators.And George Osborne called US treas-

ury secretary Tim Geithner to express

his concern over the way the allega-tions were handled.

Standard Chartered expressed sur-prise throughout the case.

It carried out its own investigationinto transactions involving Iran andfound $14m of rule-breaking trades.After telling regulators the details of

this internal study, it was hit by the farhigher accusation of $250bn of wrong-doing.The bank settled those claims for

$340m earlier this week, and is expect-ed to settle for a far lower sum withthe other US authorities.

PwCs DavidSproul

The new jobs website for London professionalsCITYAMCAREERS.com

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

EDITORSLETTER

DAVID HELLIER

[email protected] Heath is on holiday

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IN BRIEFDesmond launches legal actionn Northern & Shell chairman RichardDesmond, owner of OK! magazine andChannel 5, is understood to be suinginvestment bank Credit Suisse at theHigh Court over a 50m derivativedeal he said was too risky. Papersobtained from the Court by reportersshow the media baron is claiming a2007 transaction he entered into hadbeen too complex to understand andinappropriately risky. Both Desmondand Credit Suisse declined tocomment yesterday.

Brevan Howards Rokos to departn A co-founder of Brevan Howard,one of the world's biggest and mostsuccessful hedge fund managers, is toleave the firm this month. Chris Rokos,a star trader on the firms $25bn(15.8bn) flagship Master fund whohas worked with founder Alan Howardfor more than ten years, is to stoptrading at the end of August, foundingpartner Nagi Kawkabani saidyesterday.

Broker fined over trading breachn A joint brokerage venture betweenMorgan Stanley and Citigroup was

fined $450,000 (286,992) after atrader broke trading limits andamassed a $1.3bn position, FinancialIndustry Regulatory Authority (Finra)records released yesterday show.Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, thejoint venture, faced the fine from Finraafter it allowed its trader to breachcaps permitted on the size of aposition, by more than ten times thelimit allowed.

SHARES in African Barrick Gold(ABG) jumped by eight per cent intrading yesterday on news that itcould be the subject of a 1.5bn bidbattle.

A source close to the company saidseveral bidders were circling theLondon-listed gold producer, which is74 per cent-owned by its parentBarrick Gold, but only a bid fromChina Gold was being taken seriously.

Canadas Barrick Gold, which is theworlds largest gold producer, con-firmed yesterday that it was in pre-liminary discussions with ChinaGold regarding a sale of its stake in

ABG, as part of its global asset review.It is thought that another China

gold producer, Zijin, was also lookingat ABG, but the bid was consideredtoo low for consideration. RandgoldResources has also been rumoured tobe circling around Barrick GoldsAfrican arm.

FTSE 250 company ABG was floatedon the London Stock Exchange in2010 by the Canadian producer at575p a share.

China rivals inbid battle for

African BarrickBY CATHY ADAMS It is understood that Barrick wouldconsider a deal at around 500p ashare, which values it at 1.5bn.

If China Gold acquires more than 30per cent of ABG, it will be required tomake a formal offer for the wholecompany.

Cailey Barker, mining analyst atNumis Securities, said there was agood chance of a sell-down.

Barrick is being advised by SimonLyons, Sam Roberts and Paul Knightfrom investment bank UBS on thedeal. Lyons and Roberts have previ-ously advised on the BA and Iberiamerger and Vodafones acquisition ofCWW respectively.

African Barrick Gold PLC


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FACEBOOK shares plunged to anew low yesterday as earlyinvestors were able to sell their

stock for the first time after thelock-up period in force since Maysinitial public offering (IPO) came toan end.

The stock fell as much as sevenper cent to a low of $19.69 lessthan half the peak it reached on itsfirst day in trading as an extra271m shares were added into themarket. The owners of yesterdaysunlocked stock were those who hadinvested in Mark Zuckerbergs

Facebook sinks to record low asearly investor shares unlocked

BY JAMES TITCOMB company before the IPO includingGoldman Sachs, one of the banksthat underwrote the flotation,Microsoft, and Russian investmentmanagers DST Global. Another

1.77bn shares are set to hit themarket over the coming monthsand the market will keep a keen eyeon 14 November, when the biggesttranche of shares including themajority owned by Facebook staff

will be unlocked.The social network saw a slump

in its share price last month as itsfirst public results showed that it isfailing to maintain profit margins.

BOTTOM LINE: Page 6nn

FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 20123NEWScityam.com

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg may see stock fall further as more shares are unlocked

Facebook Inc


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JOHN LOVERING, the retail veteranand former chairman of Homebase,Debenhams and Peacocks, hasreturned to the high street as abacker of fledging maternity brand

Crave.His investment vehicle EchelonPartners has injected anundisclosed sum into the business,to help fund its growth.

The brand was founded by formerCity worker Helen Worsley after shestruggled to find a decent range ofmaternity clothes during herpregnancy. The brand currentlytrades through its websites and alsosupplies John Lewis.

Lovering backsmaternity line

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD

THE NUMBER of students achievingthe top grade at A-Level has fallenfor the first time in 21 years, new fig-ures showed yesterday, as more than300,000 candidates picked up theirresults.

Business groups heralded the dropin A*s and As from 27 to 26.6 percent, saying it helps employers sepa-rate high-flyers from the pack.

Companies tell us that they havehad a hard time assessing the skillsand abilities of job candidates withA-Level passes, said the BritishChambers of Commerce. An end tograde inflation will improve busi-ness confidence in the qualificationsachieved by young people.

Meanwhile the boys overtook thegirls at the very top of the resultstable. Eight per cent of male candi-dates achieved the A* grade, intro-duced in 2010 to flag up the topperformers, compared to 7.9 per centof female students. However, moregirls than boys clinched A grades.

Top grades atA-Level declineBY MARION DAKERS Mathematics enjoyed a minor

comeback, with almost 86,000 stu-dents sitting exams in the subject,compared to 83,000 a year ago.

Ucas, the universities applicationbody, said 362,000 students havealready been accepted for courses,including 3,700 through the clearingprocess. Total applicants are down 7.7per cent on a year ago.With university fees hitting 9,000,

many A-Level students are opting tomove directly into the world of work.PwC said it has seen a 34 per cent risein applications for its school-leaverscheme this year, while the CBIcalled on the government to betterprepare school students for workinglife.

A lot of employers are trying tosnap up people at the school leavingpoint, said James Callender, manag-ing director at recruitment firmFreshMinds Talent. I think they wel-come the end of grade inflation...though candidates should rememberits not all about the grades.

Retail sales surpriseanalysts with jumpRETAIL sales did surprisingly wellin July, despite no discernible

impact from the Olympics or thefinal arrival of summer weather,the Office for National Statistics(ONS) said yesterday.

Retail sales saw a 2.8 per centincrease in volumes in the year toJuly. Values grew yet faster,climbing 3.1 per cent over the year,the ONS data showed.

Non-food stores were the mainbeneficiaries, seeing four per cent

BY BEN SOUTHWOODyearly growth in their volume ofsales, with department storesdoing particularly well.

Steady volume bought with heavy discounting

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INSURANCE giant Zurichyesterday announced better-than-expected profits, largely thanks tothe absence of any major disasterclaims this year.

Operating profit at the Swissfirm was $2.5bn (1.6bn) for thefirst half of 2012, up 17 per cent,

while the combined ratio for thesame period a measure ofunderwriting profitability improved to 94.9 per cent.

Zurichs performancedemonstrates our strategy is

working. We have again achievedstrong levels of profitability, a very

good result in the challenging

environment, said chief executiveMartin Senn.

