Breakup Please
Six months ago, the FT’s analysis of BP’s latest numbers began, Bob Dudley stated that the company had reached a “definite turning point”. How right he was....
You will buy more Govvies, or else
It’s been puzzling me since the start of the financial crisis: why can incontinent governments like, say, the UK’s, borrow almost unlimited amounts at interest rates...
High Noon, or firing blanks?
Do not Forseke me, oh my darling, as Frankie Lane might have sung, had he been an Alliance Trust shareholder. That’ll be Karin Forseke, the new chairman, and next Friday...
The customer as lead indicator
It’s been a really bad week for a pair of household names, and next week promises to be pretty awkward for a third. The eclipse of Nokia is set to become a classic business school study....
So public-spirited, that Mr Kingsnorth
It takes time, money and commitment to take on the dogs of the investment company sector. Colin Kingsnorth has all three, which is perhaps why he’s picked fights with its two biggest canines....
Hannam’s gotta do…
It must have come as quite a shock to the FSA apparatchiks when Ian Hannam turned on them. The accepted procedure following the ritual humiliation, fine and brutal publicity that...
[Something for the weekend] No Resolution at all, really
It’s hard to see the point of some businesses. This week the particularly pointless Resolution produced an interminable, impenetrable statement. Its bosses have decided...
Going slightly less fast in the wrong direction
Bad news for hairdressers in the UK Budget: VAT is to be applied to the rental of the chairs the customers sit in while they are asked whether they want something for the weekend....
100-year gilts and the madness of (crowds of) actuaries
Time like an ever-rolling streamBears all its bonds awayYep, even the 100-year UK government bond which has been floated as a slice of light entertainment this week would eventually be redeemed,...
‘orrible merger (continued)
The concept of Ivan Glasenberg on a charm offensive is hard to grasp. Charm is not generally considered one of the key characteristics needed to be a top trader, but he’s...
[SFTW] Now that’s what I call a Target
One of the mysteries, to me, of the Greek crisis has been why there should be any deposits left in the local banks. All those with more euros than they need in order to eat and...
[SFTW] Vedanta’s iron-clad PR
Vedanta Resources is creating happiness. This might seem like a tall order for a mining group, but it must be true because the company tells us how it’s sent some nascent...
