SlackBelly: A City Snitch

Obit

2011-04-05T10:35:00.002+01:00

We are sad to report the death of Slackbelly, who according to conflicting reports has been variously stabbed to death by a jealous lover, been persuaded by friends to check in at Dignitas or has become a victim of gastric band surgery gone-wrong. Either way, he's definitely dead.

Not to worry. Slackbelly started as a joke and hopefully remained one. The Independent on Sunday was kind enough to ask him to file a column, which was awfully nice of them.
Folk sometimes asked what the point of it was. Slack's answer: to irritate a great many people. In this he was a qualified failure. He is now moving on to other ventures where he expects to perform similarly.
Many thanks to everyone who read it, contributed or liked it.
Both of you.

A complete Bor?

2011-03-11T10:28:00.000Z

Why is this dry clip of Susan Bor of RBS suddenly being emailed around the City?

Bryant and his Straw sucking

2011-03-08T15:56:00.004Z

Chris Bryant might be right when he says that Prince Andrew is now a "national embarrassment", but is he really the man to make the point?

The former Minister for Europe famously once sent a photo of himself wearing only Y-fronts to a gay dating website while he is no stranger to unquestioningly obeying instructions from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

On a trip to the House of Commons gym during 2004, the biddable MP spotted Jack Straw attending one of his spinning classes. Chris immediately commandeered the machine in front of the then foreign secretary and began an ostentatiously energetic workout. Noting the display, Jack called over: "Give me 20, Chris!" And quick as a flash, the irksome lackey hit the floor and proceeded to thrash out 20 press-ups. "Ten more," ordered Straw. Did Chris comply? Of course he did.

Exclusive: Spot the difference

2011-03-07T14:11:00.005Z

Exclusive: Diamond Gets £6.5m Barclays Bonus

March 07, 2011 9:34 AM - Written by Mark Kleinman

Bob Diamond, the new chief executive of Barclays, will be paid a bonus of £6.5m for last year after agreeing with boardroom colleagues that his payout should reflect continuing pressure on bankers' pay, I can exclusively reveal.

The surprise cut to Diamond’s bonus for 2010, which will be confirmed by Barclays later today and which includes no up-front cash…

Exclusive: Barclays' Diamond In Line For £9m-Plus Bonus

Mark Kleinman February 04, 2011 5:48 PM

I have learned that directors at Barclays are preparing to award Bob Diamond, the bank’s new chief executive, an annual bonus for last year of more than £9m.

NB: it seems that the original "exclusive" will forever remain exclusive, although it's amazing how many fellow Slackers have grassed Kleinman up by emailing this in. Who'd have thought it?

Sindy Column...

2011-03-07T14:09:00.001Z

For this week's small contribution to the kicking of Sir Howard Davies, click here.

Sindy Column...

2011-02-28T23:44:00.000Z

For this week's effort, click here.

All Mail

2011-02-25T17:48:00.005Z

Alex Brummer, the Daily Mail's respected City commentator, tackles Lord Davies' "Women on Boards" report in this morning's paper. He welcomes bringing the "issue to centre stage", identifies excellent female bosses already running public companies and adds: "More the pity, then, that small-minded male board chieftains are so clubby and conservative in their thinking on women directors".
And who are these "clubby and conservative" chieftans? Surely not Brummer's masters at DMGT, the Daily Mail's owner which has no female board representation?

Curse of the award...

2011-02-23T10:57:00.002Z

Who is the reigning African Leader of the Year? You've guessed it, Muammar Gaddafi. The gong is apparently "a concept designed to promote good governance, transparency in government, popular acceptance and leadership in Africa" while the award organiser reckons: "government should be people-focused and welfare driven". Can the colonel retain his title, I wonder?

Wicked Whisper

2011-02-23T08:31:00.001Z

Which smooth apologist for a controversial oligarch has just been thrown out of the family home for shagging his wife's mate?

Sindy Column...

2011-02-21T17:13:00.001Z

For this week's effort, click here.

Jacket required

2011-02-17T14:50:00.002Z

An entertaining exchange at the Baftas, between film journalist Matt Mueller and the eccentric artist and wannabe tax avoider, Tracey Emin. Mueller was on duty, feverishly making notes and at one stage took off his dinner jacket and draped it over the back of his chair. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Emin and her male escort gesticulating vigorously at him from a few seats away. Thinking she was objecting to his note-taking during the ceremony, he pretended to ignore her. But during a lull in proceedings, the artist’s boyfriend approached Mueller and asked if Emin could borrow the dinner jacket. Despite intense heat in the auditorium, Emin was feeling rather cold. When Mueller next looked over, no doubt to check his clothing was being properly treated, he saw that Emin had fallen fast asleep and she stayed that way for the rest of the evening. Where’s an unmade bed when you need one?