Zurich avoidsdisaster to post

strong profitsBY JAMES WATERSON

DANISH cleaning giant ISS yesterdayaccepted a 500m (391m)investment from Ontario TeachersPension Plan and KIRKBI Invest, thetrust owned by the descendents ofLegos founder.

ISS will use the funds to pay downdebts ahead of a planned IPO in thenext few years, having abandoned anattempt to float in March 2011.

The investors paid 105 Danishkroner per share for new equity,gaining 26 per cent ownership.

This will be embarrassing for NickBuckles, the boss of UK firm G4S,who last year offered a hefty 130Danish kroner per share to take over

ISS, only to abandon the bidfollowing shareholder protests.

ISS eyes floatwith 500m

investmentBY JAMES WATERSON

THE FORUM: Page 15LL

FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 20124 NEWS cityam.com

CASE STUDIES: WORK AFTER A-LEVELS

RACHEL BOWERTHE CO-OPERATIVERachel decided to enter the world of work aged 18 instead of going touniversity. Having won a place on the Co-operatives apprenticeshipscheme, she now works full-time at the firms head office in Manchester,assisting with marketing support for the Co-ops retail outlets. She hasachieved an NVQ Level 2 in business administration, and plans to pursue acareer in marketing at the firm.

CONOR SULLIVAN

DELOITTEConor joined Deloittes Bright Start programme in September 2011, keento earn money rather than spend it on university. He is due to qualify withthe Association of Taxation Technicians in May, with the chance to embarkupon further study. I do the same sort of work as the graduates itschallenging, but so far has been very rewarding, he said. I dont haveany regrets about not going to university. I would definitely recommendthis path.

ANDREW DALYPWCAndrew has barely had time to celebrate his A-Level results; hes alreadyworking hard on a tax apprenticeship in PwCs Belfast office. He wasoffered a place at a top university, but was eager to start a career in profes-sional services instead. I certainly dont feel that I will be missing out onthe university experience as there a re huge social opportunities withinthe company and within our particular department, he said.

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IN BRIEFEuropean gold demand soarsn European investors swarmed intogold in the second quarter of this year,with demand up 15 per cent year onyear to 77.6 tonnes. The demand forgold bars and coins was up 19 per centfrom the five-year quarterly averageof 65.2 tonnes, said the World GoldCouncil. Overall, global gold demandin the second quarter reached 990tonnes, down seven per cent from the1,065.8 tonnes worth of demand seenover the same quarter last year.

BHP Billiton cuts jobs down undern BHP Billiton warned yesterday of joblosses as rising costs and falling com-modity prices continued to bite. It isunderstood that jobs will be cut fromits Australian coal mines. It follows jobcuts from fellow miners Xstrata and RioTinto. The prospect of job cuts raisesdoubts about the strength ofAustralia's mining boom, which haspreviously been dependent on China

importing millions of tonnes of basemetals a year for the past decade.

Reed Elsevier picks Palmer as CFOn Publishing and events group ReedElsevier named Duncan Palmer as itsnew chief financial officer yesterday toreplace Mark Armour who will standdown after 16 years. Palmer will joinfrom American building materialsmaker Owens Corning, where he hadbeen the chief financial officer for fiveyears. Prior to that, Palmer held a sen-ior finance role at Royal Dutch Shell.

ORACLE yesterday agreed to pay a

$2m fine to settle US Securities andExchange Commission (SEC) chargesthat an India subsidiary secretly setaside money used to makeunauthorised payments to phonyvendors in that country.

Yesterdays settlement, whichinvolved no admission ofwrongdoing, resolved charges thatthe firm violated the federal ForeignCorrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

The SEC said the payments occurredin 2005 to 2007 with Oracle IndiaPrivate and the Indian government.

Oracle settleswith SEC overIndia charges

BY CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Asda yester-day came out in support of Sundayopening hours being extended on apermanent basis, as the debate overSunday trading continues to divideretailers.Andy Clark said it was too early to

say what the impact of the extra trad-ing hours has had on sales but shop-pers had welcomed the extra hoursover the Olympics period.

The fact that shoppers are tellingus that they would enjoy the benefitof shopping outside of those sixhoursthen, giving customers greateraccessibility to more hours across thetrading week has got to be a benefit,he said.

Retailers have been in two mindsover the benefits of scrapping restric-tions. Sainsburys chief Justin Kingargued that Sundays was a specialday and that the current status quowas a good British compromise.

Clarke was speaking as the UKs sec-ond largest supermarket revealed a

Asda boss says

yes to relaxingSunday trading

BY KASMIRA JEFFORDslowdown in quarterly sales, which itattributed in part to the wettest springin a century and the squeeze in shop-per spending power.

But Asda said it was continuing togain market share by lowering moreproduct prices and driving harderon quality. The group has investedmore than 113m over the past twoyears on improving the quality of itsproduct ranges.

Finance director Rob McWilliam saidthe retailer was seeing a continuedtrend towards budgeting and that itwas continuing to focus on low pricesfor basics like bread, mince and milk.

He also slammed the increasingnumber of promotions and gim-micks being used by rival retailers totry and disguise a weak price posi-tion, calling it unsustainable.

McWilliam said customers werebeing made to play basket bingo totry and qualify for certain promotion-al deals. While Asda has been offeringdeals the company said that it hasbeen carrying out less promotionsthan its rivals.

First Group trumpsVirgin on rail delays

BY MARION DAKERS

YESTERDAYS Office of RailRegulations performance figures

were good news for West Coast railcustomers who will see First Grouptake over the route from Virgin.

Many of First Groups franchiseshave beaten Virgin in the punctualitystakes. First Capital Connect, whichcarries commuters into centralLondon, completed 90 per cent of itsjourneys within five minutes of theirscheduled time in the last financialyear, while 96 per cent arrived within20 minutes.

Virgin, meanwhile, managed 75.3per cent within a five minute

window, rising to 93 per cent within20 minutes on the West Coast linelinking Glasgow to London.

Great Western, a long-distance

route currently run by First but up forfresh bids later this year, saw 89.2 percent of its trains run on time towithin five minutes.

First fares worse when it comes topassenger satisfaction, however. Thelatest survey by Passenger Focus shows77.5 per cent of First Capital Connectcustomers were satisfied with the serv-ice, putting them among the mostunhappy rail travellers in the country.Virgin, meanwhile, scored an averageof 91 making its customers some ofthe happiest in Britain.

Social media firms need to turna profit if they want to cash in

IS THIS the end of the social mediaIPO? M&A advisory f irm MagisterAdvisors says that weak showingsfrom Facebook, Groupon and

Zynga mean tech entrepreneurslooking for their big payday mightbe wise to sidestep listing and focus

on getting bought up instead, likeSkype, bought by eBay in 2005 for$4.1bn, and YouTube, bought byGoogle for $1.65bn in 2006.

Yet its not necessarily as clearcutas it sounds. The sale of YouTubemade its founders Steve Chen, ChadHurley and Jawed Karim intomillionaires, and Skypes foundersdid even more handsomely. But eventhe flawed IPO of Facebook was inanother league. Its market capremains north of $40bn. Zynga haslost 80 per cent of its value since its

IPO and still clocks in above $2bn.Likewise, if you care about your

company, cashing out risks sellingout. YouTube benefited fromGoogles scale, but Skype languishedin eBays hands. Twitter may yet seea fresh offer from Google of its own,but it would be better continuing itsfocus on how to turn a profit, nothow to pass that problem on.

