Aramco set for possible stock listing

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CITYAM.COM
CHINA SCRAMBLES
TO CALM MARKETS
JESSICA MORRIS
CHINESE
authorities
yesterday
scrapped the controversial circuitbreaker mechanism which halted
trading on the country’s stock
markets twice this week.
The move followed the shortest ever
trading day in China. Share prices fell
for 29 minutes before the market was
suspended, leading to a further drop
in equity markets throughout the
world. London’s blue-chip companies
had another £33bn wiped off their
value, with the FTSE 100 closing at a
three-week low of 5,954.08.
In New York the Dow Jones recorded
its worst ever opening four days of a
year, closing down 2.32 per cent at
16,514.10 last night.
The circuit-breaker rule, used for the
first time on Monday, was brought in
after volatile trading last summer.
It kicked in when the stock market
lost more than five per cent. A
number of critics argued that it was
having a counterproductive effect by
stoking panic.
Yesterday, it was triggered following
the People’s Bank of China’s shock
decision to set the official midpoint
rate of the renminbi at 6.5646 per dollar, its lowest level since March 2011.
The devaluation worsened fears over
a slowdown in economic growth.
£ STERLING TUMBLES: P3
£ CHINA EXPORTING DEFLATION: P19
Traders in China have
faced market chaos
throughout this week
WHY DID CHINA BRING IN A CIRCUIT-BREAKER – AND THEN SCRAP IT?
£ The circuit-breaker was introduced in a
bid to prevent volatility after August’s
so-called Black Monday.
£ If shares then print a seven per cent
drop on re-opening, trading is suspended
for the whole day.
volatility, critics argue it was in fact
increasing market panic, branding it
similar to shouting “fire” in a theatre.
£ The idea is that if the stock market
drops by five per cent, trading is
automatically suspended for a 15-minute
cooling off period.
£ The mechanisms were used for the
first time on Monday and again yesterday.
£ Circuit-breakers are common in stock
markets around the world – but allow for
significantly more movement before they
activate.
£ Despite being introduced to reduce
FREE
Aramco set
for possible
stock listing
BILLY BAMBROUGH
SAUDI Arabia is considering
floating shares in state-run oil
producer Saudi Aramco.
Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown
prince Muhammad bin Salman
told the Economist magazine
the country will make a
decision in the coming
months.
As much as five per cent of
the company could be made
available, with the Economist
reporting the Saudi stock
exchange as a possibility. The
Saudi market is highly
restricted to international
investors, requiring at least
$5bn (£3.4bn) of assets under
management and a five-year
record.
Yet London has emerged as a
favourite among some
investors for the listing. Ole
Hansen, head of commodity
strategy at Saxo Bank, told City
A.M.: “London makes sense
considering its heavy presence
in the energy sector.”
Saudi Arabia may want to
list the company to stave off
the economically damaging
effects of the fall in oil price.
Abhishek Deshpande, lead
oil analyst at Natixis, told City
A.M.: “If they want more
transparency London’s ideal. It
will be a strong contender.”
Alastair McCaig, market
analyst at IG, said: “London
would be the most likely
destination on a global basis.”
Saudi Aramco has oil
reserves of 261bn barrels, 10
times more than Exxon Mobil.
FTSE 100 ▼ 5,954.08 -119.30 FTSE 250 ▼ 16,792.22 -266.76 DOW ▼ 16,514.10 -392.41 NASDAQ ▼ 4,689.43 -146.34 £/$ ▼ 1.462 -0.001 £/€ ▼ 1.337 -0.020 €/$ ▲ 1.093 +0.015
02
NEWS
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
HYPERACTIVE Elon Musk keeps in
the loop with Nevada test track
THE CITY VIEW
Corbyn, business and
the diplomatic dance
H
ANDS up: who was gripped by Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle
this week? By normal Westminster standards this wasn’t
exactly a swift and decisive event. It started late on
Sunday night and is just about wrapping up now.
Westminster watchers were in overdrive, camped outside the
office of the Leader of the Opposition, live-blogging every twist
and turn as if it were the dying hours of the transfer window.
Not everyone took it to be an event of monumental significance
and importance, though. Novelist Robert Harris described the
reshuffle of Labour’s top team as “the very definition of
futility” – by which he meant a reshuffle “of people doing
imaginary jobs in a future government that will never exist”.
That’s certainly one way to look at it. But no matter how
unelectable Corbyn’s Labour appears to be from the outside,
those at its heart are much more optimistic. The reshuffle was
an opportunity to get rid of
those shadow cabinet voices
who have not been
sufficiently loyal. Having now
assembled a team who (by
and large) actually want
Corbyn to be PM, the Labour
leadership can at least
attempt to start acting and looking like a coherent opposition.
And so, with this in mind, the Leader of the Opposition finally
got round to doing the kind of thing that serious Leaders of the
Opposition are supposed to do: engaging with Britain’s business
community. Yes, for the first time since his election last
September, Jeremy Corbyn has this week met both the CBI and
the British Chambers of Commerce. A spokesman for the BCC
told this newspaper that Corbyn met privately with director
general John Longworth, and that the two men had “a positive
discussion about a variety of business issues”. One wonders what
they would agree on. After all, Labour is now a party of
nationalisations, tax hikes and intervention. Labour’s leader also
met new CBI boss Carolyn Fairbairn. Business groups are
diplomatic after such encounters. They have to be. But the truth is
that such meetings are a charade. The Labour leader has no more
interest in business than the business groups have in Corbyn
becoming PM. They’ll invite him to speak, they’ll keep in touch,
and all the while they’ll expect him to lose. Which he will.
One wonders what
Jeremy Corbyn and
business leaders
could agree on
Follow us on Twitter @cityam
FINANCIAL TIMES
SHELL TO SECURE INVESTOR
OK FOR BG TAKEOVER
Royal Dutch Shell’s £36bn bid for rival
BG Group is poised to win the support
of most of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant’s
shareholders, paving the way for its
completion despite a collapse in crude
that has stoked fears the company is
paying too much. Institutional
Shareholder Services (ISS), a proxy
advisory body, is expected to
recommend that investors support the
deal, according to people familiar with
the situation. ISS declined to comment.
WEST SUSSEX ANNOUNCES
PLANS FOR SCIENCE HUB
West Sussex county council has
announced plans to build a “centre of
WHAT THE
OTHER
PAPERS SAY
THIS
MORNING
CONSTRUCTION has begun in Nevada on the Hyperloop transportation system, a 700mph train thought up by Elon Musk, the
man behind the Tesla electric car and the SpaceX re-entry space rocket. The two-mile test track, designed and built by Hyperloop
Technologies, is expected to be completed by the end of the year with the first commercial track ready by 2021.
Cameron is confident EU
deal can be agreed soon
LAUREN FEDOR
AND JAMES NICKERSON
PRIME Minister David Cameron said
yesterday that he was “confident” he
will achieve his European Union
reform agenda and campaign for the
UK to stay in the EU, despite a new poll
showing that a majority of Britons
would vote in favour of Brexit.
Speaking to reporters in Bavaria
as part of a two-day trip to woo
politicians and the public in Germany and Hungary, Cameron
said he would “like to secure the
future of Britain in a reformed
European Union” and thought
achieving his EU reform
agenda was “possible”
and “not just good for
Britain but good for
Europe… Not simply
because other European countries will
THE TIMES
NAKED AMBITION PUTS WINE
RETAILER BACK ON TRACK
Shares in Majestic Wine rose by almost
10 per cent after the drinks retailer
reported a bounce back in sales over
the Christmas period. Total sales over
the period rose by 42.6 per cent thanks
to the £70m acquisition last spring of
Naked Wines, the online retailer.
RIVALS IN SLIPSTREAM AS
RYANAIR CARRIES 101M
excellence” for European health and
life sciences on a disused
pharmaceutical company’s site. The
centre will be at the former Novartis
campus in Horsham.
Ryanair has become the first airline to
carry 100m international passengers in
a year after attempting to shed its
penny-pinching image. Figures
published yesterday indicated that
Ryanair’s traffic soared by nearly a fifth
in 12 months.
benefit by Britain continuing to be a
member of Europe, but I think its important that this organisation shows it
has the flexibility of a network and can
address concerns of individual members, rather than the rigidity of a bloc.”
But a new ORB poll out yesterday
poured cold water on Cameron’s optimism, finding that while 21 per cent
of British voters are still
undecided about how to vote in
the forthcoming referendum, 43
per cent want to leave the EU
and just 36 per cent want to
remain in the 28-member bloc.
When undecided voters were
stripped out, those who want to
leave the EU rose to 54 per
cent, against 46 per
cent who want to stay.
The latest figures
A new EU poll will be a
blow to Cameron
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
BOEING SET TO CLIMB ABOVE
AIRBUS’ DELIVERY NUMBERS
Boeing looks almost certain to have
beaten Airbus in this year’s battle for the
title of the world’s biggest plane maker.
The aircraft manufacturer’s Seattle
factories delivered a record 762 airliners
in 2015, up 39 on 2014 – the previous alltime high – about 150 more than its
rival.
FASHION SITE ATTERLEY
FALLS INTO ADMINISTRATION
Atterley, the fashion website backed by
former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy, has
collapsed into administration. Parent
company Maison Seven Limited was
placed into administration on 5 January
following an order at the High Court.
put pressure on Cameron as he seeks
to secure a deal at the European Council meeting next month in Brussels.
However, Cameron was bolstered during his two-day mini-tour by a stop at
the BMW manufacturing plant in
Munich, where bosses at the German
car giant warned against Britain leaving the European Union.
Ian Robertson, director of sales at the
company, said BMW would “regret”
seeing the UK leave the EU.
“The UK has the most diverse car
industry in Europe and is the fourthlargest market of BMW Group worldwide,” he said. “BMW Group has
invested over £1.75bn in the UK since
the year 2000 across its four manufacturing plants and sources £1.2bn
worth of goods and services from UK
suppliers annually. In this context we
believe it is advantageous for the UK to
remain in the EU and to continue to be
an active and influential member.”
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
PANASONIC WILL BET BIG
ON GIGAFACTORY
Panasonic president Kazuhiro Tsuga
said the company will spend up to
$1.6bn (£1.1bn) on an advanced battery
factory in Nevada with electric-car
maker Tesla Motors , an investment it
hopes to cement its future in
automotive electronics.
ALCOA TO CLOSE INDIANA
PLANT AND IDLE TEXAS ONE
Alcoa plans to close one of the country’s
biggest aluminium smelters in Indiana
and idle production at a plant in Texas,
resulting in the loss of 1,270 jobs. This
will be another painful hit for the metals
industry. The steel industry also went
through thousands of layoffs last year.
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
Sterling falls on
rate hike delays
and Brexit fear
BILLY BAMBROUGH
AND CHRIS PAPADOPOULLOS
THE POUND sank even further against
the dollar yesterday, reaching a fiveand-a-half year low during trading as
investors pushed back expectations for
an interest rate hike.
Sterling fell to $1.457 during the day,
but pared some losses to trade slightly
above $1.46 late last night.
As recently as August, the pound was
worth $1.58, but it has been weighed
down by the ongoing commodity
crisis, diminishing expectations for a
rate hike, and growing perceptions
that Britain could leave the EU.
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at
World First, told City A.M.: “There’s a
lot of concern about sterling around
the EU and it’s adding to concerns the
UK isn’t going to hike.”
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has
now plumped for a fourth quarter of
2016 rate rise from the Bank of
England, abandoning its previous forecast of a rise in the second quarter,
due to the effect of the commodities
sell-off on inflation.
Goldman follows Bank of America
Merrill Lynch, which had already this
week pushed back its expectation for
the first Bank hike from May to
November this year. Economist George
Magnus, a senior adviser to UBS, told
City A.M.: “Sterling was my downside
risk for 2016. The EU referendum is
weighing, but sterling weakness
would be something that shakes up
the MPC on interest rates and puts
back decisions.”
The Bank’s monetary policy committee is meeting for its next interest rate
decision on 14 January and the market
will be keen to see how MPC members
react to recent market volatility when
the minutes are published on the
same day.
Market expectations for a rate hike
have slid since last week. At the end of
2015, Bank of England data showed
December 2016 as the most likely date
for a rate rise; but as of yesterday,
expectations had moved back to
March 2017.
Meanwhile, Britain’s referendum
over its membership of the European
Union is also dragging on market confidence with polls yesterday showing
record levels of support for a UK exit.
An ORB opinion poll found that 43
per cent want to leave the European
Union, against just 36 per cent who
want to remain in the 28-member
bloc, while 21 per cent are still
undecided.
OUT OF THE BLUE... AND IN THE RED
A quarter of Blue Inc fashion stores to close
FASHION retailer Blue Inc last night confirmed a subsidiary has filed an intention to
go into administration. The move means up to 65 of its stores in the UK will close as a
result of higher online sales. The firm said its other 180 stores were unaffected.
Standard Chartered deputy chief
exec to step down later this year
LAUREN FEDOR
STANDARD Chartered deputy group
chief executive Mike Rees will step
down at the end of April, the bank
announced last night.
Rees, who has worked for Standard
Chartered for 26 years, will retire on
30 April, stepping down from both his
job as deputy group chief executive
and his role on the board, the bank
said in a statement.
The bank said Rees, 59, will not
seek re-election as a group executive
director at the 2016 AGM in May and
will leave the group fully at the end
of the year.
Standard Chartered chairman Sir
John Peace said: “Mike has made a
major contribution to Standard
Chartered over the past 26 years, and
I would like to particularly thank
Mike for his valuable support to the
board and the management team in
shaping and executing on our new
strategy.”
NEWS
03
IN BRIEF
DENMARK RAISES DEPOSIT
RATE TO MINUS 0.65PC
Denmark’s central bank yesterday raised
one of its key interest rates – but it’s still
in the negative. The bank said it was
hiking its deposit rate to minus 0.65 per
cent, up from minus 0.75 per cent. It is
one of the first European central banks to
raise rates in months. The news comes
days after the central bank admitted that
in December it sold 49.6bn Danish krone
(£4.9bn) of foreign currency reserves in
an attempt to maintain its peg to the
euro. The bank held its lending rate at
0.05 per cent and its current account rate
at zero per cent.
APPLE SNAPS UP ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE STARTUP
Tech giant Apple yesterday bought
emotion-detecting startup Emotient,
taking a deeper plunge into artificial
intelligence (AI). Emotient, founded in
2012, uses AI software to analyse facial
expressions and detect people’s
emotions. The firm’s primary audience
has been advertisers hoping to
evaluate viewers’ reactions to adverts.
Apple has confirmed the acquisition,
with a spokesperson saying the firm
“buys smaller technology companies
from time to time, and we generally do
not discuss our purpose or plans”. This
is the latest push into artificial
intelligence and virtual reality from the
tech giant, which has been shopping
for a string of similar startups lately. In
October, Apple purchased UK-based AI
speech technology startup Vocal IQ.
Other tech giants, such as Facebook
and Google, are also investing heavily
in AI.
SFO NEEDS URGENT FRESH
CASH TO PURSUE CASES
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has asked
the government for an extra £21.14m to
meet urgent cash needs as it pursues
some of its most complex investigations,
such as an inquiry into alleged financial
benchmark rigging. The SFO, which
investigates and prosecutes top drawer
and multinational fraud, bribery and
corruption, has now asked the
government for a near-doubling of its
funding for this financial year after
requesting an extra £10m last June. The
SFO’s biggest and costliest cases have
included the investigation into the
alleged manipulation of Libor (London
interbank offered rate), which to date
has yielded one guilty plea and one 14year sentence, reduced to 11 years on
appeal.
04
NEWS
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
M&S boss Bolland steps down as
Marc Bolland leaves retailer as general merchandise sales record another drop and M&S
RAVENDER SEMBHY
AND CATHERINE NEILAN
MARC BOLLAND stepped down as
chief executive of Marks & Spencer
yesterday, ending years of speculation
about his future amid another set of
dismal sales figures.
The Dutchman, who has had six
years at the helm of the retailer, will
be succeeded by Steve Rowe, executive
director of general merchandise.
Rowe, a 25-year M&S veteran, was
informed of the board’s decision to
appoint him to the top role only on
Monday.
Bolland’s departure was announced
alongside a 5.8 per cent slump in likefor-like general merchandise sales,
which includes the troubled
women’s clothing division.
M&S chairman Robert Swannell
lauded Bolland’s tenure, claiming
he had led the company “through a
period of necessary change”.
However, John Ibbotson, director of
Retail Vision, was scathing in his
criticism, saying: “After such a
dismal Christmas, Marc Bolland has jumped before he
was pushed. All the excuses
in the world about unseasonably warm weather can’t
hide the fact that a 5.8 per
WHAT THE ANALYSTS SAY
Bolland, a distinguished commercial
statesman, has done a lot of very good
work to fundamentally modernise M&S
CLIVE BLACK, SHORE CAPITAL
The slump in merchandise sales would
have led to calls for Marc Bolland to go –
had he not announced he will step down
DAVID STODDART, EDISON
The fact that the company has
appointed an internal candidate is a
surprise. Best of luck to Steve Rowe
FREDDIE GEORGE, CANTOR
We expect a more balanced
strategy of sales and margin
growth to develop in GM
following this change
TONY SHIRET, HAITONG
cent slide in like-for-like
non-food sales is little
short of dismal.
“M&S’ clothing operation
Marc Bolland
had been M&S
boss since
May 2010
is now a fallen colossus. Years of longterm decline have seen it lose both its
identity and market share, and the
decision to sacrifice quality in order
to cut costs has proved toxic for the
brand’s core middle-class customers –
who have been deserting in droves.”
Bolland’s positive lasting legacy will
be M&S’ food division, where like-forlike sales have risen for 25 consecutive
quarters. Over the third quarter,
which included Christmas, food sales
were up 0.4 per cent versus the zero
growth forecast by analysts.
Bolland will remain as chief executive and on the board until 2 April,
and will remain available to Rowe during the handover until 30 June. Swannell said that Rowe has a
proven track record of “delivering
results” in key parts of the business,
having previously headed up retail
and e-commerce and food.
However, retail analyst Nick Bubb
said: “Marks & Spencer say that Marc
Bolland’s departure has been
planned, but it is very hard to escape
the fact that it has been announced
on the back of dreadful general merchandise sales at Christmas and it is
ironic that his replacement as chief
executive is the current boss of that
struggling general merchandise business, Steve Rowe.”
M&S has been dogged by
poor sales in its women’s
clothing unit. Shares
closed up 0.11 per cent
MARKS AND SPENCER
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CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
sales sag
veteran Steve Rowe steps in
There’s nowhere to
hide for shop-floor boy
turned chief executive
I
T WAS only a matter of time before Marc Bolland left Marks &
Spencer, and with his tenure at
the retailer nearing six years,
many will be asking how he
lasted as long as he did.
Under Bolland, times have been
tough: general merchandise (GM)
has been in decline for 17 of the
past 18 quarters, while profits have
slumped below that of rival Next.
It’s not just clothing that came
undone. M&S has suffered hiccups
with its e-commerce platform and
its international expansion. Yes,
food grew from strength to
strength – as you might expect
under a former supermarket boss –
but it was never enough to
convince us that Bolland’s “step-bystep” turnaround was not, in fact,
more of a stumble.
Some of those issues have now
been ironed out, and Steve Rowe
inherits a potentially stronger
retailer than Bolland did.
He also has a breadth of
experience that Bolland could only
wish for, albeit mostly at one
company.
Plenty of criticism has been
levelled at M&S for its lack of retail
experience on the board, but Rowe
has it in droves, including genuine
shopfloor experience, having
started his career as a 15-year-old
Saturday boy in the Croydon store.
He spent years working in
branches before he was moved to
head office, where he has worked
Catherine
Neilan
across the holy trinity of food,
general merchandise and
e-commerce.
He should, therefore, fully
understand the many issues M&S
must grapple with. The tired store
portfolio that puts shoppers off
before they have even crossed the
threshold, the mismatch with its
clothing offer and the women who
(used to) shop there, and the need
to pick up some of the premium
spenders who use it as their
supermarket of choice, without
alienating its old customers.
Having been in their shoes, Rowe
must also have his ears open to the
points raised by those on the
shopfloor, many of whom have
become frustrated with the old
regime.
It won’t be an easy job, and after
yet another dismal set of sales in
GM – the division he currently
heads up – there will be no room
to hide.
Rowe must identify the problems
and fix them quickly, else he risks
continuing the decline of a oncegreat institution.
STEVE ROWE: FIVE KEY FACTS
£ Rowe has been with the
company for 25 years in
roles that include director
of retail and e-commerce
and various positions in
general merchandise. In
2012, he joined the board
as executive director of
food, and last summer
took the equivalent role in
GM.
£ Rowe is not the man
that most people thought
would be leading M&S
after Bolland’s eventual
departure. That honour
was widely expected to go
to John Dixon, former
executive director of
general merchandise, who
surprisingly quit last
summer.
£ Rowe, who will receive a
salary of £810,000, was
appointed with the
unanimous support of the
board, meaning he will be
given time to stamp his
mark on the company.
£ A Croydon native and
Millwall fan, he began his
climb up the corporate
pole at the bottom, as a
Saturday boy in his local
store when he was 15 years
old.