Lad-broke

2011-02-17T11:48:00.004Z

Terrible numbers again at Ladbrokes - where the once lucrative high-roller business seems to have tumbled over a fence. Presumably this means that the Sultan of Brunei (and family) really have closed their account.

Sindy Column...

2011-02-14T23:42:00.001Z

A disappointing start for Terry Smith's FundSmith. For this week's column, click here.

Inside the insider's inbox

2011-02-11T23:45:00.000Z

A footnote to the case of Christian Littlewood, the former Shore Capital and Dresdner Kleinwort investment banker who has just been sentenced to three years for insider dealing. “The picture of Christian Littlewood that emerged in court is not quite the full one,” says my man with full access to the prosecution files. “There was some very interesting material on his computer that he wouldn’t want his mother to see.”

Intriguingly, what may shock Littlewood’s mother and fellow insider dealing wife, Angie, barely registers with hardened investigators. “It is not unusual,” says one white collar crime expert. “In fact, it is more unusual not to find something embarrassing when you search a suspect’s hard drive.”

Sindy Column...

2011-02-07T09:27:00.000Z

For this week's contribution, click here.

George n Bennett

2011-02-02T23:44:00.004Z

I see that JJB Sports is mulling a bid for rival JD Sports - which should provoke some interesting discussion between the two former Sunday Telegraph City editors now spinning for the former's PR company Maitland.

Neil Bennett is the hack-turned-mouthpiece with the task of explaining the possible deal to the City, but will he be tempted to canvass the views a Fleet Street successor and his current Maitland colleague, George "Treffers" Trefgarne?

As a journalist, Treffers once described JJB as the "outfitter of choice for couch-potatoes and others who like wearing cheap sportsgear for an athletic afternoon in the shopping mall" - before implying JD specialised in selling its stock to drug dealers. Possibly one for Bennett to handle alone, then.

A small question...

2011-02-01T18:31:00.003Z

Should Martin Arnold, the FT's private equity correspondent, be writing quite so frequently on Carlyle?

Sindy Column...

2011-01-31T23:34:00.000Z

For this week's effort, click here.

Counter surveillance...

2011-01-28T11:02:00.004Z

A mounted rozzer, jumping off his nag, and giving a ticket to a bemused London cabby. "What's the fine?" cried one onlooker. "Two bales of hay?". Oh, very droll.

Sindy Column...

2011-01-24T09:05:00.000Z

For this week's effort, click here.

Another (breathtaking) Kleinman inclusive...

2011-01-21T17:29:00.002Z

"Exclusive: Barclay Brothers Swoop On Claridge's... The owners of The Daily Telegraph are poised to swoop on the company which owns Claridge's and two other top London hotels, I have learned". Mark Kleinman, Sky News, January 21, 2011 3:30 PM.

"The Barclay brothers are understood to be seeking to persuade the Irish owners of Claridge’s to sell. The twins, who own the Ritz as well as the Telegraph Group, are believed to have held talks with Derek Quinlan about a deal". The Times, January 21 2011 12:50 AM.

Balls up

2011-01-21T11:21:00.003Z

Congratulations to my old friend, Ed Balls, the new shadow chancellor. Apart from his attachment to maintaining the deficit (one can become sentimental about one's own babies of course) I'm also expecting his tenure to signal some innovative revenue raising ideas.
After all, as I never tire of pointing out, when Balls and fellow minister Yvette Cooper hosted their wedding reception at the Cavendish Hotel, Eastbourne, in 1998, they secretly arranged with the venue for an extra £9 to be put on guests' overnight hotel bills to save the happy couple £2,520 on the cost of the reception.
Gordon Brown and then girlfriend Sarah Macauley were star guests at the bash which also included several senior ministers such as Chief Whip Nick Brown, multi -millionaire Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson, Treasury minister Dawn Primarolo and more than a dozen Labour MPs. A touching moment.

No FT, no bonus comment

2011-01-19T23:00:00.003Z

I hear that Financial Times hacks have been warned to tone down their coverage of the bonus season by the paper's editor, Lionel Barber. Another bonus for bankers, then.

Dear Reggie...

2011-01-18T19:26:00.004Z

This email is making its way around the City:

"At the height of World War II on April 6th, 1943, British Ambassador to Moscow, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, wrote the following letter to Foreign Office minister Lord Reginald Pembroke in an effort to brighten up his day".

Slack is back...

2011-01-17T22:25:00.002Z

No need to send out a search party. I merely got too fat over Christmas to extract myself from my armchair. Still, save a few bedsores, no harm done. For this week's Sindy column, click here.

Brass monkey Britain, part 1894...