BOTTOMLINE

NAME NAME

We see Micro Focus as a core cash-backe d value opportunity in the sec-tor, with todays cash return supporting this view. With more cash returns likelydown the line, and forecast expectations sensibly set, we remain buyersand retain our 600p target price.

ANALYST VIEWS

Micro Focus returned a 50 pence per share return earlier than weexpected, although accelerated cash returns were always on the cards given itsleverage target of 1.5 times earnings. We expect a further 120 pence pershare to be returned as capital or through dividends by April 2014. Buy

Even on flat revenue, management can deliver growth. The market con-tinues to undervalue the prodigious cash generation and sensible capital alloca-tion. With the 30 per cent of the current share price to be returned in cashover the next two years, the shares remain undervalued. Add from Buy

ARE FURTHER PAYOUTS INLINE FOR MICRO FOCUS

INVESTORS?Interviews by James TitcombJULIAN YATES INVESTEC

MICHAEL BRIEST UBS

DAVID TOMS NUMIS

WALMART, the American retailgiant and owner of Asda, reporteda six per cent rise in profits to$3.8bn in the second quarter ofthe year, despite grappling withtough economic conditions in itshome market and overseas.

The company said like-for-likesales at US stores rose 2.2 per centin the three months to the end of

June, slower than the 2.6 per centgain in the first quarter as gasprices, higher food costs and the

job market prevented consumersfrom spashing out.

Walmart shares fall as the USretailer sees slowdown in sales

BY KASMIRA JEFFORD At Asda, second quarter salesalso slowed to 0.7 per centcompared with a 2.2 per cent risein the previous quarter. Overall,half year sales rose 1.5 per cent.

Asda finance director RobMcWilliam described this as asolid performance in what has

been a very tough market and aslowing market.

Walmart raised its profitforecast for the year after netincome beat expectations. But

global revenue of $114.3bn, up 4.5per cent, fell short of Wall Streetforecasts, causing shares to slidethree per cent yesterday.

MICRO Focus International plansto pay out 83m to shareholders 50p per share the softwarecompany announced yesterday.

The FTSE 250 company, whichprovides computer mainframesfor large organisations, also said ithad traded in line withmanagement expectations in thequarter to August. Analysts saidthe dividend, set to be paid inNovember following approval atSeptembers annual meeting, cameearlier than expected.

The Berkshire-based firmreported a 30 per cent annualprofit leap in June, but said

revenue over the next year wouldbe fairly flat due to weakness in

Micro Focus set for 83m payout

despite challenging conditionsBY JAMES TITCOMB

the Eurozone. Micro Focusreiterated their concerns today,saying turnover would be betweenminus three per cent and one percent compared with last year.

Executive chairman KevinLoosemore said in a conferencecall that the sector waschallenging at the moment butthat there was healthy interest innew products from Micro Focus.

Analysts welcomed theannouncement as a commitmentto providing investors withreturns despite growth being flat,and predicted that the firm willcontinue with similar yields.

The payout will be funded byMicro Focuss debt, which has

fallen from $113.2m (72m) to$90m since the end of April.

ETIHAD is keen to buy Ryanairs 30per cent stake in Irish carrier AerLingus, the firms boss James Hogansaid yesterday.

The Gulf carrier, which alreadyowns three per cent of Aer Lingus,would be very happy to have thatdiscussion, he told Bloomberg,adding that Etihad has also been intalks about snapping up the Irishgovernments 25 per cent stake.

Aer Lingus last month rejected atakeover bid from Ryanair thatvalued the firm at694m (544m).

Etihad later said in a statementthat it is not currently in talks withRyanair, but is very keen to

strengthen our partnership [inDublin].

Etihad eyes up

Aer Lingus bidBY MARION DAKERS


Asdas Andy Clark said pressures on disposable income caused a slowdown in sales

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HOUSE PRICES were clobbered intheir biggest ever August fall, as theOlympics depressed housing marketactivity, said Rightmove in researchpublished today.

Prices fell 2.4 per cent, the largestfall Rightmove has ever recorded forAugust. Online search activityplunged during key Olympicmoments such as super Saturdayand the opening and closing cere-monies, Rightmove said. This falladded to the 1.7 per cent contractionseen in July, but prices remain two percent up on the year, and 92.2 per centhigher than all the way back in 2002.

Londons market was typicallystrong, performing better than thecountry as a whole despite the impactof the Olympics. Prices fell by half asmuch as the headline figure, adecline that was unable to reverse the8.8 per cent year-on-year expansion.

But asking prices in Newham, the

House prices in

Olympic slumpBY BEN SOUTHWOOD main Olympic borough, have grownless than half as fast as London houseson average since the capital securedthe Olympics in July 2005.

Other data, released by Knight Frankand Markit yesterday, revealed a north-south divide in house price percep-tions and expectations.While most households believe their

houses have declined in value over thepast month, those in the north expectfurther falls, whereas southernersexpect prices to recover.

Credit Suisse raises 600m toaddress regulatory concerns

CREDIT SUISSE is more than halfway to hitting its capital targetannounced last month, the banksaid yesterday.

The capital boost is aimed at

calming regulators and marketswho had feared it was under-capitalised.

Of the SFr930m (608m)announced yesterday, roughlySFr550m came from swappingfuture bonus payments from cashand into shares.

Although this was less than theSFr750m expected, as fewer staffthan forecast took part in the swap,moves to repurchase outstanding

BY TIM WALLACE securities raised more thanexpected, allowing the bank to beatits SFr800m target.

Combined with the SFr8.7bnalready raised, that puts CreditSuisse on track to raise SFr15.3bnby the end of the year.

However other areas of thebanking industry are stillstruggling under slow marketconditions.

Mergermarket data yesterdayshowed merger and acquisitionactivity slumped again in the firsttwo quarters of this year.

The EMEA region saw 2,307 dealsworth 267bn (209.7bn) an 18per cent fall on the year by volumeand a 10 per cent fall by value.

IN BRIEFUS jobs market improves againn Unadjusted US new jobless claimsticked down 4,000 last week, with adecrease in the seasonally adjustedrolling four week average solidifyingthe positive picture.

American construction soarsn The number of US building permitsgranted in July 2012 exploded 812,000

compared to Junes revised rate, an

increase of 29.5 per cent on the year.

UK car production acceleratesn Car manufacturing in the UK spedahead in July, climbing a colossal 22.2per cent on the month and 15.1 per centon the year. This figure represents atotal of almost 120,000 cars and justover 9,000 commercial vehicles. Engineproduction edged up 0.3 per cent onthe year, reaching over 180,000 in July.

Credit Suisse chief exec Brady Dougan is bolstering its capital base to appease regulators

Rightmove monthly asking price trend

Aug12Jun12Apr12Feb12Dec11Oct11Aug11

250k245k240k

235k230k225k220k215k210k205k200k

THE WORLD economic climatedeteriorated dramatically in thethird quarter of the year, accordingto a survey released jointly by a

think-tank and a business group.The current economic situationwas rated as the worst for over twoyears, while the indicator foreconomic climate dropped off acliff, the survey from the Institutefor Economic Research (IFO) and

New surveys show economicoutlook at worst for two years

BY BEN SOUTHWOODthe International Chambers ofCommerce (ICC) said. Respondentsexpectations for the next sixmonths also worsened significantly.

Perhaps surprisingly, westernEuropean respondents were most

positive about the economicclimate, with an index of 89.3,compared to 81.2 and 83.3 in therelatively healthier North Americaand Asia. But all three indicesremain under 2005s level of 100,underlining the ongoing slump.