£ He has M&S in his
blood. The Rowes are only
the second family to have
had two generations on
the board. The first was
Israel Sieff, who was a
director in 1926, and his
son Marcus, who emulated
him in 1956. The second
was Steve and Joe Rowe,
both of whom were head
of food.
NEWS
05
29
p
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
MPs call in FCA
executives over
banking review
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CITYAM.COM
MONDAY 4 JANUARY
LAUREN FEDOR
2016
ISSUE 2,534
the City
have slammed
LEADING MPs its decision to drop a
watchdog over
banking culture,
review into Britain’s of an imminent
.
raising the possibility
of top regulators
public grilling
Conduct Authority
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LAUREN FEDOR
EMMA HASLETT
AND LAUREN FEDOR
implementation of the reforms recommended by the Vickers and Banking
Commissions and set out to improve
THE CITY watchdog will be forced to conduct in banks.
publicly answer questions about its
“So this session will be a part of the
recent decision to drop a review into committee’s assessment of the FCA’s
Britain’s banking culture after MPs efforts to fulfil the enhanced statutory
criticised the move.
responsibilities given to it by ParliaThe Treasury Select Committee said ment over the last few years.”
yesterday that it has called for FinanThe FCA revealed last week that it
cial Conduct Authority (FCA) acting had scrapped plans for its inquiry into
chief executive Tracey McDermott and the culture and behaviour of British
FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones to bank employees, saying that each
appear before the committee in the lender was unique and could not be
House of Commons to explain why the easily compared. The FCA said it had
regulator scrapped the
decided a wide-ranging
review.
review would not help
“The FCA’s decision
achieve its “desired outto drop its review of
comes” and that it would
WHAT’S
bank culture does
instead work directly with
IN STORE
FOR 2016?
seem
curious,”
individual banks to proExtr
pledmote the “delivery of culAndrew Tyrie, the
new
watchdog
committee’s chairman
tural change”.
mon the City’s banks
MPs want to sum
in’s top
ential group of w into the culture at Brita
revie
said, adding: “It is not Influ
after it drops its
the dropping of the
City A.M. first reported MPs
review that is crucial.
wanted to grill the FCA
What matters is the full
NEWS
McDermott was tipped to be a front-runner to replace former boss Martin Wheatley
Tracey McDermott: I do not want
to become permanent FCA boss
EMMA HASLETT
AND LAUREN FEDOR
ACTING Financial Conduct Authority
(FCA) chief executive Tracey
McDermott revealed yesterday that
she had taken her name out of the
running to be the regulator’s
permanent boss before Christmas,
saying it is “not the right job” for her
at this stage of her career.
“This was a decision taken after
many months of careful thought and
was not one that I took lightly,” she
said.
The FCA said McDermott will
continue as acting chief exec until
the Treasury appoints a permanent
replacement. McDermott had been a
front-runner to take on the role after
chancellor George Osborne sacked
Martin Wheatley in July.
A SENIOR MP has slammed the
government over its numbercrunching, saying the UK’s statistics
are “scarcely fit for purpose”.
Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the
Treasury Select Committee, said the
UK has “fallen behind other
countries” when it comes to
compiling national statistics.
“The ONS has fallen a long way
short, lacking intellectual curiosity,
prone to silly mistakes, and unresponsive to the needs of consumers
of its statistics,” Tyrie said. “Worse
still, the watchdog, created in 2008
to keep ONS, among others, up to
the mark, has been asleep on the
job.”
Tyrie made the comments
following a Treasury committee
evidence session yesterday morning
with Sir Charles Bean, a London
School of Economics professor who
has been tasked with producing a
report on UK economic statistics.
“Poor statistics lead to poor
public policy decisions, and hold
back the private sector, resulting in
a loss of welfare to millions of
people,” Tyrie added. “What may
seem recondite and dry is crucial
for an advanced western economy.”
08
NEWS
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
Pay growth falls
to two-year low
despite jobs rise
CHRIS PAPADOPOULLOS
PAY GROWTH has slowed to its lowest
rate in over two years, new survey figures show this morning.
The slowdown comes despite an
increase in job vacancies in December, according to the data compiled by
the Recruitment and Employment
Confederation (REC) and financial
services firm KPMG.
The survey’s pay gauge slid to a score
of 58.7 from 61.3 the month before.
Figures above 50 signal an increase
over the month, but December’s score
implies a smaller increase.
The number of vacancies grew at a
faster pace than in November, indicating higher demand for staff. It is at
historically high levels with the index
at 62.2 up from 61.2.
Despite the number of opportunities going up, the pace of hiring eased
slightly compared with the previous
month, with the hiring index for permanent staff falling to 55.5 from 57.1.
Growth in the availability of permanent staff remains deep in negative
territory, with the score for availability scoring 35.1. IT and computing professionals were the most in-demand
workers for permanent placements,
up from third place a year ago.
“The UK labour market is in great
shape at the start of 2016, but some
major challenges lie ahead,” said REC
chief executive Kevin Green.
“Skill shortages are a real threat to
continued growth in many industries.
With talent at a premium, employers
will try to attract staff by increasing
starting salaries.
“On general wage growth, as many
businesses align annual pay rises to
the rate of inflation, we anticipate
that growth will remain at 1.5 to 2.5
per cent.”
Officials at the Bank of England
have aired concerns over pay growth,
and said they would not be tempted
to lift interest rates until it became
more robust.
UK telco giant
slams snoopers’
charter plan
CLARA GUIBOURG
The budget chain has been hit by a fall in high street customers
Poundland issues profit warning
RAVENDER SEMBHY
POUNDLAND has warned that full
year profits will come in at the lower
end of expectations after sales slowed
in the third quarter.
Jim McCarthy, chief executive,
joined retailers such as Next in
expressing concern over Christmas
trading. He said: “Trading conditions
that we experienced in November
continued through the third
quarter, with high street customer
numbers down year-on-year.”
He now expects profits towards the
£40m mark for the year. The retailer
reported a 29.4 per cent rise in sales
over the period. However, two-thirds
of the growth came from 99p Stores,
acquired late last year.
Andrew Hall, retail consultant at
Conlumino, said: “The ongoing
proliferation of discount formats,
including Poundland, may not be
considered a viable long-term strategy
given a well-saturated market.”
VODAFONE yesterday attacked the
government’s so-called snoopers’
charter, warning that the proposed
legislation to monitor communication risks undermining trust in
British telecommunication firms.
The telco giant has expressed
concern that authorities’ power to
tap into and access its network
would be a “major imposition on
the freedom of an operator”.
In a submission to the draft
investigatory powers bill
committee, it questioned whether
this “intrusive power is necessary at
all”.
“A balance needs to be struck
between protecting the UK from
terrorists and criminals while
ensuring the vast majority of lawabiding members of society have
the right for their private
information to be protected,”
Vodafone wrote.
Vodafone has joined Apple,
Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo
and Microsoft in criticising the
proposed legislation and all have
highlighted to the committee
potential issues with cross-border
jurisdiction, rejecting attempts
deliberately to weaken encryption.
UK house prices have risen 9.5pc in Number of tenants in
a year as London’s shoot up 12pc serious arrears rising
EMMA HASLETT
HOUSE prices have risen 9.5 per cent
in the year to December, according to
figures from Halifax yesterday, which
showed the average price is now
£208,286.
This means that annual price
growth stayed between eight and 10
per cent for most of 2015 – the only
exception being July, when it fell to
7.8 per cent.
On a monthly basis, prices were 1.7
per cent higher than in November,
while prices were 1.6 per cent higher
in the fourth quarter than they were
in the third.
Meanwhile, Newham in London –
home to Stratford’s Olympic village –
recorded the biggest rise in prices,
with a 22 per cent leap, nearly double
London’s average of 12 per cent.
Recent data suggests the trend is
unlikely to let up any time soon.
According to the Royal Institute of
Chartered Surveyors, supply fell in
November for the 10th month in a
row.
“It’s same old, same old on the
house price front,” said Mark Posniak,
of Dragonfly Property Finance.
“Looking into 2016, it’s hard to see
anything other than a continuation
of the current trend of steadily rising
prices, especially with interest rate
rises in the near future unlikely.”
CHRIS PAPADOPOULLOS
THE NUMBER of tenants falling
seriously behind on rent went up by
13.8 per cent in the three months to
September compared with the three
months to June, according to figures
released this morning.
There were 84,200 tenants more
than two months behind on their
payments between July and
September – the most for two years,
the data from estate agents Your
Move and Reeds Rains reveals.
The growth in tenants falling
behind may simply be the result of
the growth of the private rented
sector. However, the proportion of
private tenancies in arrears has
risen to 1.6 per cent from 1.4 per
cent, but is below a 2008 peak of 2.9
per cent. Landlords appear to be
offering greater flexibility, with
evictions falling 4.3 per cent.
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CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
Confidence in
the Eurozone at
four-year high
CHRIS PAPADOPOULLOS
CONSUMERS and businesses in the
Eurozone are feeling more confident on the economy, according to
figures released yesterday.
The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator climbed
0.7 points to a score of 106.8 in
December – the highest since 2011.
Its average since 1990 is 100.
Consumer confidence is being
helped by a falling unemployment
rate, which dropped to its lowest
level in more than four years. The
jobless rate edged down to 10.5 per
cent in November, Eurostat, the
statistical office of the EU, said yesterday. The rate is down from 10.6
per cent in October and 11.5 per cent
in the same month of 2014.
The number of jobless in the Eurozone has fallen by 2.1m over the past
12 months.
Retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in
November, according to separate figures from Eurostat. It was mostly
due to a fall in monthly money
spent on fuel as prices dropped. Fuel
sales were down 0.7 per cent.
Business survey figures released
this week showed that Eurozone
growth was likely to have reached its
fastest rate for four and a half years
in the final three months of 2015.
“The ongoing improvement in the
survey data suggests a positive
underlying growth momentum and
growth is likely to accelerate over
the course of 2016, where the Eurozone as a whole can count on easier
financial and monetary conditions,”
said economist Clemente De Lucia
from BNP Paribas.
The European Central Bank launched a €1.1 trillion (£820bn) asset
purchase programme in March last
year, with the aim of easing financial conditions to help growth. A
similar step was taken by the Bank
of England in 2009. The programme
was extended by six months last
month, and is now planned to continue until March 2017.
NEWS
09
Pay gap linked
to female rates
of depression
CLARA GUIBOURG
KPMG has pointed out that we may have reached peak car registration
Record year for car sales in 2015
but VW models screech to a halt
EMMA HASLETT
LAST year was a record one for new
car registrations, new figures released
yesterday show, with 2.63m new
vehicles registered during 2015 – up
6.3 per cent from last year.
That was boosted by December
during which 180,077 new cars were
registered, up 8.4 per cent from the
same month in 2015.
But it wasn’t such a good month
for troubled Volkswagen: the
manufacturer took just one of the
top 10 spots for most popular car
models in December, down from
three in October.
The Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders said growth in the
market smashed expectations – and
also sped past the previous record
year in 2003.
THE FACT that women are still
getting paid less than men for the
same work is quite literally
depressing, according to a new
study linking the gender pay gap to
higher rates of depression in
women.
UK women earn around 80p for
every £1 men take home, and
change is happening at something
of a glacial pace, with recent
estimates from the World
Economic Forum suggesting the
global pay gap will take another 118
years to close.
Women are about twice as likely
as men to suffer from depression,
and now Columbia University
researchers have found evidence of
a correlation between the pay gap
between men and women and
mood disorders.
The study discovered that women
earning less than their male
counterparts are four times more
likely to be diagnosed with anxiety,
and 2.5 times as likely to develop
depression.
Researchers surveyed 22,000
American adults in full-time and
part-time work, comparing men
and women with similar education
and work experience.
The right solution
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10
NEWS
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
THECAPITALIST
Got A Story? Email
[email protected]
EDITED BY EDITH HANCOCK
With Bolland bowing
out, odds shorten on
retail boss departures
SO M&S boss Marc Bolland has finally
stepped down, after years of pressure –
but who thought his departure would
be revealed just seven days into the
New Year?
At the very start of this week
The Capitalist brought you
odds on The 2016 Sack Race,
including the 4/5 that was
available on Marks’ Dutch
boss leaving his post this
year.
He announced yesterday
that he’ll be leaving the role
in April. Ladbrokes says it has
never seen a boss step down so
soon after releasing its start-of-theyear sack race odds.
So, how many punters managed to
cash in on the departure?
According to the bookmaker, the resignation was announced so suddenly
that only one bidder had time to put a
tenner on him.
And now Ladbrokes has come back to
The Capitalist with even shorter odds
on the Square Mile’s retail bosses.
Dave Forsey, the Sports Direct chief
who’s had a tough year of legal
battles and public tiffs over the
firm’s use of zero-hour contracts, now stands at 6/4
to get replaced this year.
Meanwhile,
we’ve
had a late and surprising entry into the CEO
Sack Race – Next boss
Lord Wolfson. After
blaming a mild December for the firm’s disappointing performance over
Christmas, the star chief exec
is 10/1 to leave.
City psychic Mark Kleinman should
place some bets. He was spot on in
yesterday’s City A.M. after predicting
that Tracey McDermott wouldn’t get
the top job at the FCA, despite being
acting chief since September. Good
call.
DOES THIS COUNT AS STREAKING?
Political pundits avoid full-frontal lunacy
MAY THE WHARF BE WITH YOU
The new Star Wars film continues to
break records at the UK box office,
grossing £97.4m in 17 days. Lovers of
anything profitable, Canary Wharf’s
workers are turning into super-fans. A
chirpy announcer at Canary Wharf’s tube
station was telling Star Wars jokes all
morning, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Barclays digital analyst Luke Silverton
was most pleased with the upbeat tone:
“More cheery announcements please!”
LEASURE FOR LEISURE
Leasure by name, leisure by nature.
Billabong boss Ed Leasure has handed in
his notice – to pursue a broader range of
hobbies. He said: “After getting into the
business to surf more, I’m now stepping
back from the business to surf more.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Bill Clinton reveals his culinary
adventure with the late Russian
President – and bon vivant – Boris
Yeltsin…
POLITICAL types are not known for sticking to their promises, and nowhere is this
more blatant than the “if X happens, I will streak down Whitehall” pledge. Yesterday,
Telegraph journo Dan Hodges almost kept his word after boasting that he would do
the run “in a Nigel Farage mask while singing Land of Hope and Glory” if Ukip broke
six per cent in the general election. He ran in boxers, no mask in sight. Still, that’s
better than political pundit Iain Dale, who said he’d do it in 2010 if the Lib Dems won
fewer than 59 seats. He didn’t do it at all. But Lib Dem blogger Stephen Tall came
closest to the real thing, when he streaked in September wearing nothing but a
thong after his party won fewer than 24 seats in the May vote. Lovely.
“When I had lunch with
Boris, he served roast
pig and told me real men
hack off the ears and eat
them. And once he
served 24 courses,
including moose lips.”
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1995
Nick Leeson,
Leeson, 1995
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CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
NEWS
11
Gun makers scare off short sellers
MADELINE RATCLIFFE
THE PROSPECT of increased gun control in the US has certainly not fazed
investors, as a record number of Americans tried to buy guns in 2015, sending short sellers running for cover.
In fact, it seems to have bolstered gun
makers’ stock, and short interest in the
shares is at a three year low, or below
five per cent according to the latest
Markit data.
Smith and Wesson shares reached an
all time high, of $25.86, climbing 11
per cent after President Obama
revealed his plans to expand background checks gun sellers must carry
out. Short selling interest in Smith and
Wesson is at 2.8 per cent, below the
S&P 500 average of around three per
cent, and at a decade low.
Short selling is effectively betting a
company’s share price will fall. An
investor borrows shares to sell and buy-
back at a pre-arranged price, profiting
if the price falls. Short interest is the
percentage of shares that are on loan.
Fellow gun manufacturer Sturm
Ruger & Co has seen short interest fall
85 per cent since the start of 2013, and
60 per cent in the past 12 months
alone, to 5.5 per cent.
A similar pattern was seen in 2013
when Obama last tried to restrict gun
ownership after the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown.
Investec: Get
shares in buyto-let banks
Background checks, a proxy for gun sales, tend to spike when regulation is discussed
PARKLAND LIVING, LONDON LIFESTYLE
Crowdfunder
LendInvest hits
£500m mark
LAUREN FEDOR
MADELINE RATCLIFFE
CONCERNS over increased regulation
of the buy-to-let residential property
market have prompted investors to
undervalue some of Britain’s leading
challenger banks, analysts at Investec
have claimed.
In a new note out yesterday,
Investec analysts upgraded their
recommendation on OneSavings
Bank, a FTSE 250-listed lender, from
“hold” to “buy” off the back of recent
share price fluctuations.
Shares in the challenger bank,
which had its initial public offering
(IPO) in May 2014, have fallen 18 per
cent since 17 December.
Investec said the recent sell-off
likely reflected market reaction to the
Treasury consultation on higher rates
of stamp duty for additional
residential properties, given that
OneSavings is a business strongly
exposed to the buy-to-let market.
But Investec said the buy-to-let
business should be seen as a “clear
positive” for the company, with
“attractive market economics”
helping to drive performance.
“We think investors should have a
very high level of confidence in
relation to the outlook for
OneSavings’ growth, earnings and
returns over the next the two to three
years, which should duly inform
valuation,” the analysts said.
Investec has been bullish on
Britain’s challenger banks of late.
In a separate note earlier this week,
Investec analysts wrote that they
expected Aldermore, a FTSE 250 retail
bank targeting small- and mediumsized businesses, to “achieve material
out-performance against every other
UK bank” this year, adding that
investors’ political and regulatory
concerns surrounding smaller
lenders were “largely baseless”.
OneSavings Bank closed up 4.55 per
cent yesterday, at 324.20p per share.
LENDINVEST, the peer-to-peer
mortgage provider, has reached a
new milestone: lending more than
£500m in short-to-medium term
mortgages.
In the first week of 2016, it
processed a £5m loan in London,
taking the total lent to £501m.
The site was the first crowdfunding platform for residential
and commercial mortgages and
since launching in May 2013, more
than 10 per cent of all UK peer-topeer loans have been processed on
its platform.
The company said it was particularly proud of the fact it had reached
the £500m mark in just two and a
half years.
It lends more than £22m a
month.
Christian Faes, co-founder and
chief executive of LendInvest, said:
“Non-bank lending is starting to win
serious attention from short-term
borrowers and their brokers who
can see how well it works for them.
“It is faster, more flexible and
more straight forward than what’s
gone before. Just as crucially
though, we are filling a funding gap
where many traditional banks
simply cannot venture because of
capital constraints or legacy issues
from the financial crisis.”
Last year, LendInvest secured the
UK’s largest ever financial
technology (fintech) series A
funding: listed Chinese technology
company Beijing Kunlun invested
£22m in return for an undisclosed
equity stake.
Faes added: “With our technology
built, our team in place and
customer confidence soaring, 2016
will be a year of even greater scale
and ambition. Hitting the £1bn
landmark could be within our grasp
before the year is out.”
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CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Joseph Millis
WHISTL
Postal operator Whistl has
appointed home delivery
specialist Christine Key to
grow its packets and parcel
division. Previous roles held by
Christine in the delivery sector
include sales director at Yodel/
Home Delivery Network, sales
director DPD/GeoPost UK and
commercial director at
Parcelnet.
EARTHPORT
Earthport, the cross-border payment specialist based
in London, has appointed Peter Klein as global head of
FX. Peter joins Earthport after he co-founded a start up
in the P2P lending space. Prior to that, Peter served as
global head of FX brokerage and clearing at Bank of
America Merrill Lynch, head of FX prime brokerage at
JP Morgan, and chief executive of Saxo Bank UK
among other major roles.
BYRNE AND PARTNERS
Law firm Byrne and Partners has announced the
To appear in CITYMOVES please email your career updates and pictures to [email protected]
appointment of Tim Beale as partner in its civil
litigation practice. Tim joins after a decade as partner
at SJ Berwin and more recently Reed Smith. Tim has
focused principally on commercial fraud cases, usually
with a multi-jurisdictional element, including litigating
in, or through, Africa, the Gulf States, Europe and North
America.
TRUPHONE
Ralph Steffens has been appointed chief executive of
global mobile network Truphone, while former chief
executive Steve Robertson has been appointed
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executive chairman and CEO of strategic partnerships.
His last assignment was with Indian
telecommunications company Reliance Jio Infocomm
as president and chief operating office based in
Mumbai. Ralph, now based in London, will work with
Steve and the rest of the management team at
Truphone, leading the strategic direction of the
company and further growing its international reach
and improving the service offering to its customers.
Ralph has held senior positions at NBN, BT and Colt
Telecom, heading up operations in various regions,
including Europe, India and Australia.
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CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
Shire to seal £22bn deal
to takeover US rival
drug maker Baxalta
CARL O’DONNELL
RARE disease drug maker Shire Pharmaceuticals is preparing to announce
a £22bn acquisition of US peer Baxalta
International as early as Monday, according to people familiar with the
matter.
The deal would come after Reuters
first reported on 22 December that
Shire’s latest offer for Baxalta had
met the US firm’s valuation expectations.
The cash-and-stock deal will value
Baxalta at around $48 per share,
with a cash component just shy of
$20 per share, the people said yesterday.
The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are
confidential. Shire and Baxalta declined to comment last night.
LEGAL PURCHASE Legal & General has
purchased the old TfL building in Stratford
The acquisition would mark the
culmination of a long pursuit
hinged partly on how much cash
Shire could offer without triggering
additional taxes for Baxalta.