2010-12-22T12:55:00.000Z

Another day, another company admits that it is not set up to heat British homes during a, er, cold snap. British Gas informs customers: "Severe weather is impacting normal service in your area. If you have a central heating problem, please visit britishgas.co.uk for tips from our expert engineers". Solid work.

Quote of the week

2010-12-21T00:21:00.002Z

"During periods of very cold weather, we occasionally receive enquiries from customers whose boilers do not appear to be working" - Worcester-Bosch Group (yet again) on why their heating systems never seem to work during a, er, cold snap.

Bad bet

2010-12-20T22:41:00.003Z

Yet more bad news for the embattled Betfair - the recently floated betting exchange (about which I am obsessed) and on which I took a notional short back in November.

Respected trade website Gambling Compliance is now reporting that the company is "facing the revocation of its [already compromised] license in Italy following an investigation by the country’s gaming watchdogs" - which adds to the gambling group's problems as it attempts to convince investors that it wasn't joking when it trumpeted overseas growth during its IPO.

So far Betfair's investor relations department is losing that battle badly. The shares were off another 6% today to a new low of 975p (a 25% discount to the 1300p flotation price) making this a woeful float by any standards - even those of Betfair's main sponsor, Goldman Sachs.

Sindy Column...

2010-12-20T22:17:00.002Z

For this week's column - and the return of Ocado's Jason "Missing" Gissing, click here.

Thoroughbred float quickly looks like an old nag

2010-12-14T13:45:00.005Z

In an unusual moment of SlackBelly prescience, my notional short of Betfair - the recently floated betting exchange - is looking increasingly shrewd.

Its first set of interim numbers today - already showing sluggish growth - have caused the shares to slump (again), leaving them 22% below the 1300p IPO price and 26% off the level that even some duffer like me could tell was too rich.

I had attempted to short the shares on Betfair's own financial exchange, LMAX, only to be thwarted because the new website is yet to actually take bets on individual companies.

No wonder. LMAX is part-owned by Goldman Sachs, the investment bank which apart from stuffing investors with the Betfair float is also a hero of recent IPO campaigns such as Ocado (recovering to 8% below) and Promethean World (70% lower).

Still, you'd be a fool and a communist to suggest that they didn't deserve their fees.

Clip of the week

2010-12-13T16:27:00.002Z

The best explanation yet of how the Celtic Tiger turned into a Tigger...

Sindy Column...

2010-12-13T16:25:00.000Z

For this week's effort, click here.

Orange out of order

2010-12-11T13:00:00.005Z

"Orange is committed to providing excellent customer service so your call may be recorded for training purposes". So says the automated message when you ring with a query for the mobile phone group's over-worked call centre. But can it really back that up? For days now, that message has been followed by customers being immediately disconnected from the call centre queue - and the glitch is still happening. This is, of course, an insoluble telecommunications problem for the UK's, er, largest mobile telecommunications company. Amateurs.

Fancy that!

2010-12-08T16:15:00.002Z

"When companies or people go about publishing this data without ensuring it won’t injure others, it’s a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere." - Amazon Web Services statement after it stopped hosting the WikiLeaks website, December 2, 2010.

"Mein Kampf is historically important. You can't restrict free speech." - Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends his website's stock list, October 10, 2002.

The future's not Orange

2010-12-07T19:59:00.004Z

Mobile phone group Orange is spending a fortune trumpeting its new iPad offer, but sadly it seems to have got over excited and rushed the promotion out. The Apple gizmo is arriving with punters nicely enough, but then start the problems.

Users are asked to register the gadget's SIM card either online ("Sorry. We're having some technical problems processing your activation") or by phone (a message tells callers how serious they are about customer service, before cutting them off).

A call to the usual Orange help desk will then glean an alternative number to call. The result? Another recorded message telling frustrated users that "due to unforeseen circumstances" the office is now closed.

Still, once that's all done, you can find somebody to register the SIM and you're (almost) ready to go. All you need to do is insert the SIM by following the instructions in the handy booklet, telling you to "use the SIM eject tool to access the SIM tray". Sadly, Orange has forgotten to include one of those. Just brilliant!

Murray Pru bound

2010-12-06T13:27:00.003Z

Congratulations to the Prudential, which has managed to secure the mighty John Murray as its, I am told, "interim" communications honcho.
Murray has been hired to fill the shoes of the recently departed Stephen Whitehead. Some say the men are in some ways similar.
The new man, a titan of a journalist during his career at the Express, is just what the Pru needs. Of course, like all the best journalists he has been in public relations for some time.
Murrary's last job was at the FSA, where he led the PR department through the financial crisis.
The regulator did not put a single foot wrong during this period - which is no doubt a considerable comfort for the insurer as it battles to restore its reputation in the wake of the botched $35 billion bid for AIA.