THE ECONOMY remains unbalancedand so any recovery in growth willlack resilience and sustainability, theTrades Union Congress (TUC) warnsin a report published today.

Exports and investment are stilltoo low to help the UK return togrowth, the report says, while therehas been little change in the sectoralmake-up of the economy either.

Despite the chancellors promiseto rebalance the economy, both nettrade and investment growth havebeen somewhat patchy since therecession took hold, the reportargues, saying George Osborne hasfailed to raise long-term prospects.

TUC: Economyunbalanced

BY TIM WALLACE


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THOUSANDS of youngsters receivedtheir A-level results yesterday, withthe traditional focus on universityplaces or career paths open to theschool leavers.

But HM Revenue and Customs hasrevealed plans to shake-up the cur-riculum a move which could createa generation of young tax spies.

Officially, the aim of the tax

matters campaign is to makechildren grow into better citi-zens, teaching them the basicsof the tax system and the pur-pose behind it, as well as agreater sense of civic respon-sibility.

It even covers the basics ofhow to pay tax and nationalinsurance all laudable aims anduseful life-skills, one mightassume.

But the taxmans plan also

HMRC accusedof recruiting achild tax army

calls for pupils to think about peoplewho do not want to pay tax or try todefraud the system.

On top of that, pupils are then chal-lenged to think of any examples theymay have heard of in their local area?

Coming on top of the latest crack-down in which HMRC published anonline photo gallery of the top 20 tax

fugitives, Baker Tillys George Bull

fears the taxman is creating a gen-eration of tax spies.In the Soviet era, children were

recruited to inform on theirparents, the tax lawyer said,perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek.

While we support HMRCin its reasonable efforts to

manage the tax system, recruit-ing children in to a Stasi-styleventure might, we suggest, begoing a little too far.

LAURALEAN/CITYA.M

.

Got A Story? [email protected]

9cityam.com

cityam.com/the-capitalistTHECAPITALISTTHE sporting festivities may onlyjust be over, but for parents who

dream of sporting success for theiroffspring thoughts should be alreadyturning to Rio 2016. The Rio Games willsee the return of rugby to the Olympicagenda for the first time since 1924,when it was dropped from the officialsports selection. To honour the end ofthe more-than 90 year hiatus, pre-school rugby training team Ruggerbeezis bringing the sport to Holland Parkand hosting a family fun day thisweekend, complete with sportingcelebrities, drop-in coaching sessionsand experts on hand to spot anypotential future Jonny Wilkinsons.Head down to Holland Park tomorrowbetween 9.30am-4pm to join in.

FRESH from warning DavidCameron to stop pussyfooting

around, Mayor of London Boris Johnsonwill today be at the shark tank atSealife London Aquarium tellingLondoners to do exactly that. Borismission is to let everyone know how

much fun there is to be had in Londonthis summer with cheap hotel deals andvarious two for one ticket offers. If onlyhed let the Prime Minister know beforehe jetted off on his hols to Spain. ThenCameron would have been closer tohand to keep Boris under control.Before he went, Cameron said anyonewho didnt believe in holidays shouldhave a serious think. With Boristrying to stage a coup in his absence,maybe the PM needs a serious think.


LOTS are going fast in the Mayor's Fund for London auction of Olympic memorabilia,supported by City A.M., but as of this morning theres a brand new piece of history onoffer. Visit www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk to bid on City Wenlock a mascot close toour hearts with his bowler hat, pinstripe suit and smartphone. Signed by Mayor of LondonBoris Johnson, the charitys patron, bidding on City Wenlock will be open until 31 August.

CITY WENLOCK UP FOR AUCTION FROM TODAY

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Cineworld said the new Bond will lift sales

CINEWORLD, Britains biggest movietheatre group, said it expectsperformance to pick up in thecoming months as blockbustersincluding the new James Bond film

are released.The company posted a modestrise in revenues in the first half ofthe year to 165m, as a five per centhike in ticket prices offset a slightdecline in admissions. Only one ofCineworlds expected top-fivegrossing films, The Avengers, wasreleased in the first half of the year.The other four The Dark KnightRises; the new Bond film, Skyfall;The Hobbit; and the final Twilightfilm will boost sales in the secondhalf of the year, chief financialofficer Philip Bowcock told City A.M.

The firm announced a dividendof 3.8p per share as operating

Cineworld banking on 007 andBatman for second half growth

BY JAMES TITCOMB profits rose 21.5 per cent to 15.8m.The group has also completed amove to digital in all of its cinemas,a move that is estimated to save upto 2m a year.

Cineworld, which operates 79cinemas in the country, is the

highest-grossing cinema group inthe UK ahead of Odeon and Vue.The three make up around three-quarters of the market.

Sales in July and August areexpected to have been dented by theOlympics, but chief executiveStephen Weiner said performancehad been in line withexpectations over the period.

While H1 was relativelyunexciting from a numbersperspective, it is the medium tolong-term structural marginopportunity that is the mainattraction, Nick Batram, an analystat Peel Hunt, said.

FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 201211cityam.com

S&P surges to 4-monthhigh boosted by Cisco

THE S&P 500 closed at its highest in more than fourmonths yesterday on signs of German support forthe European Central Banks effort to fight theregions debt crisis, and as Cisco Systems led gains

in the tech sector after a dividend hike.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 85.33 points,

or 0.65 per cent, to 13,250.11. The S&P 500 Indexgained 9.99 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 1,415.52. TheNasdaq Composite added 31.46 points, or 1.04 percent, to 3,062.39. Among key stock movers, CiscoSystems rose 9.6 per cent to $19.02 a share after theworlds largest network equipment maker reportedbetter-than-expected results and raised its dividend.

LONDON REPORT

U

K equities steadied near

four-month highsyesterday and technicalresistance levels kept a lid

on gains with investorsunwilling to push the marketfurther pending harder evidencethat policymakers will delivermore long-awaited stimulus.

The benchmark FTSE 100index closed flat at 5,834.51 ,around 50 points below anintra-day peak hit on Tuesday.

Volumes on the benchmarkindex remained subdued, at 70per cent of the 90-day average.Traders described recentactivity levels as dire, withMonday seeing the lowest dailyactivity in 13 years outside ofthe traditionally quiet year-end.

Miners shone against thebroad market, bolstered byexpectations for more merger

and acquisition activity in thesector on news that Chinas

largest gold producer is in talks

to buy a stake inAfricanBarrick Gold. African BarrickGold shares rose eight per cent,topping the FTSE 250 gainersboard, with volumesapproaching five times of theirdaily average by mid-session.Blue chip precious metalminers also benefited, withPolymetal, RandgoldResources and Fresnillo up 1.2to 1.5 per cent. Deutsche Banksaid this could cause a re-ratingof the mid-tier gold sector

FTSE 100 treads water asinvestors sit on their hands

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pENRCUBS has cut its targetprice on the miner from585p to 565p but kept itsbuy rating afterdisappointing first-halfresults including weaknet cash flow and anincrease in its debt pile.

RSAThe insurer has appointedMatt Hotson as its investorrelations director. He joinsfrom Cable & WirelessWorldwide, where he wasresponsible for corporatefinance and investorrelations. Hotson was alsopreviously director of investorrelations and strategy at Legal & General.

Mercer

Edmund Teo has been appointed director of wealth

management, Asia, at the consulting firm. He hasover 20 years experience in financial services andjoins from Russell Investments, where he was aregional director. Additionally, Pierre DeGagne joinsMercer as a principal consultant in its Asia wealthmanagement team. He was previously head of fundsselect at Standard Chartered Bank.