Reuters first reported Shire’s
renewed effort to court Baxalta in
November.
Shire has been eyeing the maker of
rare disease drugs since July, when it
proposed an all-stock deal for just
over $45 per share that was rejected
by Baxalta’s board.
Baxalta was initially concerned
that accepting a cash offer too soon
after being spun off from parent
company Baxter could violate rules
designed to prevent spinoffs from
being used to dodge taxes.
In November, Shire announced a
deal to acquire another rare disease
drug maker, Dyax, for $5.9bn. Reuters
PRIME Minister David Cameron
yesterday left the door open to
putting a new tax on sugary drinks,
saying he would not be “in the
business of ruling things out”.
His comments sparked outrage
among free-market groups, who say
it is a regressive tax that would do
little to improve public health.
Cameron said that while he
would like to avoid imposing any
new taxes, the government needed
to act in the best interests of the
public.
“I don’t really want to put new
taxes on to anything, but we do have
to recognise that we face potentially
in Britain something of an obesity
crisis when we look at the effect of
obesity on not just diabetes, but the
effect on heart disease and
potentially on cancer,” he said.
“Now, of course, it would
be far better if we could
make progress on all
these issues without
having to resort to
taxes...but what
matters is we do
make progress.”
The Prime Minister’s
change of heart was met
with ridicule from the
Institute of Economic Affairs.
“[Sugar taxes] can’t be seen as part
of health policy, because they have
never been shown to reduce obesity
anywhere they have been tried,” the
LEGAL & General Retirement has completed the purchase of the Transport for
London building in the International Quarter in Stratford for £246m from Lend Lease
and LCR. This move is the latest in a series of Legal & General investments.
think tank’s economist Chris
Snowden said last night.
Cameron’s comments, which
mark a U-turn from previous
statements indicating the
government would not
back a sugar tax, come
amid a new Cancer
The PM wants to act on
the UK’s obesity rate
Research UK report
estimating that rising levels
of obesity could lead to around
700,000 new cases of cancer in the
next 20 years. The government will
publish a report on its efforts to
curb obesity in the coming days.
Stirling Square reaps benefits of
record levels of private funding
Park Vale’s cool
£16m investment
in freezer tech
MADELINE RATCLIFFE
MADELINE RATCLIFFE
PRIVATE equity firm Stirling
Square Capital Partners, whose
portfolio includes the UK’s
National Fostering Agency, has
closed its third fund after raising
€600m (£447m).
Stirling Square’s second fund in
2010 raised €375m, and 60 per cent
of the third fund’s investors were
involved in the last fund.
The firm was founded in 2002,
and specialises in European
companies worth between €50m
and €500m.
Stirling is not alone in its
funding success. In 2015, $550bn
(£378bn) was raised in “private
capital” investment, which
includes private equity and debt
funds, and private real estate,
infrastructure and natural
resources investments, according
to data from Preqin. It is the third
consecutive year fundraising has
exceeded half a trillion dollars.
As of the start of 2016, there
were a record 1,630 private equity
funds in the market, with a
combined $488bn to spend.
Despite this, Preqin data showed
that the actual rate of fundraising
fell last year after a bumper 2014.
687 funds closed, raising a total of
$287bn, down from $339bn.
13
Bitcoin boosted
by turmoil on
Chinese market
CLARA GUIBOURG
Cameron leaving door
open to new sugar tax
LAUREN FEDOR
NEWS
PARK Vale Capital yesterday
announced it is investing £16m in
Dearman’s liquid nitrogen freezer
technology.
Dearman, a clean energy startup
founded in 2011, will use the funding to develop and commercialise
its zero-emissions’ “cold and power”
refrigerator engines, to be used in
supermarket vans.
Toby Peters, Dearman chief
executive, said: “To have partnership
of this scale, from a company as
respected as Park Vale, is a
recognition of the potential of our
technology.”
CRYPTOCURRENCY bitcoin soared
above $450 yesterday, as investors
sought a safe have from the turmoil
in China.
It started the day at $430 but
spiked several times to soar as high
as $452.79 – its highest point since
Christmas.
The bitcoin boom started when
Chinese stocks plummeted, with the
Shanghai Composite index plunging
7.3 per cent, prompting a market
shutdown.
Over 80 per cent of global bitcoin
trading takes place in China.
As the renminbi depreciates, many
have begun flocking towards the
digital currency instead, according
to Charles Hayter from CryptoCompare. He said: “The Chinese
bitcoin exchanges are being used as a
means to exit the renminbi and as a
flight to safety. Bitcoin is living up to
its name as a form of digital gold.”
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016 MARKETS 15
CITYAM.COM
CITYDASHBOARD
In association with
YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP BROKER
VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS
LONDON REPORT
BEST OF THEBROKERS
FTSE falls below
6,000 as China
crisis deepens
To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to [email protected]
M
INERS, oil companies and
companies with large
operations in Asia dropped
after another day of
turmoil on Chinese
markets yesterday, pulling the FTSE
below the 6,000 mark.
A so-called circuit-breaker was
triggered for a second time on
Chinese markets after less than half
an hour of trading, after China
accelerated the depreciation of the
renminbi. That caused the index to
fall 1.96 per cent to 5,954.08 points,
pushed down by Anglo American,
Glencore and BHP Billiton.
“Once more the FTSE 100 has
dropped below the 6,000 level and
looks set to retest its December lows
on a combination of concerns about
slowing global growth and weakness
in the Chinese economy,” said
Michael Hewson, chief markets
analyst at CMC Markets.
Anglo American fell 11 per cent to
240.65p per share, while Glencore
fell 8.32 per cent. BHP Billiton and
Antofagasta dropped 5.03 per cent
and 5.33 per cent respectively.
Earlier this week, a private survey
showed Chinese service sector
activity expanded at its slowest rate
in 17 months in December, igniting
fears of further economic slow down
and global stock sell offs.
“Global equity markets are now
battling the third wave of deflation
since 2008. The epicentre is not
within the developed world nor the
financial system but, this time,
within the developing world and the
global manufacturing sector, where
capital allocation has been poor and
where overcapacity is rife,” Dominic
Rossi, global chief information
officer for equities at Fidelity
International, said.
Companies with operations in Asia
continued to make losses. Aberdeen
Asset Management fell 7.78 per cent,
while Standard Chartered was 1.9
per cent lower and Burberry
dropped 1.82 per cent.
Oil firms were hit after the price
of Brent crude oil slid below $33. BG
Group was 1.94 per cent lower, while
Royal Dutch Shell fell 2.79 per cent.
BP’s share price fell 1.67 per cent.
“Oil falling to levels last seen in
2003 seems unwilling to bottom out
and this is naturally dragging the
likes of BG Group and Shell lower,”
said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at
London Capital Group.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer’s
share price fluctuated during the
day but closed up 0.11 per cent after
revealing chief executive Marc
Bolland is leaving the company
after another period of poor
performance for retail sales.
NEW YORK
REPORT
SERCO
98
P
96
Dow has worst
start to year
since 1928
7 Jan
89.00
94
92
90
31 Dec
4 Jan
6 Jan
5 Jan
7 Jan
Serco Group has been pleasing analysts with the action it’s taken following extensive
scandals and problems over recent months. Brokers at Liberum have given the
outsourcer a target price of 135p from 89p currently. Despite the positives Liberum
have reduced 2017 earnings before interest and taxes from £94m to £70m, although
still above management guidance of £50m. One of the strongest benefits
highlighted is the focus the company has on growing its sales pipeline.
BREEDON AGGREGATES
67.50
P
67.00
66.38
66.50
7 Jan
66.00
65.50
65.00
31 Dec
4 Jan
5 Jan
6 Jan
7 Jan
Asphalt and ready-mixed concrete supplier Breedon Aggregates has been awarded a
buy rating from brokers at Cantor Fitzgerald with a target price of 75p from a current
value of 66p. Analysts credited a joint venture for a large supply contract in its
Aberdeen worth up to £55m “over the next couple of years”. The purchase of Hope
Construction Materials that’s still in the works has also the potential to add value.
RATHBONE BROTHERS
2,300
P
2,275
2,289.00
2,250
7 Jan
2,225
2,200
FTSE
7 Jan
6,300
5,954.08
6,200
2,175
2,150
31 Dec
6,100
6,000
5,900
4 Jan
5 Jan
6 Jan
7 Jan
4 Jan
5 Jan
6 Jan
7 Jan
Rathbone Brothers have been wowing brokers with a positive trading update and an
announcement the company will be moving to new larger offices in 2017. Analysts at
Shore Capital heaped praise on the company, calling it a “high-quality wealth
manager”, giving it a fair value of 2,840p, from 2,221p currently. The latest trading
statement from the company was better than the last with an uptick in the organic
net inflow growth, despite it following a period of weak market performance.
TIGHT FIXED SPREAD CO
T
HE DOW Jones Index yesterday
endured its worst start to a year
since it was created in 1928,
dragged down by another drop in
Chinese equities and oil prices at 12year lows.
The Dow Jones industrial average
closed down 392.41 points, or 2.32 per
cent, to 16,514.1, the S&P 500 had lost
47.17 points, or 2.37 per cent, to
1,943.09 and the Nasdaq Composite
had dropped 146.34 points, or 3.03
per cent, to 4,689.43.
The Dow has lost 5.2 per cent since
the end of 2015 in the worst first four
trading days since its creation.
China allowed the biggest fall in the
yuan currency in five months, adding
to investor fears about the health of its
economy, while Shanghai stocks were
halted for the second time this week
after another steep selloff.
Oil prices fell to 12-year lows and
copper prices touched their lowest
since 2009, weighing on energy and
materials shares. Shares of Freeport
McMoran dropped 9.1 per cent to
$5.61. All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended in
the red, though, and the Nasdaq
Biotech index fell 4.1 per cent.
Stocks extended declines late in the
session, and the CBOE Volatility Index,
the market’s favoured gauge of Wall
Street anxiety, ended up 21.4 per cent
at 24.99, its highest since 29
September.
Investors also braced for today’s US
government jobs report, which could
show how well-insulated the
economy is from international
stresses.
Apple, which generates a lot of its
business in China and is still the most
valuable US company, fell 4.2 per cent
to its lowest level since the August
market swoon. Yahoo fell 6.2 per cent
to $30.16, while Alibaba was down six
per cent at $72.72.
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16 MARKETS FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
FTSE 100
FTSE 250
5954.08
119.30
16792.22
266.76
Price Chg High Low
GILTS
Tsy 8.000 15 . . . . . . .106.51
Tsy 4.750 15 . . . . . . .102.64
Tsy 4.000 16 . . . . . .105.79
Tsy 2.500 16 . . . . . . .327.52
Tsy 1.250 17 . . . . . . . .107.61
Tsy 8.750 17 . . . . . . . .121.21
Tsy 5.000 18 . . . . . . .113.51
Tsy 3.750 19 . . . . . . .113.00
Tsy 4.500 19 . . . . . . .115.07
Tsy 4.750 20 . . . . . .119.04
Tsy 2.500 20 . . . . . .366.72
Tsy 8.000 21 . . . . . .142.92
Tsy 4.000 22 . . . . . .119.85
Tsy 1.875 22 . . . . . . .124.78
Tsy 2.500 24 . . . . . .350.74
Tsy 5.000 25 . . . . . .134.70
Tsy 4.250 27 . . . . . . .131.90
Tsy 1.250 27 . . . . . . .130.83
Tsy 6.000 28 . . . . . .155.76
Tsy 4.750 30 . . . . . . .142.51
Tsy 4.125 30 . . . . . . .347.31
Tsy 4.250 32 . . . . . .136.85
Tsy 1.250 32 . . . . . . .143.94
Tsy 4.250 36 . . . . . .140.37
Tsy 4.750 38 . . . . . .153.30
Tsy 0.625 40 . . . . . .144.56
Tsy 4.500 42 . . . . . . .153.16
Tsy 3.500 45 . . . . . . .132.31
Tsy 4.250 46 . . . . . .152.26
Tsy 4.025 49 . . . . . . .156.13
Tsy 4.000 99 . . . . .100.00
-0.07
-0.04
-0.03
-0.01
0.03
0.05
0.10
0.20
0.16
0.23
0.08
0.32
0.45
0.18
0.27
0.68
0.84
0.42
0.85
0.89
0.33
0.98
0.53
1.13
1.21
0.66
1.33
1.50
1.50
1.64
0.00
113.8
106.8
108.3
339.1
110.9
126.3
114.4
113.0
115.1
119.0
370.4
143.0
119.8
125.8
353.6
134.8
132.0
131.4
155.7
142.5
350.7
136.9
144.8
140.4
153.2
146.5
153.1
132.2
152.3
156.4
101.8
106.5
102.6
105.7
327.3
107.3
121.1
111.7
108.0
111.2
113.5
359.4
135.7
110.4
119.1
322.5
119.4
112.1
116.0
132.9
118.3
304.4
111.7
120.7
111.6
120.4
112.2
117.1
100.6
113.3
114.4
94.9
AEROSPACE & DEFENCE
BAE Systems . . . . . . . . .505.5
Cobham . . . . . . . . . . . .278.0
Meggitt . . . . . . . . . . . . .364.6
QinetiQ Group . . . . . . . .258.0
Rolls-Royce Holdi . . . . .546.0
Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217.5
Ultra Electronics . . . . .1909.0
-7.0
-4.1
-4.3
-4.1
-14.0
-2.5
-12.0
547.0
345.1
587.5
274.4
1054.0
358.5
2026.0
425.5
251.1
347.3
181.9
513.5
209.5
1635.0
AUTOMOBILES & PARTS
GKN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274.8 -10.4 386.0 254.6
BANKS
Aldermore Group . . . . .218.2
Barclays . . . . . . . . . . . .205.6
BGEO Group . . . . . . . . .1787.0
HSBC Holdings . . . . . . .502.0
Lloyds Banking Gr . . . . .69.5
Royal Bank of Sco . . . . .288.5
Shawbrook Group . . . . .341.8
Standard Chartere . . . .505.8
Virgin Money Hold . . . .357.3
-6.8
-6.2
-35.0
-6.3
-1.5
-5.7
-9.1
-9.8
-16.7
316.0
289.0
2257.0
649.3
89.0
403.9
382.0
1086.0
464.0
202.1
201.6
1616.0
485.6
68.7
282.2
301.0
476.2
296.0
BEVERAGES
Barr (A.G.) . . . . . . . . . . .525.5 -1.0
Britvic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .716.5 -3.5
Coca-Cola HBC AG . . . .1410.0 -19.0
Diageo . . . . . . . . . . . . .1800.5 -40.5
SABMiller . . . . . . . . . . .4041.0 -26.0
684.0 513.0
776.5 642.0
1629.0 1057.0
2022.5 1640.0
4080.0 2877.5
CHEMICALS
Croda
Internation
. . . .2893.0 -57.0
CONSTRUCTION
& MATERIALS
Elementis . . . . . . . . . . .207.3 -9.4
Johnson Matthey . . . .2543.0 -80.0
Synthomer . . . . . . . . . .301.8 -9.0
Victrex plc . . . . . . . . . .1670.0 -22.0
3137.0
320.5
3571.0
361.3
2187.0
2601.0
206.5
2318.0
230.1
1617.0
CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS
Balfour Beatty . . . . . . .259.6 -6.4 272.5 198.8
CRH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1864.0 -33.0 1980.0 1486.0
CITYAM.COM
FTSE ALL SHARE
3293.30
62.70
Price Chg High Low
Galliford Try . . . . . . . . .1456.0 -30.0
Ibstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224.7 -0.3
Keller Group . . . . . . . . .845.5 -26.5
Kier Group . . . . . . . . . .1294.0 -22.0
Marshalls . . . . . . . . . . . .327.0 -14.4
1813.0
226.0
1099.0
1513.0
370.8
1220.0
189.0
790.5
1129.9
232.0
ELECTRICITY
Drax Group . . . . . . . . . . .217.9 -6.2 429.9 209.9
SSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1487.0 -33.0 1696.0 1400.0
ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL EQ.
Halma . . . . . . . . . . . . . .835.0 -6.0
Morgan Advanced M . .228.0 -10.1
Renishaw . . . . . . . . . . .1823.0 -54.0
Spectris . . . . . . . . . . . .1702.0 -55.0
882.5
356.8
2648.0
2394.0
668.0
224.2
1779.0
1629.0
EQUITY INVESTMENT INSTRUM.