Sindy Column...

2010-12-06T13:24:00.001Z

Kazakhstan president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his Kazakhmys hotel bill. For this week's Sindy column, click here.

Academic push-up for Mone

2010-11-30T00:56:00.003Z

Another week, another insecure tycoon feels the need to paper over a lack of academic qualifications by accepting an honorary degree (either the height of vanity or a begging letter – depending on if you’re giving or receiving).

This time University of Hertfordshire (Hatfield Technical College, as was) has doled out the award to Ultimo bra founder, Michelle Mone (possibly pictured below in the outfit she chose to receive the Chancellor).

Mone left school at 15 (to help support her ill father) but snubbing academia didn’t overly hinder her as she’s now supposed to be worth about £45m. Also receiving a gong was Tesco’s clothing boss, Terry Green. Sadly, there’s no room for a snap of him sporting the supermarket’s trolleys.

Sindy Column...

2010-11-29T15:27:00.001Z

Joe Bloggs founder, Shami Ahmed, crops up in IG Group legal spat. For this week's column, click here.

Former BP man to go green?

2010-11-25T11:06:00.003Z

Where next for Andrew Gowers, the former PR man for Lehman Brothers (deceased) and the humiliated BP, who it was revealed last weekend is to leave the oil major? Allied Irish?

Kill Phil

2010-11-23T12:02:00.005Z

When you're a Russian lawyer, who's been working on a case involving a reputed crime boss, there are some emails you really don’t want to see.

So when the message “KILLKILLKILL” flashed up on his computer screen, it might have caused a slight a tremor in the bowels of Alexander Dobrovinsky - the lawyer working on a tax claims case against the now-bankrupt cosmetics chain Arbat Prestige, involving charges against his client, Vladimir Nekrasov and Semyon Mogilevich (one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives).

It wasn’t an instruction, however, but a marginally less traumatic message from PR Newswire to its subscribers, telling them to obliterate a dodgy Dobrovinsky press release on Philip Morris. Phew!

Sindy Column...

2010-11-22T15:07:00.000Z

For this week's effort, click here.

Everybody needs good neighbours

2010-11-18T11:26:00.003Z

I read that Chancellor, George Osborne, is ready to be a "good neighbour" to Ireland and will help bail out the country's stricken banking system.

Is that a U-turn? It's not what he told hacks onboard the Prime Ministerial plane on the Government's sales trip to China last week.

Fate tempting

2010-11-16T16:56:00.003Z

Balfour Beatty shares have had a good run of late, but is it now time to sell?

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, I read that the engineering and construction company has produced a 400-page tome called One Hundred Years of Shaping the Future.

Oh dear. These books are usually a precursor to dreadful news. Standard Life dumped its mutual status not long after the release of The Building of Europe's Largest Mutual Life Company. Standard Life 1825-2000. But nobody has yet trumped the classic example, which is (of course) BZW - The First 10 Years.

The bank failed to make its 12th birthday.

Sindy column...

2010-11-15T23:58:00.001Z

For this week's column, click here.

Beyond Petroleum

2010-11-10T12:17:00.001Z

Congratulations to Anthony Henshaw, who was named on Friday as the new chief sustainability officer (whatever that is) of controversial Indian mining group, Vedanta Resources. He might be busy, as the company is no stranger to the odd run-in with human rights campaigners and environmental groups, but Henshaw sounds experienced enough as the press release states he’s spent 30 years in the cement, oil and gas industries while naming his previous employer as buildings material group, Cemex.

When pushed, the company’s spinners add oil and gas groups Cuiaba and Transredes to Henshaw’s CV, but strangely they omit to mention the place where he worked in his last job but one. That would be BP, where he was involved in formulating “oil spill response” plans. Why omit that detail, I wonder?

Shooting the messenger

2010-11-08T15:24:00.004Z

Brunswick, the self-regarding City PR firm, presided over the recent flotation of Ocado when it assisted the internet grocer's persistent claims that it might be worth as much as 275p a share (it ended up slashing the price to 180p). It then merrily spun away as the shares have slumped below 140p. Now a fellow Slacker emails with a rumour doing the rounds that Brunswick might be about to lose the account. So harsh.

Sindy Column...

2010-11-08T15:23:00.001Z

For this weekend's effort, click here.

Our survey said...

2010-11-04T09:52:00.006Z

In a mistake of colossal proportions, SlackBelly has been named as the sixth most influential UK finance blog. Let's just go over that statement again, because it might surprise an intelligent reader. Yes, old Slacky is the sixth most influential UK finance blog - and that's according to media monitoring company, Cision (who must have inserted this site following a long lunch).