Ignis Asset ManagementIngrid Neitsch has been appointed head of creditstrategies at the asset management firm. She willoversee Igniss new specialist strategic credit fund.Neitsch joins from Financial Risk Management, aninstitutional hedge fund manager, where she wasthe sector head responsible for credit.

M&G InvestmentsThe institutional investment firm has made two hiresto its Nordic distribution team. Robert Heaney joinsafter five years at RBS, where he covered the Nordicinsurance sector. Billyana Kuncheva joins from AktiaInvest, where she was responsible for its fixedincome and alternative manager selection.

MedgenicsThe Aim-listed biotechnology firm has appointed DrMarvin Garovoy as its chief medical officer. He is aformer professor of surgery, medicine andlaboratory medicine at the University of California,

San Francisco.

WHOS SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Tom Welsh

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

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IN BRIEFTalvivaara cuts nickel forecastn Finnish miner Talvivaara yesterdayslashed its nickel production forecast to17,000 tonnes for 2012, down from thepreviously forecast 25,000-30,000tonnes. It blamed heavy rain over thesummer, which hindered operations atits Sotkamo mine, for the cut. Talvivaarareported nickel production of 6,568tonnes over the first half of the year toend of June. The miner slumped to anoperating loss of 22.3m (17.5m) overthe period, driven by weak nickel prices,which have fallen by 28 per cent thisyear, driven by macroeconomicuncertainty and weak steelfundamentals. Chief executive HarriNatunen said yesterday: Whilst excesswater at the minesite has affected ourproduction guidance, it has alsoimpacted our mining operations, andwe have had to mine lower-grade orefurther away from primary crushingthan originally planned. The shares fellby 2.35 per cent to close at 137p.

Hikma enjoys strong first halfn Pharmaceutical company Hikmareported strong first-half results yester-day, with revenues from its injectablesbusiness up 94 per cent to $225.2m(143.1m). The Jordon-based genericsfirm reported operating profit up 53 percent to $75.1m in the first half of the yearto 30 June, with the global injectablesbusiness, which makes up 42 per cent ofHikmas business, driving profit.Injectables growth was driven mainly bynew product launches and private mar-ket demand. Revenues in the genericsdivision fell by 27 per cent to $55.8m, asit was hurt by increasing pricing pres-sure. Chief executive Said Darwazah saidthe generics business was expected topick up in the second half of the year.Hikma increased its dividend to six centsa share, up from 5.5 cents over the firsthalf of 2011, and it reiterated its forecastfor revenue growth of 20 per cent for thefull year. The shares rose by 3.38 per centto close at 749.5p in trading yesterday.

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THE Manchester velodrome is amedal factory. It won as manygolds in this summersOlympics as the whole ofAustralia. As well as a cause

for national celebration, thats aproblem. Because the truth is, wedont know enough about why.

Genius clusters. RenaissanceFlorence. Elizabethan London. TheScottish Enlightenment.Extraordinary individualachievements, sporting or cultural,tend to overlap in time and space.

The problem is, its not very clearwhy. Genius is a bolt from the blue sudden achievement at a historicallyhigh level. But its clustered naturesuggests it gets summoned forth as

much by external circumstances as

THE Mayor of London owns 530hectares of land and is thelargest public landowner inLondon. He is responsible, withthe London Boroughs, for

addressing the needs of the 350,000Londoners on the housing waitinglist, for planning for the futurehousing needs for the capital, and fora budget of around 3bn to spend onhousing development up to 2015.Additionally, Boris has activated new

powers, available to him under the

Localism Act 2011, to take control ofthe Olympics legacy directly througha new Mayors development agency(the London Legacy DevelopmentCorporation), which, from October,will have impressive planning powers.

As Bicycling Boris gives way toBuilder Boris in his second term, theMayor will have an opportunity todeliver bottom-line growth figuresand to kick-start the economic recov-ery in London. Housing developmentis important for the economy about1 per cent is added to GDP for every100,000 homes built.

Previous recessionary periods have

Spread betting, CFDs Trade today atwww.cityindex.co.uk

FACT OF

THE DAY

The Volatility Index (VIX) is at a low last seen

in March from which the Dow Jones declined

by 9.5% over the subsequent 11 weeks.

cityam.com/forum

Housing is important

about 1 per cent isadded to GDP for every100,000 homes built

THEFORUM

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

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

14FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 2012

NATALIE ELPHICKE

Boris needs to be innovative to getthe private sector building houses

resulted in an added impetus to build-ing houses, delivered in different waysand in accord with that time. As athumbnail summary, after the 1930s,

Britain saw a huge contribution fromthe building societies movement, fol-lowing the 1948 Olympics there was asubstantial local authority house-building phase, and the late 1980s andearly 1990s recession saw dramaticgrowth in the contribution made bythe housing association movement,which continues today. It is privatehousebuilding, not social housing,which has fallen behind since thecredit crunch to levels last seen inthe 1950s. By contrast, local authorityand housing association completionsare at the strongest levels since 1995.The Olympic Park site, with its

11,000 homes, will inevitably be afocal point for housing development.With so much already invested into it,it must be hoped that the legacy sitecan be self-funding and not absorbsocial housing grants that could beapplied elsewhere.There are now a number of tried and

tested models for large-scale develop-ments without social housing grants.New housing sites and additionalaffordable housing could be broughtforward using a successful social

housing enterprise approach pio-neered in Ely Bridge alongside theWelsh Government. Other good mod-els to explore would be the Rettie-Resonance model which has beensuccessfully delivered in Scotland, andthe Barking & Dagenham/LaingORourke lease structure. These typesof models have had to explore andresolve many common problems thatcan significantly delay a projectbefore housebuilding starts. These caninclude issues around state aid, publicprocurement, and the balance of plan-ning contributions and responsibili-ties.

The lack of mortgage availabilitycontinues to hamper developmentactivity, as developers are nervous ofbuilding homes which may not getsold to first time buyers. While institu-tional rental portfolios are certainlypart of the equation, there are newsolutions that can allow first timebuyers to purchase their home gradu-

ally, without the need for separatemortgage finance. The Genie, devel-oped by Gentoo Group, is a stunningexample of how you can help youngpeople into responsible home owner-ship, and it is thriving in the NorthEast. The Mill Groups co-ownershipstructure is another approach to thefirst time buyer/ shared ownership

segment which has secured institu-tional investment backing.Alternative ownership solutions couldbe showcased within the Olympic vil-lage portfolio and on other publiclyowned sites.

Builder Boris also needs to considerthe mix of housing to be brought for-ward in London. There is a longstand-ing need for affordable familyhousing in London. The focus onbuilding smaller one and two bedhomes over the last decade has left an

overcrowding issue which is pro-nounced in parts of the capital.Rather than relaxing or reducingaffordable housing targets, this is anopportunity to build quality afford-able family homes for Londoners.

No doubt the Mayor will continue tobang the drum for additional infra-structure investment into London asis his job. He has called for the right todeal with housing in London. Now hehas not just the responsibility butalso the opportunity to light theLondon housebuilding growth torch.Natalie Elphicke is a partner at

Stephenson Harwood.

the birth of extraordinaryindividuals. If only we knew whatthose necessary conditions were, itmight be possible to reach theheights of our potential more often.