Aberforth Smaller . . . .1153.0 -20.0
Alliance Trust . . . . . . . .494.3 -7.7
Bankers Inv Trust . . . . .602.0 -9.0
BH Macro Ltd. GBP . . .2015.0 0.0
BlueCrest AllBlue . . . . . .193.5 -0.2
British Empire Tr . . . . . .447.8 -2.1
Caledonia Investm . . .2339.0 -19.0
City of London In . . . . .370.8 -5.9
Edinburgh Inv Tru . . . .694.5 -12.5
Electra Private E . . . . .3700.0 -12.0
Fidelity China Sp . . . . . .131.9 -6.5
Fidelity European . . . . .166.0 -0.9
Finsbury Growth & . . . .561.5 -9.0
Foreign and Colon . . . .425.6 -8.9
GCP Infrastructur . . . . . .118.5 -0.5
Genesis Emerging . . . .433.0 -8.0
HarbourVest Globa . . .895.0 -10.0
HICL Infrastructu . . . . . .150.4 -0.1
International Pub . . . . .137.9 -0.2
John Laing Infras . . . . . .116.9 0.5
JPMorgan American . . .269.0 -3.1
JPMorgan Emerging . . .521.0 -4.0
Mercantile Invest . . . . .1769.0 -25.0
Monks Inv Trust . . . . . .408.8 -7.8
Murray Internatio . . . . .781.0 -26.0
NB Global Floatin . . . . . .91.7 -0.1
P2P Global Invest . . . . .995.0 0.0
P2P Global Invest . . . . .978.0 5.0
Perpetual Income . . . .401.0 -5.0
Polar Capital Tec . . . . . .602.5 -11.5
RIT Capital Partn . . . . .1623.0 -28.0
Riverstone Energy . . . .760.0 -26.0
Scottish Inv Trus . . . . . .575.0 -6.0
Scottish Mortgage . . . .256.9 -7.3
Temple Bar Inv Tr . . . .1008.0 -17.0
Templeton Emergin . . .388.8 -7.2
The Renewables In . . . .102.5 0.0
TR Property Inv T . . . . .288.8 -8.2
Witan Inv Trust . . . . . . .752.0 -16.0
Woodford Patient . . . . .96.6 -2.0
Worldwide Healthc . . .1875.0 -37.0
1234.0 1029.0
528.5 440.1
668.0 562.0
2190.0 1995.0
197.2 185.1
555.0 437.5
2515.0 2115.0
415.9 362.2
728.0 646.5
3757.0 3000.0
177.3 112.0
186.7 158.0
609.0 531.5
465.0 401.6
123.9 112.8
572.0 400.5
1377.5 825.0
160.5 150.2
141.5 130.3
128.1 114.0
295.8 243.0
671.0 494.0
1838.0 1432.0
456.9 374.9
1059.0 771.0
98.7 91.6
1184.0 970.0
1033.0 950.0
428.5 388.0
641.0 517.0
1688.0 1397.0
1105.0 750.0
668.0 560.0
281.8 234.8
1230.0 1000.8
604.5 379.1
108.8 96.3
324.0 281.2
847.0 688.5
119.3 95.5
2097.0 1635.0
FINANCIAL SERVICES
3i Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .451.2 -14.4
3i Infrastructure . . . . . . .170.2 -0.6
Aberdeen Asset Ma . . .249.0 -21.0
Allied Minds . . . . . . . . .402.9 -7.1
Arrow Global Grou . . . .251.0 -6.8
Ashmore Group . . . . . .245.3 -1.7
Brewin Dolphin Ho . . . .301.7 -9.1
Charles Taylor . . . . . . . .270.0 18.0
City of London In . . . . .325.3 -2.0
Close Brothers Gr . . . .1309.0 -18.0
Hargreaves Lansdo . . .1416.0 -65.0
Henderson Group . . . . .286.4 -5.6
ICAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .495.0 -3.6
IG Group Holdings . . . . .791.0 -5.0
569.5
178.3
507.5
725.0
288.0
333.9
359.6
289.0
367.5
1664.0
1525.0
312.0
566.5
807.0
424.5
152.2
244.8
334.1
218.0
235.6
249.0
205.0
310.5
1295.7
914.5
206.6
422.6
690.0
Price Chg High Low
Intermediate Capi . . . .588.5 -16.5 627.0 455.3
International Per . . . . . .271.5 -8.7 504.5 269.8
Investec . . . . . . . . . . . . .441.2 -12.1 647.0 419.0
IP Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .198.5 -4.1 264.7 193.6
John Laing Group . . . . .206.0 -1.3 233.8 187.0
Jupiter Fund Mana . . . .427.3 -10.7 475.1 342.6
Liontrust Asset M . . . . .270.3 -5.0 374.8 264.0
LMS Capital . . . . . . . . . . .67.0 -1.5 80.0 66.8
London Finance & . . . . .37.5 0.0 40.5 31.0
London Stock Exch . . .2512.0 -42.0 2780.0 2190.0
Man Group . . . . . . . . . . .162.1 -6.6 217.6 139.8
OneSavings Bank . . . . .324.2 14.1 405.6 206.8
Paragon Group Of . . . .331.0 -18.0 455.5 330.4
Provident Financi . . . .3184.0 -73.0 3634.0 2423.0
PureTech Health . . . . . .164.5 -0.5 170.5 123.0
Rathbone Brothers . .2289.0 37.0 2313.0 2001.0
Real Estate Credi . . . . . .168.0 1.0 183.0 161.5
Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25.0 -2.5 39.8 24.0
S&U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2429.0 9.0 2560.0 1955.0
Sanne Group . . . . . . . . .373.0 -0.5 385.0 251.0
Schroders . . . . . . . . . .2719.0 -98.0 3423.0 2584.0
SVG Capital . . . . . . . . . .476.3 -9.3 522.0 417.8
Tullett Prebon . . . . . . . .360.6 -6.4 414.8 284.4
VPC Specialty Len . . . . . .94.5 0.5 104.0 92.8
Walker Crips Grou . . . . .50.0 -0.8 53.8 41.3
FIXED LINE TELECOMS
190.0
1355.0
208.2
470.8
284.7
325.0
251.0
598.5
FOOD PRODUCERS
Associated Britis . . . . .3112.0 -81.0
Cranswick . . . . . . . . . .1902.0 -8.0
Dairy Crest Group . . . . .640.0 -30.5
Greencore Group . . . . .352.2 -5.1
Tate & Lyle . . . . . . . . . .580.5 2.5
Unilever . . . . . . . . . . .2792.0 -26.0
3599.0 2712.0
1950.0 1310.0
697.0 439.7
360.9 273.2
679.0 502.0
3015.0 2524.0
AIR LIQUIDE......................................................96.57
AIRBUS GROUP................................................60.04
ALLIANZ N .......................................................153.75
ANHEUS.-BUSCH INBEV ..................................110.60
ASML HLDG ......................................................76.99
AXA..................................................................23.69
BANCO SANTANDER ............................................4.15
BASF N .............................................................64.47
BAYER N .........................................................106.85
BBVA..................................................................6.42
BMW ................................................................85.44
BNP PARIBAS-A-..............................................49.39
CARREFOUR......................................................25.32
DAIMLER N.......................................................69.00
DANONE ...........................................................59.75
DEUTSCHE BANK N.............................................21.15
DEUTSCHE POST N ............................................24.33
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM N ......................................15.99
E.ON N................................................................8.20
ENEL ...................................................................3.77
ENGIE ...............................................................15.44
ENI ....................................................................13.07
ESSILOR INTL.....................................................111.85
FRESENIUS.........................................................61.17
GENERALI..........................................................16.03
IBERDROLA........................................................6.46
INDITEX ...........................................................30.07
ING GROUP ........................................................11.78
INTESA SANPAOLO..............................................2.91
L'OREAL...........................................................150.85
LVMH ..............................................................136.60
MUENCH RUECKVERS N ...................................174.75
NOKIA................................................................6.62
ORANGE............................................................15.50
ROY.PHILIPS .....................................................22.48
SAFRAN ...........................................................60.30
SAINT GOBAIN..................................................36.46
SANOFI .............................................................76.59
SAP ...................................................................71.34
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC........................................49.48
SIEMENS N .......................................................84.09
SOCIETE GENERALE...........................................39.94
TELEFONICA........................................................9.83
TOTAL................................................................38.81
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO.........................................226.10
UNICREDIT..........................................................4.69
UNILEVER CERT.................................................37.98
VINCI ................................................................57.05
VIVENDI ............................................................19.06
VOLKSWAGEN VZ.............................................115.00
Chg
High
Low
-2.28
-1.23
-3.25
-1.90
-1.84
-0.57
-0.09
-1.61
-2.80
-0.08
-3.34
-1.11
-0.25
-2.76
-0.95
-0.47
-0.76
-0.10
-0.24
0.02
-0.21
-0.10
-0.30
-1.80
-0.03
-0.01
-0.11
-0.24
-0.05
-0.45
-0.10
-3.30
-0.18
-0.05
-0.21
-1.20
-1.64
-0.84
-0.71
-1.04
-1.64
-0.99
-0.08
-0.97
-5.00
-0.12
-0.60
-0.66
0.00
-3.90
123.95
68.50
170.15
124.20
104.85
26.02
6.95
97.22
146.45
9.67
123.75
61.00
32.49
96.07
66.50
33.42
31.19
17.57
14.46
4.50
20.08
17.66
125.15
70.00
19.21
6.71
35.38
16.00
3.65
181.30
176.60
206.50
7.89
16.98
28.00
72.45
44.84
101.10
75.75
75.29
106.35
48.77
13.91
47.38
262.00
6.61
42.84
62.60
24.83
262.45
97.20
42.81
131.05
87.73
70.25
18.16
4.19
63.00
106.80
6.44
72.05
43.14
23.08
62.06
50.66
20.69
22.93
12.28
7.08
3.36
13.80
12.32
88.87
42.36
15.16
5.25
22.61
10.20
2.22
133.40
123.50
156.00
5.07
12.21
20.48
50.87
31.88
73.20
53.63
48.57
77.91
32.45
9.78
35.25
210.20
4.43
31.51
43.70
18.81
86.36
/€ 1.3370
0.0200 €/$ 1.0932
0.0154
16514.10
392.41
4689.43
146.34
1943.09
47.17
/$ 1.4619
0.0007 €/£ 0.7478
0.0109
/¥ 171.95
1.3658 €/¥ 128.57
0.8665
Chg High Low
-1.0 349.0 255.0
21.0 2621.0 1780.0
-9.6 500.0 407.0
-16.0 1004.0 825.5
-6.6 561.0 310.8
3.6 218.1 89.7
-25.5 894.0 693.5
12.0 1073.0 470.0
-12.1 494.9 323.2
-8.8 383.0 318.0
-1.8 185.0 134.8
0.5 596.5 428.6
75.0 8015.0 6750.0
-8.0 311.2 198.0
-24.2 418.9 163.7
0.9 221.5 147.5
-21.0 817.5 510.5
-17.0 3555.0 2260.0
-16.0 1775.0 1272.0
HEALTH CARE EQUIPMETN & S.
-8.0
0.0
2.0
-9.0
1.6
Risers
OneSavings Bank . . . . . . . . . . . .324.2
Acacia Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188.2
Home Retail Group . . . . . . . . . . .136.0
Supergroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1539.0
Randgold Resources . . . . . . . .4403.0
Rathbone Brothers . . . . . . . . .2289.0
Enterprise Inns . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107.9
JD Sports Fashion . . . . . . . . . . .1044.0
Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6940.0
Ocado Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292.2
Mondi . . . . . . . . . . . . .1246.0 -37.0 1611.0 1023.0
Barratt Developme . . . .591.5 -13.5
Bellway . . . . . . . . . . . .2731.0 -44.0
Berkeley Group Ho . . .3457.0 -54.0
Bovis Homes Group . . .960.0 -22.5
Crest Nicholson H . . . . .535.5 -6.5
Persimmon . . . . . . . . .1962.0 -3.0
Reckitt Benckiser . . . .6029.0 -73.0
Redrow . . . . . . . . . . . . .446.5 -9.6
Taylor Wimpey . . . . . . .192.2 -4.8
GAS, WATER & MULTIUTILITIES
-3.4
-0.2
-6.5
-5.0
-5.5
296.4
956.0
915.0
2280.0
1042.0
201.9
817.2
713.0
1947.0
828.0
-5.5
-4.0
-6.4
-19.0
-4.5
605.0
787.3
421.0
1219.0
520.0
425.0
478.7
305.6
874.0
304.9
-3.1
-0.2
-5.9
-17.8
0.6
-6.5
-2.3
431.8
330.0
449.6
358.5
451.3
399.0
96.0
260.2
119.7
262.0
242.9
288.4
256.2
67.3
GENERAL INDUSTRIALS
Rexam . . . . . . . . . . . . .598.0
RPC Group . . . . . . . . . . .772.0
Smith (DS) . . . . . . . . . . .375.5
Smiths Group . . . . . . . .888.0
Vesuvius . . . . . . . . . . . . .311.0
GENERAL RETAILERS
AA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299.9
AO World . . . . . . . . . . . .147.8
Auto Trader Group . . . .426.5
B&M European Valu . . .248.9
Brown (N.) Group . . . . .295.8
Card Factory . . . . . . . . .341.9
Debenhams . . . . . . . . . . .67.7
Admiral Group . . . . . . .1601.0 -28.0
Amlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . .665.0 -0.5
Beazley . . . . . . . . . . . . .380.0 -2.0
Direct Line Insur . . . . . . .371.5 -5.0
esure Group . . . . . . . . . .240.1 -4.4
Hastings Group Ho . . . .163.0 -1.7
Hiscox Limited (D . . . .1028.0 -2.0
Jardine Lloyd Tho . . . . .933.0 6.0
Lancashire Holdin . . . .625.0 6.0
RSA Insurance Gro . . . .405.1 -8.7
1675.0
666.0
398.9
414.3
271.3
180.0
1059.0
1093.0
759.0
526.5
1305.0
446.3
273.6
293.6
210.4
157.5
755.7
848.5
551.0
391.7
571.5
199.5
294.4
240.3
922.0
1752.0
1023.0
499.9
428.4
133.1
230.4
153.6
792.5
1330.5
767.5
353.2
LIFE INSURANCE
Aviva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .481.9 -13.4
Just Retirement G . . . . .159.1 -2.1
Legal & General G . . . . .247.4 -8.9
Old Mutual . . . . . . . . . . .157.7 -6.1
Phoenix Group Hol . . . .883.5 -10.0
Prudential . . . . . . . . . .1386.0 -46.0
St James's Place . . . . . .926.5 -25.5
Standard Life . . . . . . . .358.5 -9.8
MEDIA
4Imprint Group . . . . . .1280.0 20.0 1349.0 801.0
Bloomsbury Publis . . . .151.8 -1.8 184.5 145.3
%
4.6
3.8
2.7
2.4
1.7
1.6
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.0
662.5 423.6
2848.0 1711.0
3757.0 2285.0
1201.0 768.0
591.0 346.1
2135.0 1449.0
6418.0 5170.0
499.2 258.6
205.0 124.1
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Bodycote . . . . . . . . . . .560.5 -18.0
IMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .797.0 -17.0
Melrose Industrie . . . . .281.6 -0.9
Rotork . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165.7 0.7
Spirax-Sarco Engi . . . .3175.0 -16.0
Weir Group . . . . . . . . . .873.0 -35.0
786.0 494.0
1445.0 779.5
307.3 242.7
265.1 157.6
3569.4 2750.0
2024.0 858.0
INDUSTRIAL METALS & MINING
Evraz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67.6 -3.5 207.4 58.8
INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION
BBA Aviation . . . . . . . . .173.9 -3.8 255.1 168.4
Clarkson . . . . . . . . . . . .2101.0 -59.0 2797.0 1866.0
Royal Mail . . . . . . . . . . .438.6 -4.4 527.0 418.4
Price Chg High Low
Centaur Media . . . . . . . .64.0 -1.0
Creston . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117.5 -2.5
Entertainment One . . . .162.8 -11.6
Euromoney Institu . . .1000.0 -23.0
Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.4 -0.1
Haynes Publishing . . . .107.5 0.0
Huntsworth . . . . . . . . . .40.8 0.0
Informa . . . . . . . . . . . .604.5 -2.5
ITE Group . . . . . . . . . . . .146.5 -5.0
ITV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268.0 -0.8
Johnston Press . . . . . . . .44.8 -3.0
Moneysupermarket. . . .363.3 -6.7
Pearson . . . . . . . . . . . .699.0 -17.0
Relx plc . . . . . . . . . . . .1166.0 -2.0
Rightmove . . . . . . . . .4042.0 -54.0
Sky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1084.0 -13.0
STV Group . . . . . . . . . . .502.0 1.0
Trinity Mirror . . . . . . . . .168.3 0.5
UBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .518.0 -5.0
UTV Media . . . . . . . . . . .175.0 -3.3
WPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1485.0 -41.0
Zoopla Property G . . . .225.0 -2.2
Price Chg High Low
Antofagasta . . . . . . . . .410.6 -23.1 807.5 402.4
BHP Billiton . . . . . . . . . .673.7 -35.7 1643.5 662.0
Centamin (DI) . . . . . . . . .66.2 -0.9 72.1 51.6
Fresnillo . . . . . . . . . . . .705.5 -16.0 924.5 588.0
Glencore . . . . . . . . . . . . .78.7 -7.1 314.9 68.6
Polymetal Interna . . . .563.0 -14.0 614.0 427.1
Randgold Resource . .4403.0 75.0 5685.0 3625.0
Rio Tinto . . . . . . . . . . .1784.5 -62.0 3237.5 1740.0
Vedanta Resources . . . .239.6 -20.6 675.0 235.3
MOBILE TELECOMS
85.5
162.0
326.3
1261.0
11.5
150.0
49.3
630.5
196.8
280.7
172.8
370.0
1508.0
1220.0
4138.0
1141.0
515.0
206.0
576.0
204.0
1611.0
278.0
60.0
114.6
140.9
899.0
9.1
105.0
35.0
462.5
128.0
206.8
37.5
223.3
685.5
1011.0
2125.0
869.5
340.0
128.0
465.1
139.0
1304.0
150.8
MINING
Acacia Mining . . . . . . . .188.2 6.9 313.5 156.6
Anglo American . . . . . .240.7 -29.8 1259.0 237.7
Price Chg High Low
SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERV.
Aveva Group . . . . . . . .1499.0 -34.0
Computacenter . . . . . .845.5 0.5
Fidessa Group . . . . . . .1904.0 -3.0
Micro Focus Inter . . . .1500.0 -49.0
NCC Group . . . . . . . . . . .294.9 -2.3
Playtech . . . . . . . . . . . .789.5 -16.5
Sage Group . . . . . . . . . .574.0 -12.0
Sophos Group . . . . . . . .245.7 -8.2
Telecity Group . . . . . . .1266.0 -1.0
Inmarsat . . . . . . . . . . .1109.0 -2.0 1148.0 793.5
Vodafone Group . . . . . .218.2 -1.0 255.4 203.8
SUPPORT SERVICES
OIL & GAS PRODUCERS
Aggreko . . . . . . . . . . . .883.0 -15.5
Ashtead Group . . . . . .1047.0 -20.0
Atkins (WS) . . . . . . . . .1550.0 -38.0
Babcock Internati . . . . .967.0 -4.0
Berendsen . . . . . . . . .1069.0 10.0
Bunzl . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1823.0 -34.0
Capita . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1157.0 -27.0
Carillion . . . . . . . . . . . .296.9 -3.9
DCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5410.0-140.0
Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . .720.0 -20.0
Electrocomponents . . . .217.0 -5.9
Essentra . . . . . . . . . . . .799.5 -0.5
Experian . . . . . . . . . . . .1124.0 -22.0
G4S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219.0 -2.0
Grafton Group Uni . . . .732.0 6.5
Hays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138.0 -2.3
Homeserve . . . . . . . . . .408.5 -4.5
Howden Joinery Gr . . .503.0 -5.5
Interserve . . . . . . . . . . .507.0 -6.0
Intertek Group . . . . . .2682.0 -40.0
Michael Page Inte . . . . .461.4 -13.6
Mitie Group . . . . . . . . . .300.5 -4.5
Northgate . . . . . . . . . . .385.4 -4.1
PayPoint . . . . . . . . . . . .912.0 -1.0
Regus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308.4 -8.9
Rentokil Initial . . . . . . . .156.3 0.1
Serco Group . . . . . . . . . .89.0 -3.1
SIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140.3 -0.4
Travis Perkins . . . . . . .1905.0 -43.0
Wolseley . . . . . . . . . . .3444.0-149.0
Worldpay Group (W . . .307.0 -2.8
BG Group . . . . . . . . . . .936.9 -18.5
BP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337.7 -5.8
Cairn Energy . . . . . . . . .141.5 -5.3
Nostrum Oil & Gas . . . .360.0 -18.5
Ophir Energy . . . . . . . . . .88.1 -4.0
Royal Dutch Shell . . . .1454.5 -43.0
Royal Dutch Shell . . . .1462.0 -42.0
Tullow Oil . . . . . . . . . . .150.0 -2.7
1199.5
484.2
208.3
627.0
170.9
2211.5
2304.0
429.8
794.7
322.9
133.7
340.5
79.3
1408.5
1417.5
139.9
OIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES
Amec Foster Wheel . . . .395.1 -30.6 995.0 383.9
Petrofac Ltd. . . . . . . . . . .741.5 -28.5 1065.0 596.5
Wood Group (John) . . .580.5 -18.0 733.5 527.0
PERSONAL GOODS
Fallers
%
Poundland Group . . . . . . . . . . . .167.8 -12.6
Anglo American . . . . . . . . . . . . .240.7 -11.0
Glencore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78.7 -8.3
Vedanta Resources . . . . . . . . . .239.6 -7.9
Aberdeen Asset Man . . . . . . . . .249.0 -7.8
Amec Foster Wheele . . . . . . . . .395.1 -7.2
B&M European Value . . . . . . . . .248.9 -6.7
Entertainment One . . . . . . . . . .162.8 -6.7
Antofagasta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410.6 -5.3
Paragon Group Of C . . . . . . . . . .331.0 -5.2
Price Chg High Low
FORESTRY & PAPER
Centrica . . . . . . . . . . . . .210.2
National Grid . . . . . . . .949.8
Pennon Group . . . . . . .852.0
Severn Trent . . . . . . . .2147.0
United Utilities . . . . . . .930.5
1191.0 814.0
61.8 49.2
934.5 465.0
1212.0 1060.0
401.6 279.9
Price Chg High Low
NON LIFE INSURANCE
MAIN CHANGES UK 350
HHOLD GDS & HOME CONSTR.