Anyway, trailing little old me in this highly important survey is Stockopedia, Labour and Capital, Frisby’s Bulls And Bears and Bond Vigilantes.

What have they done to deserve such an insult?

MCC steals a cheeky single

2010-11-02T20:46:00.004Z

Much talk about consumers bringing forward purchases to avoid the VAT rise in January. Is there a section of the UK that this move does not affect? Possibly not. Even MCC, the institution's institution, has brought forward the payment date of members' 2011 subs to December - just to avoid the hike.

Yu done it

2010-11-01T13:06:00.002Z

Just one week into life as chief exec of a public company, and Betfair boss David Yu has dropped his first monumental clanger. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph over the weekend, Yu claimed that Betfair is a "bookmaker" - a startling admission as up until now the betting exchange had angrily denied this charge.
Instead, the company always claimed to be a technology platform, which high street bookies say allows Betfair to pay "around three times less in tax and levy than traditional UK bookmakers".
Their lobbyists have all noticed this cock-up and are anxiously exploring ways to convert this open goal into a taxation victory. In fact, William Hill has just put out a press release on the Yu interview. It's title? "Betfair's Identity Crisis - just who are Yu, David?"
Very droll.

Sindy Column...

2010-11-01T00:04:00.000Z

For this week's column - click here.

Pure agony

2010-10-28T23:03:00.002+01:00

In this week's Ask Louisa, the pointless "agony aunt" careers advice column in the Daily Telegraph, the paper's "jobs editor" Louisa Peacock replies to Mike, a 62-year-old former public sector worker who is having trouble getting a job in the private sector.

Having informed him that few people in the private sector rate public sector workers ("The ball is in your court, Mike, to show to the employer that you can hack it in business," Louisa patronises) she then moves on to discuss the age issue.

"I can see where you’re coming from on the age front," she waffles. "It is bizarre that despite all the anti-discrimination law out there, employers are still legally entitled to ask for your date of birth before they’ve offered you the job".

This is something that young Louisa might know something about. To most intelligent readers, it seems that the only relevant experience the 20-something hackette possesses for doling out this dross, is a rather pert-looking photo byline.

Sindy column...

2010-10-25T23:36:00.000+01:00

For this week's column, click here.

Salmon leaps up Spreadex ladder

2010-10-20T15:10:00.002+01:00

Ping! A press release arrives from spread betting house Spreadex. It has just appointed a new manager of its "Financial Trading Room" (caps obligatory) and I'll let the company take it from here:
"Tom Salmon has taken up the role at the age of just 25 after impressing during his four years with the firm.
Spreadex Managing Director Jonathan Hufford said: 'We like to think of ourselves as a forward thinking company and are keen to promote people to positions of responsibility when they have proved their worth, no
matter what their age.' Tom is originally from Blackpool and studied maths at Manchester University, where he specialised in applied maths."
Young maths geek in charge? There are literally no recorded examples of this ever going wrong.

Vexed and the City

2010-10-19T19:35:00.008+01:00

It just keeps on getting worse for St James's Place, the wealth management business founded by City grandees Sir Mark Weinberg and Lord Rothschild.

Earlier this year it emerged that 31 of its clients collectively lost millions of pounds in savings after a senior partner, Peter Carron, advised them to invest in his own projects (police are investigating).

Anyway, one of the victims was rock photographer Kevin Westenberg, whose name is not among the 25 clients who have received SJP compensation. You can see from my picture that he's not happy snapper.

That's Kevin on the right holding the banner during a protest that took place outside an SJP event at the Goring Hotel this morning. My spies there tell me that his appearance caused quite a stir - so much so that SJP partner, Michael Gomme, was moved to tell delegates that the man outside was "seriously deranged" and was being "reimbursed".

That was a brave move. I'm not sure either statement is true.

Man off wire

2010-10-18T16:06:00.006+01:00

Obviously City journalists and PRs are buzzing with talk about the resignation of Neil Collins from Thomson Reuters, after the former Daily Telegraph City editor breached company rules about journalists writing about shares they own.

Three thoughts occur.

1. Is trading after you've written about a company really such a crime? Buying shares after most newspapers have tipped them up is a very fast way of losing money.

2. Anybody who has ever met Neil Collins will be pretty sure that he hasn't done anything really wrong (except, possibly, being a bit of an arse for giving the incoming Breaking Views regime an excuse to whack him).

3. NC should have followed his own Private Eye test.

NB: the SlackBelly blogging code of conduct necessitates that the author of this post must disclose that he owes his career to owning shares in Neil Collins.

Update: here's Hugo Dixon, the co-founder of Thomson Reuters's Breaking Views website, in an interview with the Guardian in January. "Recently I think we have been quite influential in the global debate on banking regulation. We may from time to time influence a share price on the day, one way or another, but it's more these bigger strategic things where we have an impact." So what's the fuss about, then?