David Banks of Duke Universitywrote about this problem of excessgenius in 1997, calling it one of themost important questions I canimagine but bemoaning the lack of

progress on resolving it. The author

Jonah Lehrer recently flagged upBanks article and offered a fewanswers of his own: the importanceof a commercial spirit, openimmigration, educationalexperimentation and a tolerance forrisk-taking. Those all sound sensibleenough, but the truth is they dontadd up to a magic formula.

Look at the Manchester velodrome.It is not just an almost unbelievablesuccess, but an unexpected one. Bornof Manchesters failed bid for the2000 Olympics, it was Britains soleOlympic-standard track and seen bymany as a white elephant. By 1996,British Cycling was too broke to payits 130,000 electricity and gas bill,and the council had to step in to

keep the lights on. It was, on one

account, ten days from becoming aB&Q warehouse. In the aftermath,cat shows took precedence overcycling, as the emergency committeetried to make ends meet. Yetsomehow this project became thehub of Britains cycling renaissance.

There will no doubt be claims thatManchester provides a model forhow to invest in the future of Britishsport. The real lesson seems to beonly that sometimes we get lucky,the stars align and a cluster of geniusemerges, even when the odds of awhite elephant are far higher.

Perhaps the best response to suchmoments of fortune is simply a mixof gratitude and humility. Humilitybecause the sudden appearance of

high achievement under certain

conditions suggests it is latent in allof our lives to a degreeuncomfortable to contemplate.Gratitude because something somysterious, so hard to force intobeing has somehow emerged. Suchprotective, generous thoughts areeasy to have for Team GBs Olympianachievements. But they ought to beour response to clusters ofachievement of all kinds, wheneverthey emerge including the Cityitself, and the new tech cluster on itsborders, Silicon Roundabout. Wedont know enough about how tobuild such clusters up, but we doknow how little it can take to closethem down.

Marc Sidwell is managing editor at

City A.M.

THE LONGVIEW

MARC SIDWELL

The Manchester medal factory: Be grateful for this strange cluster of genius

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15

Smokers choice[Re: As Australia confirms a law banningbranded tobacco packaging, should the UKfollow suit?, yesterday]Both contributors focus on whether childrenare swayed by cigarette packets. But thisignores the fact that this policy is essentiallythe infantilisation of adults. All adults knowthe dangers of smoking, yet many choose todo so regardless. Will plain packets stopsome people smoking? Perhaps. But atwhat cost? Another nail in the coffin of ourability to direct our own lives.

Jason Greener

Simon Clark believes people arent attractedby glitzy packaging, yet fears for the jobs ofgraphic designers. Thats a bit of a slip.

Daniel Lowbridge

Grade inflation[Re: Raise a glass to students success, butwe need to talk about A-levels, yesterday]A-levels have certainly become easier.When A-level maths was first introduced,the questions would have a preamble, butthe the question would ask you, straightup, to Find X (20 marks). By the time Itook the exams, the questions wouldprovide detailed instructions on the stagesneeded to find the same X. The totalmarks would still be 20. By dumbing downthe questions into smaller chunks, andleading candidates through them, theexam boards have done themselves nofavours even though they can assert thatthe syllabus remains fundamentallyunchanged.

Helen-Frances Pilkington

ONCE again, the transferseason for the big fiveEuropean leagues inEngland, Germany, Spain,France and Italy has seen

top players move club for incrediblesums. But the evidence shows thatnot all transfers benefit the buyingclub. And this not only raisesinteresting questions for football,but some that can also be applied tobusiness.

Manchester United has just shelledout 24m for Arsenals Robin vanPersie, while Chelsea paid a whop-ping 25m for Oscar, a 20-year-oldBrazilian. Even in France, where theSocialist government is planning amonstrous 75 per cent tax on earn-ings over 1m (785,000), Paris SaintGermain has paid 20m for ZlatanIbrahimovic.

But are these transfer fees justified?In Simon Kuppers and StefanSzymanskis Soccernomics, they sur-prisingly find that the net amountthat almost any club spends on trans-fer fees bears little relation to whereit finishes in the league. The trans-fer market is highly inefficient, andbeing a buying club rather than aselling club doesnt help your teamperform significantly better.

In business, a new chief executivemay want to make his or her markand will fire talented rivals in thecompany. This can be a costly mis-take. In football, some of the mostsuccessful clubs have promotedyoung players from within their ownfootball academies rather than look-ing outside for talent. Incomingchief executives might be bestadvised to hold fire before guttingthe existing management.Another costly mistake, which

Kupper and Szymanski identify, is tohire the stars of a recent World Cupor European Championship. Theseplayers are often overvalued. In the

TOP TWEETSThe number of top A-levels drops for the firsttime in 20 years. Dont worry, you dont needa degree to make your first million.@greggsulkin

Although falling productivity may explainwhy jobs are up and GDP is down, its morelikely that GDP figures need serious revision.@DavidOser

There was another massive drop in theclaimant count in East London. It was thehighest drop in the country.@EastLondonDM

I like Boris Johnsons idea of going for biginfrastructure projects like a new Londonairport. No doubt hell be a future PM.@rectorjon

After A-level results came out yesterday, isa degree always the best route to success?

YESIn tough economic times, a good degree remains a smart investment.

Most graduates earn a six-figure premium over those with two A-levels, and Russell Group graduates typically receive a 10 per centtop-up over those from other universities. Our students work withworld-class experts, use first-rate facilities, are part of a highlymotivated and talented peer group and often engage in cutting-edgeresearch themselves. Employability is embedded into the culture ofuniversities and many are going further than ever to produce work-ready graduates. Our graduates are among the most sought afterglobally, with graduate recruiters ranking ten Russell Groupuniversities among the top 30 worldwide. With no up-front fees andincome-contingent repayments, if youre good enough to get in, youcan afford to go. Students with the talent, potential and ability shouldjump at the chance to go to a leading university.Dr Wendy Piatt is director general of the Russell Group of universities.

Wendy Piatt

NORichard Irwin

Degree or no degree, anyone with the right talents can succeed.

University fees, economic forecasts and unemployment are all havinga bearing on students decisions. Employers who want to attract themost talented need to offer the best opportunities. Students can joinPwC as graduates, undergraduates, straight from school or throughour employer-led degrees. While graduate recruitment is still at theheart of our business, this year weve expanded our school leaverprogramme and received 2,352 applications for 100 vacancies; 34 percent more than 2011. Drive, tenacity, intellectual agility and the abilityto build relationships are attributes we look for in students, howeverthey join us. Its key that students take responsibility for seizingopportunities. The extent to which they do so is the biggestdifferentiator between those that leave school or university with thetalents employers want, and those that dont.Richard Irwin is head of student recruitment at PwC.

RAPIDresponses Football can teach

businesses plentyof useful strategy

business world there are parallels incompanies hiring rising stars frommajor corporations, who are head-

hunted to become chief executives ofdistressed corporations or recently-floated firms. Its not unlike the foot-ball transfer market, where fansdemand famous players. Accordingto Kupper and Szymanski, RealMadrid is the supreme sucker ofshooting stars, having paid 136mfor Ronaldo and Kaka in 2009.

Moneyball Michael Lewissfamous book on baseball suggeststhat there is a tendency to be overlyinfluenced by a guys most recentperformance. But the statisticsshow that what he did last was notnecessarily what he will do next. Sowith business. Success in the soft-ware industry is not always a guideto an executives ability to run amobile phone company.And finally, some footballing

nations are overvalued. It is probablyeasier to sell a mediocre Brazilianplayer than one from Paraguay to aEuropean club. In the British corpo-rate world, there is also a tendency tohire overseas managers. There aremore international chief executivesin the FTSE 100 than in the compa-nies of the Forbes 100.At the end of the day, football, like

business, is a funny old game. Theglamorous stars of both will alwayscommand a high price, whatevertheir true value.