EU SHARES
Price
142.4
729.0
139.0
274.5
223.7
256.3
137.0
387.5
S&P 500
AL Noor Hospitals . . . .1120.0
Assura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55.0
NMC Health . . . . . . . . . .853.0
Smith & Nephew . . . . .1167.0
Spire Healthcare . . . . .309.7
FOOD & DRUG RETAILERS
0.0
-33.0
0.1
2.9
-2.3
-1.0
-2.4
-10.0
NASDAQ
Price
DFS Furniture . . . . . . . .318.0
Dignity . . . . . . . . . . . .2525.0
Dixons Carphone . . . . .470.5
Dunelm Group . . . . . . .896.0
Halfords Group . . . . . . .315.0
Home Retail Group . . . .136.0
Inchcape . . . . . . . . . . . .745.5
JD Sports Fashion . . . .1044.0
Just Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . .457.5
Kingfisher . . . . . . . . . . .329.2
Lookers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171.7
Marks & Spencer G . . . .439.2
Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6940.0
Pets at Home Grou . . . .253.0
Poundland Group . . . . .167.8
Saga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200.0
Sports Direct Int . . . . . .512.0
Ted Baker . . . . . . . . . .2850.0
WH Smith . . . . . . . . . . .1715.0
BT Group . . . . . . . . . . . .462.3 -5.1 499.8 392.5
Cable & Wireless . . . . . .74.4 -0.6 78.2 48.8
TalkTalk Telecom . . . . . .211.0 -0.4 408.8 204.2
Telecom Plus . . . . . . . .948.5 -26.0 1233.0 752.5
Booker Group . . . . . . . .175.8
Greggs . . . . . . . . . . . . .1243.0
Morrison (Wm) Sup . . .149.9
Ocado Group . . . . . . . . .292.2
Sainsbury (J) . . . . . . . . .238.7
SSP Group . . . . . . . . . . .308.5
Tesco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139.2
UDG Healthcare Pu . . . .573.5
DOW JONES
Burberry Group . . . . . .1078.0 -20.0 1921.0 1047.0
Jimmy Choo . . . . . . . . .126.3 -4.7 181.4 106.0
PZ Cussons . . . . . . . . . .269.5 -2.3 373.4 262.3
Supergroup . . . . . . . . .1539.0 36.0 1714.0 769.0
PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECH
AstraZeneca . . . . . . . .4381.0 -141.5
BTG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .636.5 -15.5
Circassia Pharmac . . . . .311.9 -3.1
Dechra Pharmaceut . .1062.0 -13.0
Genus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1507.0 -12.0
GlaxoSmithKline . . . . .1344.5 -36.0
Hikma Pharmaceuti . .2192.0 -38.0
Indivior . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177.1 -9.5
Shire Plc . . . . . . . . . . .4360.0 -81.0
Vectura Group . . . . . . . .178.1 -0.9
4863.0 3903.5
830.0 520.5
353.5 246.0
1110.0 825.0
1620.0 1224.0
1642.0 1237.5
2574.0 1886.0
266.4 148.3
5730.0 4089.0
184.3 141.0
473.4 365.9
2010.0 1440.0
599.0 370.2
6595.0 5335.0
148.7 129.6
254.0 184.0
1220.0 1026.0
986.5 648.0
493.6 395.2
93.5 79.6
702.5 471.3
REAL ESTATE INVEST. TRUSTS
Big Yellow Group . . . . .804.0 -31.5
British Land Comp . . . .755.5 -16.0
Derwent London . . . . .3576.0 -74.0
Great Portland Es . . . . .812.0 -15.0
Hammerson . . . . . . . . .584.5 -7.0
Hansteen Holdings . . . .113.8 -2.2
Intu Properties . . . . . . .305.0 -5.8
Land Securities G . . . . .1142.0 -23.0
LondonMetric Prop . . . .159.5 -2.5
Redefine Internat . . . . . .47.0 -1.8
SEGRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . .424.2 -4.7
Shaftesbury . . . . . . . . .894.0 -9.5
Tritax Big Box Re . . . . . .127.0 -1.8
Workspace Group . . . .926.0 -44.5
847.0 597.5
886.0 748.0
3880.0 3053.0
889.5 738.0
705.5 576.0
128.2 107.8
376.4 300.4
1363.0 1136.0
171.5 150.4
59.7 47.0
463.8 387.8
971.0 778.0
131.4 109.0
987.0 759.0
TOBACCO
British American . . . .3664.5 -63.5 3898.5 3355.5
Imperial Tobacco . . . .3521.5 -81.0 3621.0 2830.0
TRAVEL & LEISURE
Betfair Group . . . . . . .3870.0 -56.0
Bwin.party Digita . . . . .129.0 -2.7
Carnival . . . . . . . . . . . .3790.0 -30.0
Cineworld Group . . . . .549.0 -6.0
Compass Group . . . . . .1120.0 -16.0
Domino's Pizza Gr . . . .1026.0 -17.0
easyJet . . . . . . . . . . . .1669.0 -89.0
Enterprise Inns . . . . . . .107.9 1.3
FirstGroup . . . . . . . . . . .105.7 -1.2
Go-Ahead Group . . . .2580.0 -54.0
Greene King . . . . . . . . .901.5 -10.5
InterContinental . . . .2485.0 -53.0
International Con . . . . .590.0 -16.5
Ladbrokes . . . . . . . . . . .120.5 -2.0
Marston's . . . . . . . . . . . .158.8 -4.4
Merlin Entertainm . . . .435.8 -8.1
Millennium & Copt . . . .429.9 -19.5
Mitchells & Butle . . . . . .309.3 -15.1
National Express . . . . .314.8 -14.7
Rank Group . . . . . . . . . .285.3 2.3
Restaurant Group . . . . .656.5 -11.0
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CREDIT & RATES
Copper Cash Official...................................4513.75
Aluminium Cash Official............................1454.50
Nickel Cash Official.....................................8312.50
Aluminium Alloy Cash Official...................1580.50
Cocoa Futures............................................2963.00
Coffee 'C' Futures...........................................118.18
Feed Wheat Futures.....................................114.00
Soybeans Futures Continuation Contract....877.20
-86.00
-2.00
-162.50
20.00
-18.00
-1.45
-0.75
1.40
BoE IR Overnight.........................................0.500
BoE IR 7 days..............................................0.500
BoE IR 1 month...........................................0.500
BoE IR 3 months.........................................0.500
BoE IR 6 months ........................................0.500
LIBOR Euro - overnight..............................-0.286
LIBOR Euro - 12 months...............................0.052
LIBOR USD - overnight ................................0.366
LIBOR USD - 12 months.................................1.165
Halifax mortgage rate ................................3.990
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.01
0.00
Euro Base Rate............................................0.050
Finance house base rate .............................1.000
US Fed funds.................................................0.36
US long bond yield........................................2.92
Euro Euribor...............................................-0.256
The vix index...............................................24.99
The baltic dry index ..................................467.00
Markit iBoxx EUR .......................................221.27
Markit iBoxx GBP.......................................290.22
Markit iTraxx ..................................................81.11
0.00
0.00
-0.01
-0.02
0.00
4.40
-1.00
-0.57
-0.70
-0.57
WORLD INDICES
Price
FTSE 100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5954.08
FTSE 250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16792.22
FTSE All-Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3293.30
FTSE AIM All-Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726.08
Chg
-119.30
-266.76
-62.70
-7.97
%chg
-1.96
-1.56
-1.87
-1.09
Price
S&P 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1943.09
Dow Jones I.A.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16514.10
Nasdaq Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . 4689.43
Xetra DAX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9979.85
Chg
-47.17
-392.41
-146.34
-234.17
%chg
-2.37
-2.32
-3.03
-2.29
Price
CAC 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4403.58
Swiss Market Index. . . . . . . . . . . . 8449.86
ISEQ Overall Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6563.78
FTSEurofirst 300. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360.87
Chg
-76.89
-163.56
-123.38
-30.96
%chg
-1.72
-1.90
-1.85
-2.22
3926.0 1477.0
131.7 78.4
3891.0 2872.0
597.0 400.6
1219.0 991.0
1095.0 660.5
1915.0 1544.0
136.0 95.0
127.7 91.0
2713.0 2330.0
977.5 744.5
2880.0 2209.0
617.0 465.4
140.0 93.4
176.0 139.2
470.7 365.9
600.5 429.9
475.3 309.3
334.4 249.1
288.2 156.0
738.5 638.5
AIM 50
Abcam . . . . . . . . . . . . .642.5 -2.0
Advanced Medical . . . .179.5 1.3
Alternative Netwo . . . .503.5 6.0
Amerisur Resource . . . . .23.0 0.0
Arbuthnot Banking . . .1530.0 0.0
ASOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3018.0 -94.0
Avanti Communicat . . . .161.8 -3.8
Brooks Macdonald . .2008.0 -2.0
Camellia . . . . . . . . . . .9402.5 2.0
Clinigen Group . . . . . . .700.0 -13.5
Conviviality . . . . . . . . . .215.5 -5.3
CVS Group . . . . . . . . . . .832.0 8.0
Dart Group . . . . . . . . . .576.5 -8.0
Earthport . . . . . . . . . . . .34.5 0.8
EMIS Group . . . . . . . . . .1120.0 23.0
Fevertree Drinks . . . . . .605.0 -1.5
First Derivatives . . . . . .1501.0 -14.0
Gamma Communicati .427.3 -0.8
GB Group . . . . . . . . . . . .273.3 -4.3
Gemfields . . . . . . . . . . . .44.0 -3.0
Gooch & Housego . . . .865.0 -5.8
GW Pharmaceutical . . .363.8 -13.5
Iomart Group . . . . . . . .258.0 -0.5
James Halstead . . . . . .455.3 -14.3
Johnson Service G . . . . .88.0 -0.5
M&C Saatchi . . . . . . . . . .315.5 -10.0
M. P. Evans Group . . . . .385.6 2.9
Majestic Wine . . . . . . . .356.3 29.0
Mulberry Group . . . . . .980.0 -19.0
Nichols . . . . . . . . . . . . .1417.0 -23.0
Numis Corporation . . . .241.6 0.9
Patisserie Holdin . . . . .450.0 15.5
Pinewood Group . . . . .435.0 0.0
Polar Capital Hol . . . . . .415.0 -2.0
Quadrise Fuels In . . . . . .13.8 -1.5
Redcentric . . . . . . . . . . .185.5 0.3
Redde . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201.3 -2.8
Renew Holdings . . . . .404.8 -0.3
RWS Holdings . . . . . . . .195.5 -3.5
Scapa Group . . . . . . . . .200.3 -2.3
Secure Trust Bank . . . .3225.0 -32.0
Sirius Minerals . . . . . . . . .14.5 -0.5
Smart Metering Sy . . . .328.5 -6.8
Staffline Group . . . . . .1370.0 -23.0
Telford Homes . . . . . . .392.0 -5.0
Telit Communicati . . . . .211.5 1.5
Thorpe (F.W.) . . . . . . . .220.5 -7.6
Vernalis plc . . . . . . . . . . .68.8 -0.3
Vertu Motors . . . . . . . . . .77.0 -1.0
Watchstone Group . . . .268.8 -26.0
Young & Co's Brew . . .1244.5 27.5
667.0 424.8
184.5 127.0
541.0 405.0
43.3 20.5
1625.0 1322.5
4194.0 2167.0
264.0 150.5
2057.3 1320.0
9880.0 8800.0
761.0 488.8
223.5 125.0
840.0 455.0
588.5 269.3
47.0 24.8
1140.0 824.0
610.0 195.0
1578.0 1094.0
463.0 240.5
283.8 151.5
68.3 35.5
929.0 657.0
696.0 348.0
307.5 167.0
520.0 317.0
92.8 66.0
395.0 290.0
438.5 345.5
471.3 296.0
1000.0 845.0
1492.0 901.5
276.3 202.0
483.0 252.8
487.5 415.0
479.5 350.3
22.0 9.2
197.5 136.5
210.3 93.0
405.0 240.5
225.5 119.5
220.8 129.0
3385.0 2740.0
24.0 7.0
387.5 305.5
1623.0 730.0
492.0 347.0
356.0 180.0
244.5 135.0
86.5 44.9
78.5 54.0
326.0 67.0
1310.0 970.0
http://corporate.webfg.com
mailto:
[email protected]
US SHARES
CITY A.M. MORNING UPDATE
COMMODITIES
1719.0 855.0
1217.0 883.0
1656.0 1238.0
1145.0 878.0
1157.0 969.0
1950.0 1671.0
1326.0 1045.0
370.4 292.4
5995.0 3408.0
865.5 608.0
251.9 172.5
1064.0 732.0
1255.0 1022.0
308.8 211.4
858.5 619.5
172.8 135.4
444.6 326.0
531.0 392.2
663.0 495.9
2873.0 2244.0
560.5 404.7
335.6 268.5
656.0 379.1
1091.0 799.5
354.6 200.2
161.9 117.3
184.4 88.1
211.2 119.0
2260.0 1774.0
4384.0 3423.0
309.8 276.0
TECHNOLOGY HARDW. & EQUIP.
Rise | Shine
Gold ............................................................1106.35
14.95
Silver ..............................................................14.03
0.02
Brent Crude ...................................................34.52
-2.12
Krugerrand.................................................1063.10
0.00
Palladium....................................................532.00 -13.00
Platinum .....................................................885.00
-5.00
Tin Cash Official ........................................13847.50 -200.00
Lead Cash Official........................................1612.75 -82.00
Zinc Cash Official........................................1476.50 -38.25
1275.0
603.5
1758.0
1036.0
195.3
641.0
460.0
224.6
783.5
ARM Holdings . . . . . . .968.0 -6.0 1205.0 848.5
Laird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325.6 -10.9 409.5 301.6
REAL ESTATE INVEST. & SERV.
Capital & Countie . . . . .410.6 -11.3
CLS Holdings . . . . . . . .1743.0 -62.0
Countrywide . . . . . . . . .374.0 -10.1
Daejan Holdings . . . . .6230.0-160.0
F&C Commercial Pr . . . .130.5 -2.2
Grainger . . . . . . . . . . . .239.3 -2.1
Kennedy Wilson Eu . . .1165.0 -10.0
Savills . . . . . . . . . . . . . .844.0 -6.0
St. Modwen Proper . . .400.7 -6.7
UK Commercial Pro . . . .82.5 -1.9
Unite Group . . . . . . . . .648.5 -7.5
2319.0
857.5
2508.0
1610.0
307.0
924.0
614.0
289.7
1279.0
Price Chg High Low
Stagecoach Group . . . . .287.2 -5.8 419.6 285.4
Thomas Cook Group . . .116.6 -4.3 161.3 98.4
TUI AG Reg Shs (D . . . .1218.0 -5.0 1271.0 1007.0
Wetherspoon (J.D. . . . .719.5 -1.0 835.0 692.0
Whitbread . . . . . . . . . .4125.0 -75.0 5440.0 4112.0
William Hill . . . . . . . . . .376.3 -4.7 425.3 314.8
Wizz Air Holdings . . . .1789.0 -24.0 2047.0 1340.0
Price
Hang Seng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20333.34
Shanghai Composite . . . . . . . . . . . 3125.00
Straits Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2729.91
Sao Paulo Bovespa . . . . . . . . . . . 40694.72
Chg
-647.47
-236.84
-74.36
-1078.42
%chg
-3.09
-7.04
-2.65
-2.58
Price
Chg
High
Low
3M...................................................................140.97
ALPHABET-A...................................................741.00
ALPHABET-C...................................................726.39
ALTRIA GROUP..................................................58.14
AMAZON.COM.................................................607.94
AMERICAN EXPRESS ........................................63.84
AMGEN............................................................152.98
APPLE..............................................................96.45
AT&T..................................................................33.51
BANK OF AMERICA ...........................................15.50
BERKSHIRE HATHAWY-B ................................129.48
BOEING CO.......................................................133.01
BRISTOL-MYERSSQUIBB ...................................65.29
CATERPILLAR ...................................................63.94
CHEVRON.........................................................83.02
CISCO SYSTEMS .................................................25.41
CITIGROUP .......................................................47.56
COCA-COLA CO..................................................41.62
COMCAST-A.......................................................54.61
CVS HEALTH......................................................94.18
DU PONT NEMOURS&CO...................................61.50
EXXON MOBIL...................................................76.23
FACEBOOK-A.....................................................97.92
GENERAL ELECTRIC...........................................28.97
GILEAD SCIENCES.............................................96.25
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP...............................164.62
HOME DEPOT ..................................................125.40
IBM .................................................................132.86
INTEL ................................................................31.84
JOHNSON & JOHNSON .....................................99.22
JPMORGAN CHASE...........................................60.27
MASTERCARD-A...............................................91.64
MCDONALD'S...................................................115.66
MERCK..............................................................51.96
MICROSOFT........................................................52.17
NIKE -B-...........................................................59.85
ORACLE............................................................35.04
PEPSICO............................................................97.57
PFIZER ..............................................................31.40
PHILIP MRRS INT ..............................................87.25
PROCTER&GAMBLE............................................77.18
SCHLUMBERGER ...............................................66.19
TRAVLR COMP.................................................106.44
TWITTER ..........................................................20.26
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP ..................................112.09
UTD TECHNOLOGIES..........................................91.90
VERIZON COMM ...............................................45.27
VISA-A..............................................................73.79
WAL-MART STORES..........................................65.03
WALT DISNEY-DISNEY......................................99.50
WELLS FARGO..................................................50.40
-3.52
-18.33
-17.23
-1.03
-24.71
-0.58
-3.74
-4.25
-0.55
-0.58
-1.85
-5.82
-1.86
-2.28
-3.05
-0.60
-2.56
-0.70
-0.61
-1.38
-1.88
-1.24
-5.05
-1.28
-4.05
-5.22
-3.68
-2.31
-1.24
-1.17
-2.54
-1.71
-2.74
-0.46
-1.88
-1.64
-0.78
-1.91
-0.21
-0.60
-0.68
-1.51
-2.60
-1.13
-3.40
-1.22
-0.25
-1.48
1.48
-0.86
-1.48
170.50
798.69
779.98
61.74
696.44
91.81
181.81
134.54
36.45
18.48
151.69
158.83
70.87
89.62
112.93
30.31
60.95
43.91
64.99
113.65
76.49
93.45
110.65
31.49
123.37
218.77
135.47
176.30
37.49
106.50
70.61
101.76
120.23
63.62
56.85
68.20
45.33
103.44
36.46
90.27
91.79
95.13
116.48
53.49
126.21
124.45
50.86
81.01
90.97
122.08
58.77
134.00
490.91
486.23
47.31
285.25
63.08
130.09
92.00
30.97
14.60
125.50
115.14
51.82
62.99
69.58
23.03
46.60
36.56
50.01
81.37
47.11
66.55
72.00
19.37
86.00
163.60
92.17
131.65
24.87
81.79
50.07
74.61
87.50
45.69
39.72
45.35
34.88
76.48
28.47
75.27
65.02
65.80
95.21
20.20
95.00
85.50
38.06
60.00
56.30
90.00
47.75
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
FEATURE 17
OFFICE POLITICS
The crucial
strategies for
women aiming
for the top
tion. Your sponsor could help you find
projects and job openings that will
allow you to advance, while publicly
supporting your candidacy to secure
your rise through the ranks.
LONDON
BARGAINS
Wriggle
Free
Whatever stage you’re at, there’s something
you can do to improve, says Karen Penney
I
N RECENT years, more women than
ever have stepped into leadership
roles. In 2015, 26 per cent of FTSE
100 directorships were held by
women,
according
to
the
Professional
Boards
Forum’s
BoardWatch. However, while it’s great
to see an increasing proportion of
women in top jobs, it’s clear there is still
much more to do. It’s not enough to
focus solely on women already in senior
management. Businesses need to look
at female talent throughout their
organisation, particularly those currently in mid-level positions, and find
new ways to encourage and support
them towards senior roles.
Mentorship and sponsorship programmes are key ways companies can
offer inspiration and expertise to those
who are working their way up the
career ladder. Without this kind of support, women may find it more difficult
to reach for the next level. But what
might this look like in practice?
BUILDING A SUPPORT
NETWORK
Predominantly, we think about mentoring as being a one-on-one relationship –
but it can also work really well in a
group environment, perhaps bringing
10 people together at once. Together
with a colleague, I run one such
women’s mentoring group at American
Express. The format, based on Sheryl
Sandberg’s model, is a “Lean In” circle,
and in every meeting the group’s members get together and talk about things
that have either come up in the circle
or more generally – for instance, “how
do I build my executive presence?”.
Many think of
mentoring as a
one-to-one
activity, but it can
be very effective
in groups
Women have the confidence to ask the
questions they need to ask in a safe
environment. A mentoring group
means members not only benefit from
having a mentoring relationship with
senior colleagues, but they build a network among themselves as well.
FINDING A SPONSOR
Perhaps you’ve already progressed well
in your career, and have successfully
navigated the kinds of issues that a
mentoring group might discuss. This is
the point where you could benefit from
a sponsor – that is, working with a senior woman in a leadership role who will
play a more strategic role for you than a
mentor. Where a mentor is focused on
helping with your personal and professional development, a sponsor is an
advocate for you within the organisa-
We all want to
keep up-to-date
with food and
drink deals and
offers –
particularly
when it comes to
independent
places.
Wriggle, which
receives
persistently
impressive
ratings, enables
you to do just
that, with the
option to
browse your
favourite coffee
shops and
restaurants.
You’ll be
supporting local
businesses and
saving money at
the same time.
PAY IT FORWARD
Even if you’ve climbed the corporate
ladder and reached the management
team, you aren’t finished with mentoring and sponsorship – it’s important to
remember that many people helped
you along the way. Now is the time to
“pay it forward” and get involved in
mentoring or sponsoring other women.
I have been fortunate to benefit from
a scheme called the Pathways to
Sponsorship programme, which has
helped tremendously in my career. This
scheme is part of a bigger Amex initiative designed to increase the advancement and retention of women in
mid-level positions within the organisation, giving them access to senior
female leaders who can help them follow in their footsteps, and assisting
them to take on more challenging projects and move into senior roles.
This experience has inspired me to
look for opportunities where I can help
other women advance. For women
aspiring to business leadership, the corporate world can have particular challenges. Working with mentors and
executive sponsors, building networks
and, most importantly, giving back to
others who are growing professionally
will help both you and your female colleagues develop – so the business world
sees more women at the top.
£ Karen Penney is vice president and
general manager of American Express
Global Corporate Payments UK.
18
OPINION
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
CITYAM.COM
FORUM
Why financial markets
matter for the real economy
M
UCH like Jose Mourinho’s
second spell at Chelsea,
2015 turned out to be a
false dawn for the stock
market. After breaking
through 7,000 in April, the FTSE 100
ended the year barely over 6,000. The
rollercoaster was even bumpier in
China, where the market rose by 54
per cent by mid-June, only to lose it all
a month later.
But the real economy has been
devoid of such excitement. Quarterly
GDP growth in the UK hovered
around 0.5 per cent throughout the
year, while unemployment fell slowly,
but steadily, from 5.7 per cent to 5.2
per cent. And it’s the real economy
which determines how many “actual”
goods and services are bought, how
many people are in work, and how
much investment is undertaken. So
do financial markets actually matter,
or should we only pay attention to
real measures?
The textbook answer is that financial markets are forward-looking,
while real indicators are historic.
Peaks and troughs in the stock
market tell us about the real economy’s future prospects. But even under
this argument, financial markets are
merely a mirror – they passively
reflect the economy, but do not
actively affect it. As a rather blunt
analogy, if a person dislikes the waistline reflected back at them, the solution is not to change the mirror but to
change one’s habits. If true, then the
UK financial industry is £120bn wasted on a mirror which should be reallocated to bricks and mortar.
Of course, real production requires
funding. And so it’s clear that
primary financial markets create
value, by providing new capital to
businesses. But the vast majority of
activity occurs in secondary financial
markets, where no new funds are
being raised. Hedge funds, mutual
funds, and other investors typically
trade second-hand stocks and bonds,
and do so among each other. Real
companies are not involved, so surely
they can’t benefit?
But they can. In a paper entitled The
Real Effects of Financial Markets, professors Philip Bond, Itay Goldstein,
and I highlight two channels through
which secondary financial markets
can improve real efficiency, even
though no new capital is being provided.
The first is incentives. Managers’
shares, options, and reputation all
depend on the stock price. Thus, their
incentives to take real actions depend
on the extent to which those actions
will be reflected in the stock price. If
the financial market is inefficient,
because unsophisticated traders value
a firm based on short-term profit
rather than long-term value, then the
stock price will reflect the former,
and so managers will focus on the former. But an active financial sector,
where investors are critically
analysing a firm’s brand, strategic
positioning,
and
innovative
capability, will ensure that prices
more closely reflect the firm’s longterm prospects – in turn encouraging
the manager to think long-term.