Sindy Column...

2010-10-18T15:58:00.001+01:00

For this week's instalment on First London, click here.

They think it's all over?

2010-10-14T14:41:00.003+01:00

Another change in the interminable Liverpool FC bidding war, as I see that Peter Lim has withdrawn. A thought occurs. What are the odds that the club will end up being owned by someone other than current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, recommended bidder NESV or Lim?

Meltdown the sequel

2010-10-11T11:37:00.003+01:00

Amusing to see that failed fund manager Nicola Horlick is setting up a film script development fund.

Surprising, the publicity does not mention that she has some experience in this area, having been an "executive producer" on the screenplay of her husband’s failed novel, Meltdown, two years ago.

She has yet to drum up any interest in that project, despite a costly six-month campaign of dinners and lunches with alleged movie moguls in London, New York and Los Angeles. This was a morale-sapping blow to hubby Martin Horlick (ne Baker), a former personal finance reporter, who, I hear, was also fanning his eyes at the news that Panmacmillan would only publish his sequel if, like Meltdown, Nicola paid half the costs (she declined).

Sindy Column...

2010-10-11T11:34:00.001+01:00

Prince Andrew and BG Group meet once again. Why so cosy? For this week's column, click here.

Second inaugural profit at City AM?

2010-10-06T16:53:00.005+01:00

"London financial freesheet City AM has gone into the black for the first time, reporting pre-tax profits of £423,000 in the first six months of this year. The first-half performance of City AM, which was founded by Jens Torpe in September 2005, marks a significant improvement over the £419,000 pre-tax loss the company reported in the same period last year. 'After 18 difficult months for all media we are now back on the growth rate we had before the financial crisis,' said Torpe. 'We are confident we can maintain this positive trend'." Guardian, October 6, 2010.

"CityAM, the London financial free-sheet, made its first profit in the six months to March, raising expectations of an eventual sale of the title. The company behind the weekday earned £47,000 in the period before interest and tax on advertising revenues of £3.5m. Jens Torpe, the City AM publisher, said that he hoped to expand and improve profits before considering a sale. 'We're hoping to progress further,' he said. 'On the figures we think we can achieve, we will be much more valuable in the next two to three years'." - The Times, June 10, 2008.

Trump on the stump?

2010-10-05T22:13:00.005+01:00

My old friend, comb-over king Donald Trump, says he's considering running for President after some poll was apparently conducted in New Hampshire testing out his name.

My bet is this is a publicity stunt for some television show or new business, but I'm half hoping it's real - it will be an absolute hoot!

As I occasionally enjoy pointing out, the Donald's views on the Italians and Chinese are somewhat uncompromising (so foreign policy should be interesting), while I particularly look forward to him courting the female vote, where he's shown some form before.

In January last year after the death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston's son, Jett, Trump paid tribute to the family by blogging how he once tried to bed the mother of the dead boy.

"My track record on this subject has always been outstanding, but Kelly wouldn’t give me the time of day," he movingly recalled at the time. Can the Donald really be the Republicans' Trump card?

Sindy Column...

2010-10-04T22:11:00.001+01:00

More red letter days at Red Letter Days. For this week's column, click here.

Ryder in a storm

2010-10-01T23:35:00.001+01:00

Ping! An email arrives from some PR company called EdenCancan (no, me neither) trying to jump on the Ryder Cup bandwagon and plug one of its clients.
"We have a weather expert able to comment/predict on the weather," it begins as play in Wales is interrupted by torrential rain. "Dr Liz Bentley is one of the world’s leading weather experts. Former Chief Instructor of Forecasting at the Met Office College, she is the ultimate weather woman and climate change forecaster. Liz was BBC Weather Centre Manager before taking up the post of Head of Communications at the Royal Meteorological Society, when she founded the public membership organisation theWeather Club, in 2010, to promote an appreciation and understanding of the weather to people from all walks of life."
All very impressive. Just one question. If she's so good, why wasn't the plug sent yesterday?

How the business of football works

2010-09-30T23:57:00.004+01:00

Tottenham Hotspur had its first Champions League (proper) fixture at home last night so did the public company look after its paying customers? Er, nope. Many were fans are left queuing outside White Hart Lane in the rain. "I was standing outside getting drenched until 20 minutes into the game," says one. "[Chairman Daniel] Levy couldn’t run a ……you know what".

Trump hump

2010-09-28T23:30:00.000+01:00

I see that (as, almost, predicted) Donald Trump's honorary degree is not going down well. Who'd have thought it?

Sindy Column...

2010-09-27T19:01:00.001+01:00

For this week's column, click here.