Gil Shidlo is an academic. He contributesto various London School of Economicspublications.


GIL SHIDLO

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16 TV LISTINGS cityam.com

TE

RRESTRIAL BBC1

SKY SPORTS 17pmPremier League Preview

7.30pm Live Football League

10pm Fantasy Football Club 11pm

Premier League Preview 11.30pm

Masters of European Football

12am Football League 1.30am

Super League 3.30am Fantasy

Football Club 4.30am-6am

Football League

SKY SPORTS 26.30pm Tight Lines 7.30pm Live

Super League 10pm Test Cricket

11.30pmWWE: Late Night

Smackdown 1.30amWWE: Late

Night Bottom Line 2.30am

WWE Special 3.30am Test Cricket

5amThrillseekers 5.30am-6am

Aerobics Oz Style

SKY SPORTS 36pm Live Currie Cup Rugby Union

8pm Live PGA Tour Golf11pm

European Seniors Tour Golf12am

Premier League Years 2am

European Seniors Tour Golf

3amPremier League Preview

3.30am Premier League Years

5.30am-6am IAAF Athletix

BRITISH EUROSPORT6pm Live WTA Tennis 10pm Horse

Racing Time 10.15pm Strongest

Man 11.15pm Tennis: Mats Point

11.50pm-12.30am WTA Tennis

ESPN7pmESPN Kicks: Brasileirao

7.15pm ESPN FC Press Pass

7.45pm Live French Football

9.45pm Premier League Preview

10.15pm ESPN Kicks: Extra

10.30pmLegends of the Premier

League 11.30pm ESPN FC Press

Pass 12am MMA Live 12.30am20

Years of the Premier League 2am

Australian Rules Football

4.30am-7.30am Live Australian

Rules Football

SKY LIVING7pmCriminal Minds 8pmBritain

& Irelands Next Top Model 9pm

Nikita 10pm Criminal Minds 11pmBones 12am Sing Date 12.30amBones 1.25am Criminal Minds2.25am Supernatural 3.05amBones 3.55amAmericas Next Top

Model 4.45am Nothing to Declare5.10am-6am Passport Patrol

BBC THREE7pmTop Gear 8pmThe PremierLeagues Most Amazing Moments10pm People Just Do Nothing10.30pm EastEnders 11.30pm

Bad Education 12.05am FamilyGuy 12.45am The Premier

Leagues Most Amazing Moments2.45am Bad Education 3.15amPeople Just Do Nothing 3.45amRussell Howards Good News4.15am-5.10am Russell Brand:

From Addiction to Recovery

E47pmHollyoaks 7.30pm How I MetYour Mother 8pmThe Big BangTheory 8.30pm 2 Broke Girls 9pmFILM The Waterboy 1998.10.50pm Revenge 11.45pm The

Big Bang Theory 12.45am Scrubs1.20am How I Met Your Mother1.45am Rules of Engagement2.15am Desperate Housewives2.55am 90210 3.35am Greek4.20am-6am Switched

HISTORY7pmStorage Wars 7.30pm PawnStars 8pmStorage Wars 9pmAmerican Pickers 11pm StorageWars 11.30pmPawn Stars 12am

American Pickers 3amSwampPeople 4am The Last Days ofWorld War Two 5amPawn Stars

5.30am-6am AmericanRestoration

DISCOVERY7pmBear Grylls: Born Survivor8pmAuction Hunters 9pmMan,Woman, Wild 10pmAmericanChopper: Senior Versus Junior11pm Aircrash Confidential 12amMan, Woman, Wild 1amAmericanChopper: Senior Versus Junior2amAuction Kings 3amAmerican

Chopper: Senior Versus Junior

3.50am Wheeler Dealers 4.40am

Bear Grylls: Born Survivor

5.30am-6am Destroyed in

Seconds

DISCOVERY HOME &

HEALTH7pmBirth Days 8pm I Didnt

Know I Was Pregnant 10pm

Supernanny US 11pm

Embarrassing Bodies 12am I

Didnt Know I Was Pregnant 1am

Supernanny US 2am Embarrassing

Bodies 3amDr G: Medical

Examiner 4amBirth Stories5am-6am A Baby Story

SKY17pmThe Simpsons 7.30pm

Raising Hope 8pm The Simpsons9pm Stella 10pm Fantasy Football

Club 11pm An Idiot Abroad 12am

A League of Their Own 1am The

Good Guys 1.55am Dog theBounty Hunter 2.50amRoad Wars

3.45am Caprica 4.35am Airline

5.05am-6am Sell Me the Answer

BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5

SATELL

ITE&

CABLE

6pmBBC News6.30pm BBC London News7pmThe One Show7.30pmA Question of Sport;BBC News8pmEastEnders

8.30pm Miranda9pmEastEnders9.30pm In with the Flynns10pm BBC News10.25pmRegional News10.35pmMichael McIntyresComedy Roadshow 11.20pm TheNational Lottery Friday NightDraws 11.30pm EastEnders1.25am Weatherview1.30am SignZone: Britain in a Day 3amRealRescues 3.45am-6amBBC News

6pmEggheads

6.30pm Celebrity MasterChef

7pmEscape to the Country

8pmMastermind

8.30pm Gardeners World

9pmFILMThe Boy in the

Striped Pyjamas: Holocaust

drama, starring David Thewlisand Asa Butterfield. 2008.

10.30pmNewsnight11pm The Review Show

11.45pmWeather

11.50pm FILMThe Sheltering

Sky: Period drama, starring

John Malkovich and Debra

Winger. 1990.2amBBC News 3.45am-6amClose

6pmLondon Tonight

6.30pm ITV News

7pmEmmerdale

7.30pmCoronation Street

8pmThe Food We Eat: Tonight

8.30pm Coronation Street

9pmCHOICECorrie Goes to

Kenya

10pm ITV News at Ten

10.30pm London News10.35pmFILMOut of Sight

1998.

12.45amThe Store; ITV News

Headlines2.20amFILM The Deer Hunter:

Drama, with Robert De Niro. 1978.

5.25am-5.30am ITV Nightscreen

6pmThe Simpsons 6.30pm

Hollyoaks 7pmChannel 4 News

7.55pm4thought.tv8pmPhil

Spencer: Secret Agent 9pm

CHOICE Alan Carrs Summer

Specstacular 2 11.05pm The

Angelos Epithemiou Show 11.40pm

Celebrity Bedlam 12.10am Clive

Anderson Presents 12.15am Clive

Anderson Talks Back Peter Cook

Special 12.55amGreen Wing

1.55am Comedy Blaps Business

Mouse 2.10am Comedy Blaps The

Rubberbandits2.20am Comedy

Blaps The Rubberbandits 2.30am

My Name Is Earl 3.15amHappy

Endings 3.35amSt Elsewhere

4.25am Countdown

5.10am-6.05amDeal or No Deal

6pmMonkey Life6.30pm 5 News at 6.307pmCricket on 5; 5 NewsUpdate8pmCHOICE Ice RoadTruckers: Deadliest Roads; 5News at 99pmCelebrity Big Brother

10pm Celebrity Big Brother:

Live From the House LiveNominations10.30pm Celebrity Big BrothersBit on the Side 11.20pm TheBachelor 12.15am SuperCasino4amMotorsport Mundial4.25am House Doctor 4.50amMichaelas Wild Challenge5.10am-6amWildlife SOS

TERR

ESTRIAL

SATELLITE&

CABLE

BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5


CORRIE GOESTO KENYA

ITV1,9PMCoronation Streets Sue Cleaver(Eileen), Ryan Thomas (Jason), BrookeVincent (Sophie) and Ben Price (Nick)stage a play about the dangers of HIV.