The second is learning. Many of the
key drivers of a firm’s long-run value,
such as its strategic positioning, are
difficult to measure objectively. Like
an efficient polling system, the stock
price aggregates the information of
millions of investors, each with their
different viewpoints, and summarises
them into a single number which can
be used by anyone for free. For example, a bank deciding whether to lend,
Alex
Edmans
Like an efficient
polling station, the
stock price
aggregates the
information of
millions of investors,
each with their
different viewpoints
a worker choosing which company to
join, and a customer or supplier
deciding whether to enter into a longterm relationship can use the stock
price (in addition to other measures)
to guide them.
Most importantly, it can be used by
the company’s management. Many
key decisions are enhanced by managers supplementing their own inter-
nal information with external perspectives. While consultants cost millions, the stock price is a freely
available signal of the quality of a
firm’s decisions. Indeed, studies have
shown that a chief executive’s likelihood of completing an M&A deal
depends on the initial stock price
reaction to its announcement. For
example, Carly Fiorina, the former
chief executive of Hewlett-Packard,
dropped her bid for the consulting
arm of PwC because investors “simply
voted with their positions in the
stock... I realise [they] made some
valid points.” More broadly, chief executives increase real investment when
their stock price is high, as this
signals favourable growth opportunities – and the effect is stronger where
the stock price is more informative.
Of course, a larger financial sector is
not necessarily a more efficient financial sector, and not all trading is good.
Stock prices may be manipulated,
reducing rather than enhancing the
amount of information in prices.
But the benefits of an efficient
financial sector for the real economy
are clear. The challenge for policymakers is to harness the financial sector’s vast resources to increase the
informativeness of market prices. One
channel may be to encourage
investors to take large stakes, to
ensure that they have sufficient
incentives to gather intangible information, rather than relying on freelyavailable earnings figures. When
stock prices reflect long-term value,
not short-term numbers, managers’
decisions will too.
£ Alex Edmans is professor of finance at
London Business School. His TEDx talk on
The Social Responsibility of Business is at
http://bit.ly/csrtedx Twitter: @aedmans
Meet Ted Cruz: The dark horse Republican
who could pip Trump to the nomination
S
ENATOR Ted Cruz is the most
interesting candidate in the
US presidential race right now.
As a darling of the Tea Party, in
2012, he swept into the
Senate, representing Texas, having
campaigned on deeply conservative
principles and policies. At the time,
many dismissed him as a rabble-rouser
who would wind up as a less successful
version of George W Bush. Now, not
only is he leading in the polls in Iowa,
but he has also beat out senator Marco
Rubio as the dark horse of the race
thus far.
Cruz has been criticised for having
some of the most conservative views in
the contest. Though his conservatism
is rooted in a strict interpretation of
the US constitution – not the modern
populism that has propelled candidates like former senator Rick
Santorum and former governor Mike
Huckabee to call for heavy defence
spending and further government
interference – his extreme views on
abortion and the death penalty have
many questioning if he can appeal to
moderate Republicans, let alone independents.
Despite these views, however, Cruz
has found support in some of the most
unlikely places. Alan Dershowitz, the
famous liberal law professor at
Harvard, said of Cruz: “One of the
sharpest students I had... I’ve had
10,000 students over my 50 years at
Harvard... he has to qualify among the
brightest.”
During his career, Cruz has worked
as both a law clerk to Supreme Court
justice William Rehnquist, as well as
the solicitor general of Texas; a job
which led him to argue several cases in
front of the Supreme Court himself.
His experience easily pegs him as the
most knowledgeable candidate on
state and individual rights, a helpful
title to hold when vying for conservative votes.
With a few obvious exceptions –
including his anti-immigration stance
and support for building a wall at the
Mexican border – many of Cruz’s
policy proposals adopt progressive conservatism, meaning they rest more on
Kate
Andrews
evidence than ideology. He strays from
the pack when the facts are clear, evidenced just this week when, according
to the Wall Street Journal, he became
“the first leading presidential candidate to oppose the federal Renewable
Fuel Standard” – a farming handout
that is protected heavily by the agricultural lobby.
When the TV debates kicked off,
many thought Rubio was the one to
watch: moderate, charismatic, with
both “grassroots” and “establishment”
likability. But Cruz has come out far
ahead in Iowa and, if the polls are to be
believed, he will be determined the
winner in that state’s caucus in just a
matter of weeks.
My bet is that Rubio still has a small
edge on Cruz to secure the Republican
nomination. While the Iowa caucuses
play a pivotal role for under-performing candidates, for whom it is the last
chance to stay in the race, its voters are
very socially conservative and have
failed to choose the candidate that resonates most with the rest of the party
in recent years.
But this is still anyone’s race, and
Cruz’s prospects are looking up. If he
wins Iowa, the feat will deliver a crushing blow to Donald Trump and potentially trigger the billionaire’s downfall.
Trump’s main pull is that he’s a “winner” – when he’s not winning anymore, his campaign will inevitably
decline.
When it does, someone will reap the
lost votes. Six months ago, Cruz
seemed like an after-thought; today, he
may be peaking at just the right
moment.
£ Kate Andrews is head of
communications at the Adam Smith
Institute.
DEBATE
Q: With Marc
Bolland stepping
down, can
anyone turn
around M&S’s
faltering clothing
business?
Russ
Mould
YES
The M&S clothing business can be fixed,
starting with these three moves. First,
stock availability has to be improved as
this has been an issue since 2012. The
firm needs to do more dual-sourcing for
quick, repeat sales on strong lines. This
would maximise full-price sales, help
limit markdown and support margins.
Second, the clothing arm must focus
more on quality, just as the food
business does. There is too much
polyester in the stores. The M&S
customer demographic willingly pays for
quality in food – they would do so in
clothes too. This will require short-term
margin pain but the long-term payoff
would be improved sales and better
margins, through lower markdowns –
especially if coupled with better
availability. Finally, the online offering
has to be improved. The website today
only focuses on price (the banner is “new
lower prices”) and is a turn-off to
shoppers looking for a quality product.
£Russ Mould is investment director at AJ
Bell.
Tristan
Rogers
NO
The negative press about Marc Bolland's
tenure at M&S is inevitable. General
merchandise sales have declined
continuously. But what could he, or
indeed anyone, have really done? Is the
department store a relevant concept
anymore? Show me an example of one
that is succeeding at the scale of M&S.
Like Waitrose, M&S has done well to
“own” the luxury end of the food market.
But for general merchandise, the large
floor plate and generalist clothing format
is out of date. As a public company with
conservative shareholders to consider,
radical change by any management team
would probably be a step too far. But the
danger is that the board and shareholders
think the saviour of M&S is more online
investment. They need to realise that the
company’s brand DNA lies in quality and
service, and that still has relevance on the
high street today. Delivering this in a
focused store environment to a well
understood customer is what they used
to do, but don’t any longer. The
management needs to be free to do that
again.
£ Tristan Rogers is chief executive of
Concrete.
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
CITYAM.COM
WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forget Tory schism
[Re: Prepare for civil war, yesterday]
Havard Hughes’s punditry on Conservative
tribes and Brexit shows little understanding of
a party I have supported for decades and
represented in elected office. Regardless of
EU-promoting dinosaurs like Ken Clarke,
David Cameron has been very smart and will
not be a laughing stock in the capitals of
Europe. And there isn’t going to be a civil war –
we leave that to the Corbynistas.
Cameron has very sensibly given Cabinet
colleagues the right to speak their mind after
he has concluded negotiations with Brussels.
In truth, the PM is shortly going to present us a
package aligned to the next Treaty – due to
replace the Lisbon Accords in 2018. It won’t
offer respite from funding the pernicious
decline across the 27 other member states,
nor will it fully address any of the public’s
concerns on migration, resources and border
security. He will rush to referendum, hoping
that no new migration wave, security outrage,
or Eurozone blow-up mars his dash for a Yes
vote. He will probably get a Yes and Britain will
stay in. He can then stand down and a new PM
can handle the detailed sweep-up.
But if the electorate votes for Brexit, he
probably won’t stand down in 2018, because
Osborne won’t be able to succeed him. Boris
will then be on-hand to lead a triumphant
Eurosceptic run for the leadership, in
preparation for the 2020 rout of a broken
Labour party. He would then expect to be the
PM overseeing the exit negotiations. PostCameronian change will be completed with
the Scots demanding another referendum so
they can exit the UK and apply to rejoin the
EU. Fifty-nine Westminster seats will
disappear, further enhancing the Tory
majority, whose prospects are already
boosted by the Boundary Commission’s work
to re-balance constituencies.
No schism, no war and no chance Corbyn is
going anywhere near the keys of Number 10.
Chris McLaughlin
Fountain House,
3rd Floor, 130 Fenchurch Street,
London, EC3M 5DJ
Tel: 020 3201 8900
Fax: 020 7248 2711 Email: [email protected]
Mexico’s supposedly
successful sugary drinks tax
reduced average energy
consumption by just 16
calories a day.
@cjsnowdon
G
ORB EU ref online poll has
Leave 7 per cent ahead.
Remain 36 per cent, Leave
43 per cent, DK 21 per cent.
This is the biggest Leave
lead since General Election
2015 from any pollster.
@MSmithsonPB
Stratfor on Greece: Risk of
Grexit or default will be
lower in 2016; but threat of
social unrest and political
volatility will loom large.
@GreekAnalyst
The China financial crisis of
2016 is partly a reflection of
the mighty US dollar.
@notayesmansecon
Ryanair to open new base at
Belfast International
Airport... but what about
Brexit uncertainty?
@minefornothing
Certified Distribution
from 26/10/15 till
29/11/15 is 104,106.
19
:@cityam
China is exporting a new wave
of deflation –and global growth
downgrades are inevitable
BEST OF
TWITTER
Glad to see Marc Bolland is
stepping down from M&S.
He’s proved ineffective as
anything other than a
grocer.
@DrGABaines
› E:[email protected] COMMENT AT:cityam.com/forum
OPINION
LOBAL equity markets are
battling against the third
wave of deflation which
Fidelity first spoke about last
summer. The first wave was
the US housing and financial crisis of
2008-9, the second the euro crisis of
2011-12, and now, the third, the
emerging market crisis of 2015-16.
All emerging market crises start in
the foreign exchange markets and
this one is no different. It has been
brewing for the last 18 months and
its epicentre has now become clear:
the misallocation of capital and overinvestment in fixed asset investment
in China over the last decade or more.
Past experience teaches us that it
takes years of capital scarcity to
restore capital and cost discipline
after years of over-investment.
Consequently, investors are fleeing
Chinese equities and those parts of
the global economy most directly
affected, particularly commodities.
In response, the People’s Bank of
China (PBOC) is understandably
attempting to manage an orderly
devaluation of the yuan. The yuan’s
formal link to the US dollar has been
a problem for the PBOC over the last
two years as the dollar has
strengthened: de facto forcing the
yuan to revalue higher against
China’s key trading partners in Asia,
particularly against the Japanese yen.
Recent policy moves to measure the
yuan against a basket of currencies
and not just the dollar, and adjusting
the mid-rate against the dollar, are
designed to ease the competitive
Dominic
Rossi
pressures on Chinese manufacturing.
The devaluation of the yuan
effectively exports domestic
deflationary pressures across the
global economy, however, which is
why global markets are falling as
well.
There is no doubt that the third
deflationary wave will mean that
world GDP will continue to operate
below its potential for some time.
Downward pressure on prices will
persist and a supply-side contraction
in developing nations will be
required before prices stabilise. A
further fall in potential global output
is unavoidable and further
It is safe to say that a
global manufacturing
recession started in
late 2015 and will
persist for most of
the year
Editorial Editor Christian May | Deputy Editor Julian Harris
Business Features Editor Tom Welsh | Lifestyle Editor Steve Dinneen
Sports Editor Frank Dalleres | Creative Director David Riley
Commercial Sales Director Jeremy Slattery |
Head of Distribution Gianni Cavalli
downward adjustments to global
GDP forecasts lie ahead due to more
weakness in emerging markets.
The impact on the developed world
will be bifurcated. Those sectors
directly concerned with commodity
production and exporters of trade
goods will face recessionary
conditions. It is safe to say that a
global manufacturing recession
started in late 2015 and will persist
for most of this year.
Consumer and service sectors in
the developed world, in contrast, will
ride out this storm relatively well.
Personal real incomes are growing, in
part thanks to lower commodity and
manufactured goods prices.
Moreover, inflation in 2016 will now
be non-existent. Even in the US, the
case for higher interest rates can
once again be pushed back by
international considerations.
In sum, an economic landscape,
formed with low nominal growth
and low nominal interest rates, will
now shape the developing world as it
has the developed world since 2008.
Those who thought the secular
opportunities within emerging
markets would insulate them from
our woes will need to rethink. Our
only escape from secular stagnation
lies in innovation, and not in a blind
trust in central bankers who
somehow know more than we do.
They don’t.
£ Dominic Rossi is global chief
investment officer for equities at Fidelity
International.
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HOTPROPERTY
20 FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
CITYAM.COM
Edited by Melissa York
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LONDON PROPERTY MARKET
HOW NOT TO SPEND IT
Melissa York on
ways to make
your money go
further in 2016
and finally get
your dream home
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SAVINGS
ACCOUNT
Now you’ve worked out how to save
money, you need to put it somewhere it’ll grow.
One no brainer is the Help to Buy
ISA, which was announced in 2014’s
Autumn Statement but only went
live in December. You’re limited to
putting in £200 a month and you
can’t pay into another ISA in the
same tax year, but the government
will pop in 25 per cent of what
you’ve saved on top, tax-free. There
are some attractive interest rates on
offer from the banks as well, with
Halifax advertising 4 per cent interest rate. Sure, it’s a slow way to save,
but you’d be hard-pressed to find another ISA that’ll pay you over 25 per
cent interest.
If you want to save more than £200
a month, simply find an additional
savings account with the highest
amount of after-tax interest.
From April 6, basic rate taxpayers
will be able to earn £1,000 interest a
year tax-free, so that shouldn’t be a
problem. An instant access savings
account will give you more flexibility, should you need to withdraw
money at any point or shift your savings around, but better interest rates
can be had if you lock it away in a
regular savings account.
As always, you should shop around
and review your arrangements at
least once a year so you know you’re
getting the best deal.
TOP TIPS FOR...
SAVING A DEPOSIT
F
our out of five
Britons under 30
would prefer to own
their own home, rather
than rent, according to the
Council of Mortgage Lenders, but in
London, that’s easier said than done.
Home ownership is at its lowest
level in 25 years and property prices
have risen to about six times the
UK’s average annual salary.
Raising a deposit may seem like a
daunting task, but if your resolution
was to stash away some serious cash
this year, then here are some tips to
help you do it.
BUDGET
It may be stating the obvious, but
you’re not going to get a handle on
how much you could potentially be
saving unless you sit down and do
the maths.
A good way to make sure your expenditure isn’t exceeding your income is to stay on top of your Direct
Debits. All those gym memberships,
Spotify and Netflix accounts add up,
so it’s worth reviewing them regularly to shed the ones you could do
without.
Another piece of financial housekeeping you should do regularly is
shop around, especially when it
comes to mobile phone contracts
and utility bills. Price comparison
websites are great for this – look out
for any exclusive online deals.
Contactless payment may be the
future, but it’s also expensive. You
can easily lose track of what you’re
spending when you’re tapping away
at card terminals. Try getting cash
out at the start of the week and making it last instead.
If it’s extortionate rent that’s sucking up all your cash, look for a house
share with more people to keep living costs down.
Or, if you’re renting on your own
and you’ve got a spare room, it
might be worth getting a lodger to
help you with your monthly payments.
If you’re lucky, you may even be
able to move back into the family
home for a while. It may not be an
ideal situation, but it’s doable if you
remember it’s a temporary solution
that you’ll be out of as long as you
continue to save.
LOOK AT FIRST-TIME BUYER
AFFORDABILITY SCHEMES
MATES MORTGAGES
Pairing up with a friend or family
member to buy a property has become more and more popular over
the past five years. So much so that
most lenders will now allow up to
four applicants on a joint mortgage,
although they often only take the
two biggest incomes into account
when calculating how much to lend.
Sure, difficulties may arise when
one of you wants to sell up, but beware “jointly or severally” liability
clauses that entitle lenders to chase
one borrower for the full amount if
the other can’t pay up.
But by and large, it could be the answer to your housing woes as you’ll
be able to club together for the deposit and capitalise on the borrowing power of two incomes instead of
one.
You can also increase your borrowing power by finding a guarantor,
someone who’s willing to offer their
property up as security if you’re unable to pay for your own.
The fall in home ownership has
pushed property (or lack thereof) up
the political agenda and there are
now a number of governmentbacked schemes to help first-time
buyers onto the property ladder.
If you take advantage of a Help to
Buy equity loan, you’ll only have to
save a 5 per cent cash deposit on a
new build home and the government will lend you up to 20 per cent
of the cost, leaving you to secure a
75 per cent mortgage on the rest.
From 2016, a new London version
will be available that increases the
upper limit of the government’s equity loan from 20 per cent up to 40
per cent. Watch out for repayment
fees, which kick in after five years.
Alternatively, shared ownership
may be a good option. You can partbuy, part-rent a property with a
housing association, buying a share
of the property you can afford. You
only have to stump up the deposit
on the share that you buy and you
can “staircase” up to owning 100 per
cent of the property as your savings
or income increase.
Selling up can be a bit of a pain, as
most housing associations will have
“first refusal” or a period of time to
to allow them to find a buyer for
your property, so selling up quickly
may prove to be difficult. But it’s certainly a popular intermediary option and you’ll only have to raise a
fraction of the deposit you’d need if
you were buying outright.
£ To find out more, visit
helptobuy.gov.uk or sharetobuy.com
JANUARY STAMP DUTY
INCENTIVES AVAILABLE
CONTACT US TO
DISCOVER MORE
All throughout January, buyers at Lillie Square can
benefit from a reduction in stamp duty, amongst other
time-limited offers. For more information or to visit
one of our sales events contact us.
For more information contact us at
+44 (0)20 3417 8402
lilliesquare.com
22 HOT PROPERTY
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
CITYAM.COM
Croydon’s getting a costly facelift
With over £1bn
being invested in
Croydon, is it the
next big hotspot?
FOCUS ON
CROYDON
I
f there’s one thing we learnt from
the London property market in
2015, it was not to underestimate
the outer boroughs. Some of the
largest house price growth
increases were toestminster
be found
in
these
supposed
backwaters. Growth
in
places
like
Haringey
and
Hillingdon
far
Gree
outstripped
traditionally
Lambeth
Lewisham
prime areas like
Southwark
Kensington & th
Chelsea
and
Camden, so it’s
not surprising
that developers
have banked a
considerable
Croydon
amount of their
stars like Adele and
money in Croydon on
Amy Winehouse were
the borders of Surrey.
educated, among the quirky
Hometown of supermodel
Kate Moss and Super Hans from Peep tramlinks and the historic Clocktower
Show, it’s a concrete jungle that’s inex- arts centre.
Australian shopping behemoth
plicably produced its fair share of
glitzy stars. The BRIT School is famous- Westfield has also shone its spotlight
ly located here, where global super- on Croydon recently, announcing it
5 REASONS TO MOVE TO THE AREA
1
The
Clocktower is a
council-run arts
centre on
Katharine Street,
containing the
Museum of
Croydon and the
David Lean
Cinema, and
the library.
It was
opened
by the
Queen in
1994.
2
Despite all the
skyscrapers
shooting up and its
reputation as a bit
of a concrete
jungle, Croydon
actually beats
many other
boroughs for
open green
space and
parks.
Wandle
Park is a
particular
gem.
3
Croydon
Minster is a
Grade I listed
church. It’s thought
to have been built
in Saxon times and
it’s mentioned in
the Domesday
Book. The church
is almost 150ft in
length from east to
west, which makes
for a very long trek
down the aisle if
you’re getting
married.
4
Croydon is
famed for its
green trams that
beetle round
South London. The
network boasts 39
stops along 28km
of track.
5
Shirley
Windmill is
one of only four
that are open to
the public in
Greater London.
Built in 1890, most
of the original
machinery is still in
place and has
recently been
restored. Guided
tours are run for
visitors on the first
Sunday of every
month.
Top: a CGI of the £1bn Westfield shopping centre coming to
Croydon next year. Above: Barratt London’s New South
Quarter, one of many new build developments cropping up.
AREA GUIDE: CR0
HOUSE PRICES Source: Zoopla
DETACHED
SEMI
TERRACED
FLATS
£683,637
£402,841 £337,909 £251,325
TRANSPORT Source: TfL
Time to Canary Wharf
38 mins
Time to Liverpool Street
47 mins
Nearest trail station
East Croydon
was re-developing the old Whitgift
Centre to the tune of £1bn.
“There has been a lot of property
‘hype’ about Croydon over the last few
months,” says Camilla Dell, managing
partner at independent property buying agency Black Brick.
“Foxtons has recently opened up
a Croydon office and there has been a
lot of interest in the area from
investors thanks to its proximity to
London, more attractive pricing and
the opening of Westfield shopping
centre in 2017.
“However, investors need to tread
carefully and seek advice from a buying agent before buying in Croydon as
we are starting to hear rumblings that
there may be a risk of oversupply in
the area, particularly from the new
build sector.”