The Warren Omission

2010-09-23T16:18:00.004+01:00

I see that Warren Buffett is talking down the economy by claiming that the US is still in recession. What's the wily old hustler about to buy?

A Cable Fable

2010-09-23T11:45:00.008+01:00

With the good doctor Vince Cable being portrayed as the devil by unquestioning supporters of the City (is he really? The Times City Comment today seems a bit nearer the mark) I'm amused to see how CBI boss, Richard Lambert, is now being billed as the great defender of capitalism.

That would be the same Richard Lambert, who as editor of the Financial Times once wrote an editorial on the eve of the 1992 general election suggesting readers, er, vote Kinnock. How times change.

Sindy Column...

2010-09-20T23:51:00.000+01:00

For this week's column, click here.

Devilfish needs a re-buy

2010-09-16T12:59:00.004+01:00

I see that poker minnow, Devilfish Gaming, has had its shares suspended on Plus Markets after getting down to its last few chips.

That's not great timing. Might the company's frontman Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott - one of the UK's best known poker players - now be regretting all the publicity he's been drumming up for his new book recently?

Accounting for growth

2010-09-14T00:15:00.004+01:00

I see Deloitte is reporting a rise in bonuses for bosses of the UK's bluechip companies. The bonanza came after major firms lowered performance hurdles, believing 2009 would be "extremely difficult", the accountants said.

Quite. And at which professional services firm did remuneration of the top execs grow by 256% to £128m in its last financial year. Er, Deloitte.

Sindy Column...

2010-09-13T08:59:00.001+01:00

More, much more, on First London. For this week's newspaper column, click here.

Surveillance...

2010-09-08T17:17:00.003+01:00

Under pressure property tycoons - Robert Tchenguiz and his bankrupt mate Simon Halabi - at C London (formerly Cipriani) yesterday. Isn't life grand?

Figure watching...

2010-09-07T15:43:00.002+01:00

£557,727.58 - the cash spent by Connaught chairman, Sir Roy Gardner, when buying his stake in the company this summer.
£34,766.53 - the value of that stake before Connaught shares were suspended today.

Sindy Column...

2010-09-06T23:30:00.000+01:00

Very worrying goings on at First London. Click here for this week's column.

Wall Street Journal axes important letters

2010-09-03T23:38:00.004+01:00

Are there a few "fat finger" trades going on at the Wall Street Journal? Earlier this week the paper "broke" the story about Burger King being bought by a private equity firm with a "3" in its name. Unfortunately the paper plumped for 3i - when in fact it was 3G.

And today the European edition (for some reason) insists on using some ridiculous US spelling on its splash headline. Whatever happened to all of the paper's famed editors?

Slack on the back

2010-08-31T14:15:00.002+01:00

"Much talk about a potential sale of Virgin Active to private equity. But is it really likely? Potential bidders seem baffled by the stories and suggest that ubiquitous adviser Goldman Sachs - fresh from its Ocado triumph - is leaking the stories in a desperate effort to stuff another over-priced offer down investors' throats. Developing..." SlackBelly, July 28, 2010.

"Virgin Active, Sir Richard Branson’s gym chain, has shelved plans for a £1 billion flotation.

The company, which operates in Italy, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and the UK, had been exploring a float or sale to a private-equity firm. Insiders suggested the sale talks are also on ice although some observers believe a deal could yet be revived." Sunday Times, August 29, 2010.

Sindy column... (belatedly)

2010-08-31T10:50:00.001+01:00

August 29, 2010

I’LL BEGIN with a case that has just hit the High Court, which gives an intriguing insight into the workings of the City. Cantor Fitzgerald, the broker that seems to have a taste for trips down the Strand, is suing a former employee, Benjamin Koskas, for the repayment of an £87,827 “forgivable” loan.
These loans are common enough in the City as an alternative bonus payment and are “forgivable” in the sense that if you work for a company for an agreed period, then they get written off. If you want to leave before you’ve served your time, however, then you have to repay the lot, and the loans are seen by many as a cunning, even draconian, method of staff retention. Cantor, which is led by Howard Lutnick (above) has the reputation of being more attached to this tactic than most.
Still, court documents show that Koskas did trouser the cash, handed in his notice before working the agreed three-year period, and has so far failed to repay his former employer. His defence revolves around restraint of trade and technicalities regarding his February resignation.
Chris McGrath, the lawyer defending Koskas and a longstanding adversary of Cantor, declines to comment on the case - as does the broker itself. So I’ll take a wild punt and guess that this case will end up being settled, adding more weight to the oft-used line about legal departments at broking firms: they are profit centres.