ALANCARRSSUMMER

SPECSTACULAR 2 CHANNEL4,9PMThe comedian throws another fun-filled party celebrating the Olympics,with guests including Jonathan Ross,Tulisa, and Keith Lemon.

ICEROAD TRUCKERS:DEADLIEST

ROADS CHANNEL5,8PMLisa Kelly hands over the reins to GWBoles, and a mechanical failure leavesTim Zickuhr and Tino Rodriguezstranded overnight.

TVPICK

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FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 201217GAMEScityam.com

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 thedigits 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

Using 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 an d

letters can only be used once in every word. There

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

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

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

numbers from 1 to 9 to solve this tricky Sud oku puzzle.

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

KAKUROQUICK CROSSWORD

LAST ISSUESSOLUTIONS

KAKURO

WORDWHEEL

SUDOKU

SUDOKU

QUICK CROSSWORD

WORDWHEEL

13 21

25 30

10 15

14 13 8

29

27 29

28

11 18 3

34 13

11 26

17 14

7

22

10

22

28

23

6

9

12

44

21

20

40

4

10

9

12

29

35

12

17

17

ACROSS

1 Imbecile (5)

3 Fake, false (5)

6 Hand tool for

boring holes (5)

9 General conscious

awareness (5)

10 Of a thing (3)

12 Colour of the

rainbow (6)

13 Small gentle horse (4)

14 Clarified butter usedin Indian cookery (4)

15 Antiseptic used to

treat wounds (6)

18 Curious (3)

19 Sternwards (5)

20 Home planet (5)

22 In an unfortunate

manner (5)

23 Enclosures for

pets (5)

DOWN

1 US state, capital

Boise (5)

2 Cardinal

number (3)

3 Low in pitch (4)

4 Venetian

boatman (9)

5 Sleazy or

shabby (5)

7 Cemetery (9)

8 Equip (3)11 Lukewarm (5)

14 Substance from

which window

panes are made (5)

16 Lyric poem (3)

17 Distinctive spirit

of a culture (5)

18 All right (4)

21 __ _ Khan, Islamic

religious leader (3)

P

E

G

A

DN

R

I

V

T I B I A A L D E R

I A B E T

N R Y A W S H

P O S T S S A I D

O S A F E C

T A P S W N E S T

V I N N S H

M A L L A I S L E

T A D A M A N

A G B N C

G R U E L A D D L E

2 4 3 1 8 9 4 7

5 7 1 4 2 9 6 3 8

3 8 1 4 3 2 5

7 9 9 6 1 6

1 6 4 5 3 2 8 9

6 7 1 5

1 8 8 6 5 9 4 7

8 6 9 3 1 2

2 3 6 1 5 2 9

5 7 9 2 8 4 1 3 6

6 9 8 4 9 7 6 8

The nine-letter word was

MISHANDLE

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LIFE&STYLEFRIDAY 17 AUGUST 2012

18 cityam.com

GOING OUT

Camden BeachChalk Farm RoadFree; Until 22 August

One doesnt normally plan a tripto the coast in North London,but this weekend you can. Thissummer the Roundhouse hasingeniously crafted a beach inCamden. With stripeddeckchairs and heaps of goldensand, this location has been theperfect backdrop to the summersporting events. Inspired by theOlympics, with ping pong,badminton and boules allavailable on the sandy dunes,you will also find an icecream/alcohol van and aMargarita shack. Food is alsoprovided at the Grill Tiki barwith steaks, burgers and all yourdietary desires. Sadly it willcome to an end next Wednesdayso if you fancy a trip to thebeach head down this weekendbefore it gets washed away.roundhouse.org.uk

Foodies FestivalBattersea Park18 for three days; 17-19August

THE TRAILERfor The WeddingVideo is awful. The adverts are awful.Even the name is awful, inspiringthe unique kind of dread that clingsto movies about weddings. At firstglance it looks like a low-rentremake of the stereotypicalAmerican wedding movie, whichplaces a hord of ridiculous familymembers in a series of predictablycalamitous events. However itsabsurdity falls neatly within thecanon of British eccentricity, liftingit above its American counterparts.

If you dont like the hand heldcamera, documentary approach,

though, it may not be for you, as thefilm consists entirely of the

FILMTHE WEDDING VIDEOCert 15

hhiii

How to enjoy the sun while it lasts

Battersea Park plays host to afeast of gastronomic delightsthis weekend. Foodies festivalbrings the most exciting foodand culinary talents to yourdoorstep. Nourishment isprovided throughout the daywith a host of food and bar tents.You can try the very best of UKrestaurants without ever havingto leave the premises. Over 100artisan stalls offer you thechance to buy and sample theirorganic produce, whilstmixologists are on hand toensure that you never go thirsty.If you wish to learn, you shouldhead to the chefs theatre, whereMichelin starred and TV chefswill be will be sharing theirculinary secrets.food.festival.com

London MelaGunnersbury ParkFree; 19 August

eponymous video footage. Itdocuments the build up to Tim(Robert Webb) and Saskias (LucyPunch) nuptials, with the videodoubling up as a wedding presentfrom the grooms outlandishbrother Raif, who returns from histravels to act as best man; a role hecontinuously falls short of. The styleisnt exactly distracting but it issomewhat limiting, with laughsoften sought through predictableYouve Been Framed style sketches.

The Wedding Videos saving graceis its cast. The overbearing, nouveauriche Cheshire mother, played byHarriet Walker, is great, as is hermother Patricia, brought to life bythe brilliant Miriam Margoyles.These two, along with a fineperformance from Rufus Hound asthe affable brother Raif, somehowmanage to prevent what could quite

easily have turned into a completecar crash.

Marriage abounds this week but these lacklustre movies are on the rocksFILMTAKE THIS WALTZCert 15

hhhii

TAKE THISWaltz is a f ilm that iseasier to admire than it is to like.It centres around a young marriedcouple, Margo and Lou, played byMichelle Williams and comicactor Seth Rogan, exploring howlong-term relationships can effectlove, happiness and sex.

Kooky Margo meets strangerDaniel while away on work, andfeels an instant chemistry. On herreturn she finds that he lives justacross the street and with thisdistraction so close to home she

begins to question her seeminglygreat relationship with chef Lou.

Torn between the comfort andintimacy she shares with her

husband and the chance toencounter something newand exciting, we followher on this exploration ofdesire and despair.

There is apoignancy to the

whole affair, withdirector SarahPolley highlightingthat we are alwayssearching forsomething elseand questioning

whether we canever really betruly satisfied with

what we have.Set in Toronto,

Polley beautifullycaptures the

vitality of the city,with the vibrant,

sensual colours ofthe hot summer

months aptly reflectingMargos growing lust.The problem is that,

while visually sumptuous,you never completely

warm to the characters.Intimate portrayals ofLou and Margosplayful relationship

paint the femalelead as annoyingly

needy, whileLuke Kirby issimply notcharismatic

enough as Daniel.Take this Waltzisnt short ofcharmingmoments but, inthe end, your lackof empathy for thecharacters will

leave you feelingdissatisfied.

Dig out your shorts,summer is finallyhere. We take alook at ways tomake the most ofthe we

cityam 2012-08-17

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