It’s true to say that some of the UK’s
most prolific housebuilders are pushing Croydon as the next affordable
place for young professionals to live in
London, frequently quoting the 20
minute commute to Victoria and
London Bridge.
And the sky’s the limit – quite literally – as four of these residential towers
are over 40 storeys high. Mondial
House by Bridgewater Properties packs
in 42-storeys, Berkeley Homes’ Saffron
Square is set to be 45-storeys, while
Redrow’s
Morello
tower
and
Guildhouse’s One Landsdowne Road
are 55 storeys a piece. To put this into
context, South Quay Plaza, set to be
the UK’s tallest residential building
near Canary Wharf, will be 68-storeys
high when it’s finished.
In anticipation of thousands of new
residents and visitors, the transport
network will also be overhauled fixing
what the Croydon Partnership
describes as “the issue of poor connections between the existing retail centres and the surrounding area”, by
opening up road and pedestrian access
to address long-standing congestion
problems, relocating a tram stop on
George Street and building a 3,500
space car park.
Ashley Whitehouse, office sales manager at the new Foxtons branch, says,
“Croydon attracts a wide variety of
buyers looking to get good value for
their money. Averaging £275,000 for a
one bedroom apartment, £325,000 for
a two bedroom flat and £400,000 for a
three bedroom terraced house,
Croydon currently remains one of the
most affordable London boroughs.
“With a good choice of local parks
and schools rated by Ofsted as
Outstanding and Good, Croydon also
attracts families from nearby
Beckenham, Crystal Palace and
Streatham looking to upsize.”
PRIVATE VIEW ON THE MARKET IN CROYDON THIS WEEK
TEEVAN ROAD, CR0, £515,000
SHIRLEY HILLS ROAD, CR0, £1.35M
SYDENHAM ROAD, CR0, £650,000
A three bedroom end-of-terrace house available freehold with a private
garden and off-street parking. On sale with Foxtons Croydon, 020 3829 1390.
This five bedroom detached house boasts four bathrooms, gated off-street
parking, a sauna and a jacuzzi. On sale with Foxtons Croydon, 020 3829 1390.
The star feature of this two bedroom apartment is its wraparound balcony
with eighth floor views. On sale with Foxtons Croydon, 020 3829 1390.
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016 HOT PROPERTY 23
CITYAM.COM
Camden
Old postie HQ set to
be new public square
Hackney
Islington
We
stm
ins
ter
Tower
Hamlet
Flats at Islington
Square go on sale
in historic building
Southwark
A
Above and right: CGI impressions of the public square and the penthouse roof
terrace. Work has begun and completions are expected at the end of 2017.
s the historic North London
Post Office, this 50,000sqft
site in Islington delivered
birthday cards, love letters
and
lists
for
Father
Christmas. But next year, joint property developers Sagar Group and Cain
Hoy hope they’ll be equally as successful at delivering a new housing, shopping and commercial district in the
heart of one of London’s most affluent
boroughs.
Sitting on Upper Street, which boasts
a thriving restaurant scene and is
home to the Almeida Theatre, the
Edwardian buildings were designed by
Jasper Wager who created many tall,
red-brick Post Offices around North
London. This particular one was
opened in 1906 and, during its heydey,
3,000 people worked within its walls.
The sorting office has been relocated
to its new home by Regents Canal and
developers took no time in swooping
on the Grade-II listed building. Since,
they’ve bought up surrounding buildings piece-by-piece, including the
Mitre pub next door, which provides a
new arcade route into the site.
Islington Square, from £715,000
In total, four buildings make up the
new project, providing 263 private
one, two and three bedroom apartments, along with penthouses and
maisonettes. The architecture will be a
mixture of Edwardian conversions
and a six-storey new build designed by
Piers Gough, who’s worked on the
National Portrait Gallery and homes
on the old Arsenal Stadium site.
Giris Rabinovitch, CEO of Sagar
Group, sets the scene. “Walking
through the retail arcades and into
the public square, visitors and residents will be met by the imposing
Edwardian facades, which will contain
a mixture of retail at ground level and
residential units above.”
£ Visit islingtonsquare.com
AREA GUIDE: N1
HOUSE PRICES Source: Zoopla
DETACHED
SEMI
TERRACED
FLATS
£1.66m
£1.898m £1.549m £620,387
TRANSPORT Source: TfL
Time to Canary Wharf
20 mins
Time to Liverpool Street
10 mins
Nearest tube station
Angel
collect
Canary Wharf 020 7510 8310
[email protected]
Langbourne Place
Canary Wharf E14
Canary Wharf 020 7510 8300
[email protected]
£375 per week / £1,625 per month
A modern, well situated apartment in this popular riverside development close
to Island Gardens DLR. The property benefits from 2 double bedrooms, 2
bathrooms (1 en-suite) & spacious reception with open plan fully fitted kitchen.
EPC rating E
chestertons.com
Oakland Quay
Canary Wharf E14
£799,995 leasehold
A 2 bedroom 10th floor, 925 sq ft apartment with dock views from all principal
rooms in the sought-after Baltimore Wharf development. Facilities include 24hr
concierge, valet parking, a large gym & 25m swimming pool.
EPC rating B
Additional tenant charges apply: Tenancy agreement fee: £222 (inc. VAT)
References per tenant including credit check: £42 (inc. VAT)
References per guarantor including credit check: £42 (inc. VAT)
Inventory check (approx. £100 – £250 inc. VAT dependent on property size)
chestertons.com/property-to-rent/applicable-fees
24
LIFE&STYLE
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
GOING OUT
FILM OF
THE WEEK
: @cityamlife
FILM
Why does
being Hateful
have to be so
noisy?
A WAR (15)
DIR. TOBIAS LINDHOLM
hhhhi | BY JAMES LUXFORD
THE HATEFUL EIGHT (18)
DIR. QUENTIN TARANTINO
The many grey areas of modern
warfare are examined in this
Danish drama, shortlisted for Best
Foreign Language film at this year’s
Oscars. We follow Commander
Claus Pedersen, stationed in
Helmand Province, as well as his
wife and children carrying on with
life back in Denmark. The future of
Claus and his loved ones are
thrown into jeopardy when he
makes an reckless decision to save
his troops.
hhhhh | BY JAMES LUXFORD
Once you look past the numerous
news headlines surrounding its release, Quentin Tarantino’s eighth
film is one of the filmmaker’s most
ambitious to date. Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Samuel L Jackson star in the story of eight
strangers in post-Civil War America
forced into the same cabin by a monstrous blizzard, each carrying a secret they’re ready to kill for.
Taking cues from old Westerns, his
past films and a bit of Agatha
Christie, myriad influences come together to create a film that will be
different to anything else you’ve
ever seen, in the best possible way.
The two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter sets up his whodunnit (or perhaps more accurately
‘whosgoingtodoit’) as a verbal chess
game, putting eloquent speeches
into the mouths of his well-chosen
cast.
While it’s not a Travolta-level reinvention, Tarantino does bring out
the best in Kurt Russell. There are
echoes of his ‘80s heyday in his performance as a famous bounty
hunter, with Jennifer Jason Leigh superb as his snarling captive. An
oddly Christoph Waltz-like Tim Roth
and the always verbose Jackson have
their standout moments, but most
impressive is Walter Goggins as a former Confederate soldier-turned-sheriff. Channing Tatum pops up
towards the end in a charming but
brief role, clearly delighted to be invited to this blood-spattered party.
Myriad influences
come together to
create a film unlike
anything you’ve
ever seen
His decision to film in 70mm
Panavision proves more than a nostalgia play, as those wide lenses create a sense of vast space within the
film’s confined cabin set. It’s a visual reminder of the distance between these untrustworthy
companions that, along with sharp
dialogue and sharper performances,
makes every moment gripping.
At around three hours (depending
on the version you see), and mostly
set in one room, The Hateful Eight is
a gritty and grim masterpiece showcasing a director steadfastly sticking
to his own path.
At a time when an increasing number of films try to be all things to all
cinemagoers, Tarantino fans can rejoice in the knowledge that one of
the few remaining maverick filmmakers has lost none of his grit.
THEATRE
LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
DONMAR WAREHOUSE
hhhii | BY STEVE DINNEEN
THEATRE
GUYS AND DOLLS
THE SAVOY
hhhhi | BY MELISSA YORK
The last play to grace the stage of The
Savoy was Gypsy, where Imelda
Staunton gave a rip-roaring, throatshredding performance that’s likely
to go down in theatre legend. It was
always going to be a tough act to follow, but with the Chichester Festival’s
revival of Guys and Dolls, we’re safely
cosseted in the hands of a classic.
The story revolves around two couples trying to navigate the sinful
streets of 50s New York. Nathan,
played by David Haig, is fedora deep in
the gambling scene and he’s trying to
organise an illegal dice game. When
he finds out he has to stump up
$1,000 for the venue, he hopes to win
the money on a bet he can’t lose; gambling pal Sky has to convince pious
missionary girl Sarah to go on a date
with him in Cuba.
Haig’s perfected his moustachioed
every-guy act but his scenes are frequently stolen by his long-suffering
wife Adelaide, whose voice can veer
from squeaky pin-up to growling menace several times a sentence.
Despite its backdrop of kitsch ads for
Levis and Camel cigarettes, this heartfelt production carries its retro affectations lightly. It’s riotously fun and
injects just enough pizzaz to charm
without the cheese.
John Malkovich's career-defining
turn as the Vicomte de Valmont in
the film adaptation of Les Liaisons
Dangereuses created an archetype
for the sexually-charged villain. The
film was based on a play by Christopher Hampton (he also wrote the
screenplay), and cemented the role
as one of the more complex and coveted in theatre-land.
Josie Rourke's stylish, sexy but ultimately disposable production for
the Donmar shows that this tale of
high-society intrigue doesn't have to
be this way, that the Vicomte can in
fact be the least interesting part of
the salacious whole. Her production
is all about the Marquise de Merteuil, played by a blisteringly onform Janet McTeer, whose breathy
delivery drips with malice, desperation and dark humour.
Dominic West's Vicomte is positively boorish by comparison, crashing through the play with all the
subtlety of a drunk high-school jock.
His famous deflowering of the virgin Madame de Tourvel, for instance, is less a seduction than a
rape ("Roll over now while I do the
sex to you"), which makes de
Tourvel's subsequent infatuation
with him slightly baffling.
West's presence tends to shift the
tone from sultry to silly, which
seems like a conscious decision by
Director Tobias Lindholm’s shaky,
documentary-style filmmaking
isn’t the only reason the story is
deeply involving. It’s an
exploration of no-win situations,
where good intentions are not
enough, and good men such as
Claus (played by Lindholm’s
regular lead Pilou Asbaek) can still
find themselves in bad situations.
Equal credence is given to his
wife’s struggles, with the real
heartbreak coming from actress
Tuva Novotny’s determination to
carry on despite the absence of her
partner, rather than break down
dramatically, as a lot of lesser war
dramas would have her do. It’s an
emotionally testing journey,
particularly in the latter half when
the disarmingly relatable Asbaek is
made to answer for his actions.
The lack of any clear cut answer
makes A War a frustrating film to
walk away from, but one that
examines human nature so adeptly
you can’t help but feel like you’ve
spent two hours on the front line.
ELLIOT MOSS PRESENTS
JAZZ SHAPERS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
EVERY SATURDAY
AT 9AM
the production team; West is a fine
enough actor on his own terms but
one to whom guile is just a character
in Street Fighter. The result is a surprisingly light adaptation that never
sags under its three-hour running
time, but certainly won't have
Malkovich worrying about his
legacy.
IN CONVERSATION
WITH THE SHAPERS OF
BUSINESS, WITH
MUSIC FROM THE
SHAPERS OF JAZZ,
BLUES AND SOUL
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
CITYAM.COM
THE PUNTER
SPORT
25
Emperor’s Choice
(blue and white)
bids to win back-toback Welsh Grand
Nationals
RACING TRADER
Bill Esdaile previews the best of the
weekend’s racing
Portrait King can
clear up muddy
Chepstow picture
I
T IS going to be touch and go
whether
tomorrow’s
Welsh
Grand National (1.45pm) card
at Chepstow goes ahead. Last
month’s meeting had to be abandoned due to a waterlogged track and
Mother Nature is doing her best to
spoil the party again.
If it does get the green light, though,
there are going to be two essential requirements: the ability to handle
swamp-like conditions and endless
reserves of stamina.
EMPEROR’S CHOICE bids to become
the first back-to-back winner since Bonanza Boy in 1989.
Despite that, Venetia Williams’ contender is very much respected and I
put him up at 12/1 with Betway before
Christmas.
This kind of test is exactly what he
wants, as he proved by winning at
Haydock on soft ground in November.
I must admit that I am less keen on
him now at 8/1 with Betway, but those
of you who have already backed him
certainly shouldn’t be ripping up
your tickets.
My other selection for the original
race was another previous winner of
this, MOUNTAINOUS, who landed the
prize two years ago.
Conditions are absolutely ideal for
this 11-year-old and he’s now 5lb lower
than when winning this race.
His two starts this season have been
at Sandown where he has run respectably on both occasions, even
though the ground has not been soft
enough. He is a best-price 8/1 with Betway, but the combination of his low
weight, terrible ground and an extra
fortnight to get over his last run surely
mean he has a massive chance.
Nigel Twiston-Davies has won this
race a couple of times in the past and
Cogry looks to have very solid claims.
He ran a cracker on his reappearance
at Cheltenham behind Sausalito Sunrise and won on his only visit to Chepstow just over a year ago.
My problem with him is purely his
price as 7/1 is short enough for a horse
without much experience in a brutal
contest like this.
Upswing ran well in the same Cheltenham race as Cogry last time, but
Jonjo O’Neill has expressed slight
doubts about the ground.
Staying is the name of the game
here and the one I am going to add to
the portfolio is 2012 Eider Chase winner PORTRAIT KING at a massive 33/1
with Betway.
He has only won one race since then,
although that does not tell the whole
story.
He was running a huge race in last
year’s Crabbie’s Grand National when
unfortunately coming down three
out.
Returning to Aintree last month, he
again took well to the fences and was
looking threatening when slightly unsighted and falling at the second last.
The 11-year-old is not a bad jumper
by any stretch and a monster trip on
heavy ground is right up his street. He
looks well over-priced.
It is difficult to know who is going
to be running in the other races as
plenty of horses have multiple entries
due to the weather uncertainties.
However, I’m very interested in Gary
Moore’s GORES ISLAND in the handicap chase (2.15pm).
This 10-year-old has won six races in
his career and three of those have
come when the going has been heavy.
He put in an excellent performance
at Ascot last time when it was not soft
enough and he has a lovely racing
weight. He should go close for the inform Josh Moore.
@BillEsdaile
TOMORROW
POINTERS
Gores Island e/w
Portrait King e/w
2.15pm Chepstow
1.45pm Chepstow
ALREADY ADVISED
Mountainous e/w
1.45pm Chepstow
Emperor’s Choice e/w 1.45pm Chepstow
Bash the bookies with Bivouac in the Lanzarote Hurdle
A
FTER a superb couple of days’
racing over the festive period at
Kempton, jumpers return to the
rain-soaked Sunbury track tomorrow.
Pride of place in the seven-race card
is the Lanzarote Hurdle (2.35pm).
The race looks typically competitive
with 11 runners set to go to post and
bookmakers scratching their heads
with 9/2 co-favourites of three.
Unowhatimeanharry is one of those
fancied to trouble the judge.
He is returning to handicap company after completing a hat-trick in
the Grade Two three mile novices’
hurdle at Cheltenham in mid-December and should go well.
There does not look to be a great deal
between him, Ibis Du Rheu and
BIVOUAC, but it is the latter that I am
sweetest on.
While five-year-old Ibis Du Rheu will
have his supporters, in part due to his
half-brother Saphir Du Rheu’s victory
in this race two years ago, he still has
a lot to prove and I am not willing to
play the guessing game.
All of Bivouac’s wins have come
when going right-handed, including
his latest triumph at Huntingdon.
He likes it at Kempton, as do many of
Nicky Henderson’s runners, and will
relish the soft ground. Get on at 9/2
with Betway.
The preceding chase (2.00pm) will
not have many runners and it looks to
be a battle between seven-year-old
PTIT ZIG and 13-year-old Wishfull
Thinking. I think youth will prevail.
Ptit Zig fell in the shadow of Al Ferof
in the closing stages of the Peterborough Chase last time, but before that
he was narrowly beaten by Willie
Mullins’ Vautour, who ran such a
cracker in the King George a few weeks
ago. He might just have the edge
against the hugely likeable but ageing
Wishfull Thinking.
POINTERS
Ptit Zig
Bivouac
Money Back
as a free bet
If your horse is beaten into 2nd by
a runner priced at greater than 10/1*
Available on all races at Doncaster today
*Refund credited in the form of a Free Bet. Minimum stake: £5. Maximum refund: £25 (or equivalent, see below). Applies to Single, pre-race bets only. Only the win part of an Each-Way bet will be refunded. The win part of an Each-Way bet must be greater than £5 to qualify for refund. SP must be greater than 10/1.
5HDOPRQH\EHWVRQO\2QH)UHH%HWSHUFXVWRPHUSHUUDFH%LJJHVWEHWPDWFKHG2QO\EHWVSODFHGDɓHUDUHYDOLG)XOOWHUPVDSSO\3OHDVHJDPEOHUHVSRQVLEO\ZZZJDPEOHDZDUHFRXN
TOMORROW
2.00pm Kempton
2.35pm Kempton
26
SPORT
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
FOOTBALL TRADER
Ben Cleminson gives his tips on the weekend’s FA Cup action
In-form Tottenham to
outfox fading Leicester
P
REMIER League high-flyers
Tottenham and Leicester go
head to head in the FA Cup
on Sunday in one of the ties
of the third round.
It’s a different atmosphere from
their cup meeting last year, which
ended in a shock victory for then-top
flight strugglers Leicester.
A Foxes win would certainly be no
surprise this time around given their
performances this season.
Goals from Jamie Vardy and Riyad
Mahrez guided them to the top of the
table at Christmas.
However, since the holidays, Leicester have experienced an alarming dip
in form.
Claudio Ranieri’s men haven’t
scored in three matches – the most recent game being an uninspiring 0-0
draw with Premier League new boys
Bournemouth.
News of Vardy needing minor groin
surgery has only added to Ranieri’s
frustrations.
Meanwhile, Spurs are firing where
Leicester are faltering.
On the whole, they’ve similarly surpassed expectations this year, losing
just one league match all term.
They have three wins from their
last four, and rightly go into this fixture as firm favourites.
Winning the FA Cup is an achievable target for Mauricio Pochettino.
He could well name a full-strength
side as he attempts to bring the trophy back to White Hart Lane for the
first time since 1991.
Betway offer 8/13 for a home win,
and I would be very confident of Tottenham progressing.
Their defence has been formidable
at home this season, conceding just
seven goals on their own turf.
With Vardy missing and Mahrez
likely to be rested ahead of two Premier League games next week, I can
see Spurs shutting Leicester out.
Couple this with a formidable attack led by the constantly dangerous
Harry Kane, I would advise buying
Tottenham supremacy at 1.05.
POINTERS
Tottenham
8/13
(Betway)
Buy Tottenham supremacy
1.05
(Sporting Index)
MAXIMUM
EXCITEMENT
ON THE FA CUP
WHETHER it’s Ronnie Radford, the Crazy
Gang or Ryan Giggs, the FA Cup always
throws up some classic and unexpected
moments.
For the minnows, the chance of a giantkilling can propel them to new heights of
performance.
And for the giants, they’re terrified of
dropping a clanger which leaves them red
faced and knocked out.
There’s much to be enthusiastic about,
yet with Sporting Index punters can take
the excitement to the maximum.
They’ve got a range of markets open on
the FA Cup, including an outright index
which could deliver its own classic result.
It offers 100 points to the winner down to
10 for the last 32 and zero for any club that
exits before that.
The market currently has Chelsea as
favourite with a spread of 30-33 points.
Languishing in the league, they could
prioritise a tournament which they have
won in four of the last nine years.
They’re followed by the usual suspects of
Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and
Manchester United.
At least one of those five has featured in
every final bar one since 1991.
Imagine that Chelsea bring their
indifferent league form into the cup and
are knocked out in the last 16.
That would give them 20 points on the
outright index.
If you’d seen it coming and sold, you
would win 10 times your original stake.
However, if you were a buyer, you would
lose 13 times your initial outlay.
There’s always an opportunity to deliver
maximum excitement with Sporting Index.
Leicester knocked Spurs out of the FA Cup last year
Injury-struck Liverpool to slip up against the Grecians
T
HE LAST time Liverpool visited
Exeter City in the FA Cup was
1950, when Scotland international Willie Fagan sealed a convincing 3-1 win.
A lot has changed in the last 66
years but Liverpool’s superiority has
not. The two have never been in the
same league and Exeter have never
played in the top flight.
The Reds’ visit to Devon is highly
anticipated, and I’ve got a feeling we
could see the fabled magic of the cup
in action this evening.
Jurgen Klopp’s men come into this
fixture in poor form and decimated by
injury. There is a very real chance this
could prove a banana skin for the
away side.
While 1-0 wins over Stoke,
Sunderland and Leicester in recent
weeks have lifted spirits at Anfield,
the free-flowing football of Klopp’s
early games are a distant memory.
Painful away defeats to Watford and
West Ham are stark reminders of the
Reds’ inconsistency.
With 11 first-team players ruled out
through injury and games against
Arsenal and Manchester United next
week, it should be a makeshift side
that starts at St James Park.
Exeter are also in poor form, losing
all four games since their secondround triumph over Port Vale, though
keeping one eye on this tie could be
the reasonable excuse.
Frustrating Liverpool will surely be
the aim for the Grecians, with the
target of a replay at Anfield a real
possibility.
With the Reds only scoring three in
their last five, I’m confident that by
sitting deep and feeding off the fiery
atmosphere, Exeter will have enough
to grab a draw.
Betway offer 15/4 for the Grecians to
force a replay, which is fair.
I can’t see there being many goals in
this one, so I’ll be selling total goals at
2.90 with Sporting Index.
POINTERS
Draw
Sell total goals
15/4
(Betway)
2.90
(Sporting Index)
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
Money
talks for
Daggers
FOOTBALL
SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Wigan ....................(0) 3 Gillingham ..................(1) 2
Grigg 64, Power 67
Samuel 24, Donnelly 53
Morgan 90
Att: 7,923
P W D L F A GD Pts
Burton Albion..............24 16 3 5 32 19 13 51
Gillingham .....................26 15 5 6 51 32 19 50
Walsall ............................24 14 6 4 40 22 18 48
Coventry.........................25 13 8 4 46 24 22 47
Wigan ..............................25 12 8 5 38 24 14 44
Peterboro .....................25 12 4 9 52 38 14 40
Southend .......................24 10 7 7 31 30 1 37
Sheff Utd .......................24 10 6 8 39 34 5 36
Rochdale ........................24 9 7 8 32 27 5 34
Millwall ...........................24 10 4 10 36 34 2 34
Doncaster ......................25 9 7 9 31 33 -2 34
Bradford .........................23 9 7 7 24 26 -2 34
Port Vale ........................24 9 6 9 28 27 1 33
Bury ..................................24 9 6 9 33 37 -4 33
Scunthorpe ...................25 9 5 11 28 31 -3 32
Swindon .........................24 8 4 12 33 39 -6 28
Barnsley .........................24 8 3 13 34 41 -7 27
Chesterfield..................25 8 3 14 33 41 -8 27
Fleetwood Town ........24 7 5 12 32 34 -2 26
Shrewsbury ..................25 7 5 13 31 42 -11 26
Blackpool .......................24 7 4 13 21 33 -12 25
Oldham............................23 3 12 8 25 36 -11 21
Colchester .....................25 5 6 14 34 59 -25 21
Crewe...............................24 5 5 14 23 44 -21 20
Dagenham and
Redbridge MD tells
Ross McLean why
FA Cup tie could be
pivotal in fight to
stay in League Two
J
FOOTBALL
27
RESULTS
FOOTBALL
UST in case Steve Thompson,
managing director of League
Two strugglers Dagenham
and Redbridge, needed any reminding of the fuss surrounding tomorrow’s FA Cup third round
clash at Premier League Everton, he
has found it in the most unconventional of settings.
“The supporters I speak to everyday
are buzzing, absolutely buzzing,” he
told City A.M. “I’ve been to a funeral
today and people were asking each
other what time train they’re on because they’re all going. The funeral
was conducted by our principal club
sponsor -- a funeral director -- and he’s
got a party of 20 going up.”
The glamour tie represents an historic occasion for the travelling
hordes from east London – 1,800 tickets had been sold as of yesterday –
while the FA Cup inevitably provides
the mechanism for smaller clubs to
boost their long-term prosperity.
Dagenham and Redbridge, whose
annual turnover is between £2.5m
and £3m, are set to pocket in the region of £100,000 from their Goodison
Park sojourn, notwithstanding the additional £67,500 in prize money
should they slay their top-flight rivals.
Money talks and the bottom line for
the Daggers, who currently lie 22nd in
League Two, one place and two points
clear of the relegation zone, is simple.
The luck of the FA Cup draw could
prove their salvation from relegation
SPORT
CRICKET
Veteran striker
Jamie Cureton
(left) is bidding to
send the Daggers
to round four
EVERTON V DAG & RED
PREMIER LEAGUE (11TH)
DIVISION
LEAGUE TWO (22ND)
2010-11 – 21st in
League One, relegated
1984-85 – won First Division, won
European Cup Winners’ Cup,
runners-up in FA Cup
BEST SEASON/
LEAGUE FINISH
League champions (9), FA Cup (5),
European Cup Winners’ Cup (1),
Second Division (1)
HONOURS
League Two play-off winners (1),
Conference National (1), Isthmian
League Premier Division (1)
Goodison Park (capacity: 40,158)
STADIUM
Victoria Road (capacity: 6,078)
78,299 v Liverpool, Division One,
18 September 1948
BIGGEST
HOME CROWD
5,949 v Ipswich Town, FA Cup
third round, 5 January 2002
Romelu Lukaku, £28m from
Chelsea (2014)
RECORD BUY
Damien McCrory, £120,000 from
Plymouth Argyle (2010)
Wayne Rooney, £25.6m to Man
Utd (2004)
RECORD SALE
Dwight Gayle, £700,000 to
Peterborough (2013)
and Football Conference obscurity.
“Our gate receipts are about
£600,000 so we’re getting a sixth of
our total gate receipts for the year out
of one game,” added Thompson, who
has been involved at the club in its various guises for over 30 years.
“Our average player wage is between
£30,000 and £40,000 a year so an extra
£100,000 means you can bring in an
extra two players, and two good players. More importantly, it means we can
bring in a couple of loan players to
boost our chances of staying up.
“We’re a members’ club so there is
no owner here. We haven’t got anyone
putting their hand in their pocket to
make up the difference. What we earn
is what we spend. If we don’t earn it,
we can’t spend it.
“We’ve now earned a little more bit
so we can spend a little bit more. It
could be the difference between staying in the Football League and not.”
CRICKET
Flores: Deeney Shock as second English cricket
for Three Lions ace found dead within 24 hours
ROSS MCLEAN
FRANK DALLERES
WATFORD boss Quique Sanchez
Flores has denied speculation
linking skipper Troy Deeney with a
transfer window move to Arsenal
before touting the forward for an
England call-up.
Deeney has scored six Premier
League goals this season for the
Hornets, while also forming an
effective union with prolific strike
parter Odion Ighalo. Flores said:
“Maybe the next step for Deeney is
not thinking about going to
another team, because the next
step should be the national team.”
COUNTY cricket has been rocked by
the second death of a young player
within days after it emerged that former Warwickshire fast bowler Tom
Allin’s body was found at the foot of a
bridge.
The 28-year-old was discovered in
Bideford, Devon, on Monday, under 48
hours after Sussex were stunned by
the sudden passing of seamer
Matthew Hobden, 22, following a New
Year party in Scotland.
Local reports say Allin is thought to
have died in a fall from Torridge
Bridge on Monday night. Police are in-
vestigating but have said they are not
treating it is as suspicious. The chairman of North Devon Cricket Club,
where Allin played having left Warwickshire in 2013, said they were
“devastated” by his death. “The players are numbed,” Mark Ansell added.
Former England limited overs boss
Ashley Giles signed Allin for Warwickshire, where he played one first-class
match in a six-year spell. He called the
news “so very sad”.
Scottish police are still probing the
death of Hobden, who is thought to
have fallen to his death from the roof
of a private house in Morayshire on
the north east coast of Scotland.
The mystique of multi-million pound
television contracts and record-breaking profitability of Premier League
clubs inevitably gives way to to a more
frugal economic approach as the football pyramid is descended. Dagenham
and Redbridge are no exception.
“It’s tough. We look at every penny
that is being spent. We look at different options to save money. We look at
overnight stays for matches or
whether it’s cheaper to go up on the
day, or whether we should be travelling by train,” said Thompson.
“Everything is taken into consideration. If the chief steward says he needs
an extra four stewards on a matchday
because we’re playing a bigger side or
we’ve got a police report saying some
unsavoury people are turning up, I’ll
ask him to justify it.
“You can be classed as being a bit
mean but I’d rather do that than not
be able to pay the bills at the end of
the month.”
While Thompson cites their 2010
League Two play-off final victory over
Rotherham as the biggest match in
the club’s history, he insists tomorrow’s is the most captivating, while
two results -- a win or draw -- would
leave him in raptures.
“If we were to get a draw at Everton,
we would be guaranteed to have television cameras at the replay, surely,”
he added. “That’s £72,000 and we’d
have a 6,000 capacity crowd. It would
be fantastic.”
THIRD TEST MATCH—West Indies v Australia
(Sydney): West Indies 330 (112.1 overs; K C K C
Brathwaite 85, C R C R Brathwaite 69, D Ramdin 62).
Australia 176-2 (38.0 overs; D A Warner 122no). Australia
drew with West Indies.
FIRST TWENTY20 INTERNATIONAL—New Zealand v
Sri Lanka (Tauranga): New Zealand 182-4 (20.0 overs; M
J Guptill 58, K S Williamson 53). Sri Lanka 179-9 (20.0
overs). New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 3 runs.
DARTS
BDO WORLD PROFESSIONAL CH’SHIPS (Lakeside CC,
Frimley Green, Surrey)—2nd Rnd: S Mitchell (Eng) bt
Mark McGeeney (Eng) 4-3, R Veenstra (Ned) bt M Atkins
(Eng) 4-0. Women’s Quarter-Finals: A-L Peters (Den) bt Z
Jones (Eng) 2-1, T Gulliver (Eng) bt L Ashton (Eng) 2-1, A de
Graaf (Ned) bt A Zijlstra (Ned) 2-1, D Hedman (Eng) bt L
Winstanley (Eng) 2-0.
GOLF
EUROPEAN BMW SOUTH AFRICA OPEN (Glendower GC,
Johannesburg)—1st Rnd (GB & Ireland unless stated,
Please note: Play suspended): 65 J Van Zyl (Rsa), 66 S
Norris (Rsa), 67 J Kruger (Rsa), K Horne (Rsa).
TENNIS
HOPMAN CUP (Perth Arena, Australia)—Group A:
Ukraine bt Australia Gold 2-1 (A Dolgopolov (Ukr) bt L
Hewitt (Aus) 4-6 6-3 6-4, E Svitolina (Ukr) bt J Wolfe (Aus)
6-3 6-3, L Hewitt (Aus) & J Wolfe (Aus) bt A Dolgopolov
(Ukr) & E Svitolina (Ukr) 3-6 7-5 10-5); USA bt Czech
Republic 2-1 (J Sock (USA) bt J Vesely (Cze) 4-6 6-2 7-6
(7-3), K Pliskova (Cze) bt V Duval (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-4, J Sock
(USA) & V Duval (USA) bt J Vesely (Cze) & K Pliskova (Cze)
7-6 (7-5) 4-6 10-7.
ATP AIRCEL CHENNAI OPEN (Chennai, India)—2nd Rnd:
(3) B Paire (Fra) bt L Rosol (Cze) 7-5 7-5, T Fabbiano (Ita)
bt (6) G Muller (Lux) 6-4 7-5, A Bedene (Gbr) bt L Vanni
(Ita) 5-7 6-3 6-4, R Ramanathan (Ind) bt A Kudryavtsev
(Rus) 3-6 6-4 6-4.
ATP QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN (Doha)—Quarter-final:
(1) N Djokovic (Ser) bt (8) L Mayer (Arg) 6-3 7-5, I
Marchenko (Ukr) bt (7) J Chardy (Fra) 6-3 7-6 (7-3), (2) R
Nadal (Spa) bt A Kuznetsov (Rus) 6-3 5-7 6-4, (3) T
Berdych (Cze) bt K Edmund (Gbr) 6-3 6-2.
ATP & WTA BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL (Brisbane,
Australia)—Men’s 2nd Rnd: (1) R Federer (Swi) bt T Kamke
(Ger) 6-2 6-1, G Dimitrov (Bul) bt V Troicki (Ser) 5-7 7-6
(8-6) 6-2, L Pouille (Fra) bt (6) D Goffin (Bel) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6
6-3, (4) M Raonic (Can) bt I Dodig (Cro) 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-4.
Women’s Quarter-finals: V Azarenka (Blr) bt (8) R Vinci
(Ita) 6-1 6-2, S Crawford (USA) bt A Petkovic (Ger) 6-3 6-0,
(4) A Kerber (Ger) bt A Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-4 6-4, (6) C
Suarez Navarro (Spa) bt V Lepchenko (USA) 4-6 6-4 7-5.
TODAY’S DIARY
FA Cup Third Round
Exeter v Liverpool (7.55).................................................................................
William Hill Scottish Cup Fourth Round
St Mirren v Partick (7.30) ..............................................................................
CRICKET
1st Twenty20 Int'nal: Afghanistan v Zimbabwe (Sharjah, 4).
IN BRIEF
KNEE SURGERY SIDELINES
MAY FOR REST OF SEASON
£ RUGBY UNION: England winger
Jonny May has been ruled out for the
remainder of the season after
undergoing surgery following the
ligament injury picked up during
Gloucester’s Premiership clash with
Harlequins at Twickenham last month.
May will miss England’s Six Nations
campaign as well as Gloucester’s
domestic and European programme.
“It’s very difficult to put a time on any
knee injury,” said Gloucester director of
rugby David Humphreys.
BROADY’S WINNING RUN IN
AUCKLAND COMES TO END
£ TENNIS: British No3 Naomi Broady’s
run at the ASB Classic in Auckland was
brought to an end by American Sloane
Stephens yesterday. Broady, ranked
No122 in the world, lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
Broady beat former world No1 Ana
Ivanovic in the opening round before
dispatching Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko
in a controversial clash in the second
round. Broady asked for her rival to be
disqualified after she threw her racket,
which in turn appeared to hit a ball boy.
A war of words between the pair
subsequently erupted.
RAIN WRECKS AUSTRALIA’S
PLOT TO HIT TOP TEST SPOT
£ CRICKET: Australia’s chances of
usurping South Africa at the summit of
the world Test rankings disappeared
after their rain-affected third and final
Test against West Indies in Sydney
finished in a predictable draw. Australia
won the series 2-0 but had to
whitewash their rivals in order to hit
No1 spot in the world. Opener David
Warner struck an unbeaten 122 as
Australia reached 176-2 on the fifth and
final day, in response to the West Indies’
330 all out.
28
SPORT
CITYAM.COM
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY 2016
MONEY TALKS Why FA Cup tie could
prove Dagenham and Redbridge’s
Football League salvation INTERVIEW: PAGE 27
SPORT
ATHLETICS
FOOTBALL
Life bans for
trio in doping
bribe scandal
FRANK DALLERES
THE SCALE of corruption in world athletics has been illustrated further
after governing body the IAAF banned
three top officials for life for blackmailing a Russian athlete as part of a
doping conspiracy.
Papa Massata Diack, son of the
IAAF’s then-president Lamine Diack
and a marketing consultant to the crisis-hit organisation, and senior Russian
athletics
chiefs
Valentin
Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov
were all issued with lifetime suspensions yesterday, while the IAAF’s onetime anti-doping director Gabriel
Dolle was banned for five years.
Papa Massata Diack, Balakhnichev
and Melnikov were all found guilty of
extorting around £435,000 from Russian
distance
runner
Liliya
Shobukhova in exchange for covering
up the former London Marathon winner’s doping over a period of more
than three years.
The bans follow November’s bombshell World Anti-Doping Agency
(Wada) report which accused Russia of
running a state-sponsored doping programme – allegations that led to the
country’s athletes being banned from
international competition indefinitely, putting their participation at
the Rio 2016 Olympics in doubt.
“The panel considers that VB [Balakhnichev], AM [Melnikov] and PMD
[Diack] should be banned for life from
any further involvement in any way in
the sport of track and field,” said the
IAAF’s ethics commission.
“Any lesser sanction would not meet
the gravity of their offences. In GD’s
[Dolle’s] case such ban is also appropriate but in his case for five years only.
His sins were those of omission, not
commission.
“All three compounded the vice of
what they did by conspiring to extort
what were in substance bribes from
Liliya Shobukhova by acts of blackmail. They acted dishonestly and corruptly and did unprecedented
damage to the sport of track and field
which, by their actions, they have
brought into serious disrepute.”
Shobukhova, 37, was banned in 2014
and had all her results from 2009 onwards – including a 2010 London
Marathon triumph – annulled but
had the suspension cut short in August for turning whistleblower.
Lord Coe, who succeeded the longserving Lamine Diack last year and
has denied any knowledge of the conspiracy within the IAAF’s top echelons, welcomed the bans.
“I’d like to thank the independent
IAAF ethics board for their diligent
and detailed investigation,” said the
former London 2012 chief, who has
vowed to clean up the sport.
“The life bans announced today
could not send a stronger message
that those who attempt to corrupt or
subvert the sport of athletics will be
brought to justice.”
Balakhnichev, the former president
of Russia’s athletics federation, and
Melnikov, a leading coach, have both
denied wrongdoing.
Lamine Diack, 82, remains under investigation by French police on suspicion of accepting more than €1m
(£745,000) to cover up positive drug
tests during his 16-year tenure.
Platini opts to
pull out of race
for Fifa top job
ROSS MCLEAN
Liliya Shobukhova paid £435,000 to have positive drug tests covered up
FOOTBALL
Big Sam offers Liverpool apology
after Klopp aims dig at Allardyce
FRANK DALLERES
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp
has hit back at Sunderland
counterpart Sam Allardyce as their
war of words continued ahead of the
Reds’ FA Cup third round trip to
Exeter City tonight.
The German was responding to
Allardyce’s claim that Liverpool’s
current injury crisis was in part
down to Klopp underestimating the
physical demands of the Premier
League. It was former West Ham boss
Allardyce’s second swipe at the exBorussia Dortmund coach, who he
dubbed a “soft German” for
complaining about Sunderland’s
tackling when the teams met in a
fiery fixture last month.
“I knew about the Premier League,
I knew about the fixtures – that’s not
a problem,” said Klopp. “I am glad for
Sam, such an experienced manager,
that he has time to think about
Liverpool’s problems but I don’t
really have time to think about this.
“We are working together and we
know about our situation and in
most of the cases the reasons. It’s
often the situation that one injury in
the wrong moment is a problem for
the whole squad because other
players have to play too much –
that’s the thing – but that’s all.”
Allardyce later offered an apology
to Klopp when the Reds chief’s
remarks were put to him, insisting
he had not been mischief-making.
“If Jurgen is listening, I didn’t
mean to upset you or criticise your
club in any way, I was just giving
what I could see as as maybe one of
the reasons why we get injuries,” he
said. “I was just trying to say that he
hasn’t experienced this level of
football before and maybe that
might be one of the causes.”
SUSPENDED Uefa boss Michel Platini
last night formally withdrew his
candidacy to replace departing Fifa
chief Sepp Blatter in next month’s
presidential election at the crisis-hit
world governing body.
Platini, along with Blatter, was
banned from all football-related
activity for eight years by Fifa’s
ethics committee in December over a
£1.3m payment he had received from
the Swiss in 2011.
Both men are appealing their
suspensions, although Platini, who
had been the clear favourite to
succeed Blatter before the
allegations emerged, has claimed the
timing of the election on 26
February makes his candidature
impossible. The 60-year-old
Frenchman was initially suspended
for 90 days, which denied him the
opportunity to campaign, before the
eight-year ban was imposed on 23
December.
“I’m withdrawing from the race
for the Fifa presidency,” said Platini.
“The timing is not good for me. I
don’t have the means to fight on
equal terms with the other
candidates. I have not been given the
chance to play the game. Bye, bye
Fifa. Bye, bye Fifa presidency.
“How can one win an election
when one is prevented from
campaigning. Yet when Blatter
announced his retirement, I received
150 declarations of support, 100
official letters from federations and
50 promises. All this in two days.”
Platini has instead reiterated his
intention to overturn the eight-year
ban, which is set to include referring
the case to the Court of Arbitration
for Sport.
“By removing myself, I make the
choice to dedicate myself to my
defence against a dossier where
there is no mention of corruption, of
falsification, forgery, where there is
nothing any more,” added Platini. “I
would have fought as I have always
done in my life but I was not given
the opportunity to compete.”
FOOTBALL
Oscar forced to deny suggestions
of training ground Costa bust-up
ROSS MCLEAN
CHELSEA midfielder Oscar last
night moved to douse suggestions
that he and combative striker
Diego Costa had been involved in a
training ground bust-up ahead of
the club’s FA Cup third round tie
against Scunthorpe on Sunday.
The duo were said to have
squared up to each other at
Chelsea’s Cobham training base
yesterday before being dragged
apart by team-mates. But Brazil
playmaker Oscar used Twitter in an
attempt to diffuse the furore.
He wrote: “For those who are
talking to me and @diegocosta
struggle today in training he’s
lying, he’s one of my best friends
and never fight.”
Both Oscar and Costa were on
target in Chelsea’s 3-0 Premier
League victory over Crystal Palace
on Sunday as the Blues continued
their upturn in form since the
sacking of Jose Mourinho last
month.
Interim boss Guus Hiddink
remains unbeaten since taking
temporary charge, while
Scunthorpe provide the opposition
as Chelsea begin their quest for
silverware in the FA Cup, a
competition the Dutchman won
with the club in 2009.