WHAT news of Andrew Greystoke, the Atlantic Law founder and solicitor who was banned for life from the City in May for his role in assisting share pedlars to rip off at least 130 people in a “boiler-room” scam?
That punishment from the FSA also prompted the Solicitors Regulation Authority to institute disciplinary proceedings against him - but the body seems to be taking its time as Greystoke (right) is still listed as a solicitor. He’s also quietly changed the name of his firm to Stanwick & Bond (although it’s yet to be registered with the Law Society).
“Andrew Greystoke is not back in the office until next week,” blocks one Julian at S&B - who refuses to reveal his own surname. “We are not at liberty to discuss with you when we changed our name”.
Still, despite not taking any action thus far, the SRA insists: “We have him in our sights.”

GREYSTOKE was also once a director and major shareholder in First London Securities, the defunct investment bank that attracted attention last year due to its links with a convicted insurance fraudster and its role in the short-lived takeover of Notts County, the Football League’s oldest team.
The bank also boasted former Conservative environment minister Tim Yeo and Nicholas Chance, Prince Michael of Kent’s private secretary, as directors, while a former shareholder was one-time Jersey bankrupt Kevin Leech.
Leech, I note, has just resigned from the board of Devilfish, a listed poker group, on the grounds of ill-health. I’m told the 67-year-old is suffering from high blood pressure, which has prompted doctors to instruct him to retire. Associates are sceptical that the old rascal will obey the orders for long, however.

THE return of Polly Peck boss Asil Nadir just about gives me enough of an excuse to retell a witty observation about the old fugitive. David Stoddart, highly regarded retail analyst at finnCap, and former Polly Peck worker, once recalled: “It was the only company I’ve ever been at where the fixtures and fittings appreciated.”

PROPERTY industry aficionados will know that O’Callaghan Properties scooped £48m last week by selling 20 Grafton Street to a “private German investor”, in one of the priciest office deals in the West End this year. So who was the mysterious buyer?
Step forward Baron August von Finck Jnr, one of Germany’s richest men. Forbes estimates he is worth £5bn. His family trust has interests in property around Munich, a shareholding in hotel group Mövenpick, and stakes in fast-food chains. Still, much of the wealth originates from great-grandfather Wilhelm von Finck, who founded insurance giant Allianz and private bank Merck Finck & Co.
The bank was then expanded by Baron August von Finck Snr - a controversial figure as a leading Nazi supporter and one of a group of industrialists who met Hitler in 1931 and promised financial support in the event of a successful putsch against the Weimar Republic.
Von Finck Jnr (above) sold Merck Finck to Barclays in the 1990s. Isn’t life grand?

COMB-OVER king Donald Trump does not like the Chinese at all. He blogs: “From the gymnasts caught cheating at the Olympics to the singer caught lip-synching on international television, I don’t have the highest esteem for their ethics. It’s all a charade. I also don’t like the fact that we look like fools. I know for a fact they laugh at the stupidity of our leaders, and for good reason. They can’t believe they’re getting away with what they’re getting away with and we’re allowing it.”
Simultaneously, bosses at Aberdeen Airport say they are in talks with Chinese airlines about new services to the Granite City. Their big selling point? The new £750m Balmedie golf resort being built by, er, Donald Trump.

FOLLOWING my story that Red Molotov, the T-shirt firm, was selling designs featuring the BBC’s Robert Peston (below) comes another business-inspired garment.
The craggy features of Duncan Bannatyne, star of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, can now be enjoyed by T-shirt wearers. The marketing bumf reads: “Everyone’s favourite Dragon. Well, apart from Peter Jones maybe. And that James Caan seems a nice bloke. Deborah Meaden frankly scares us though.” The shirt itself reads: “I don’t like the product, I don’t think it would sell, it’s not a viable business, and I’m not so keen on you ... and ... I’M OUT!” I’m sure it’s ironic.

HAS Gordon Gekko gone out to lunch at last? The initial online reviews for Money Never Sleeps, the soon-to-be-released sequel to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, starring Carey Mulligan and Shia LaBeouf beside Michael Douglas (above), have been pretty positive. But might the studio be controlling things a little? My man at an early viewing reckons Gordon Gekko’s latest showcase has “lost its edge”, with many “punch lines coming from the old film”. Who’d have thought it?

wish I'd thought of this...

2010-08-27T21:42:00.000+01:00

Sent in by a fellow Slacker:
http://www.tomscott.com/warnings/

Bennett caught short in drugs bust

2010-08-24T17:50:00.012+01:00

Former Sunday Telegraph City Ed turned City spinner, Neil Bennett, has had a run in with a team of rozzers, I am delighted to report. On his Facebook page, Bennett writes: “I am shocked to announce I have had a brush with the law, a drugs bust no less. Shocker. It was at Redhill station where I got off the train bursting for the loo. As I searched I was collared by a plain clothes copper. Apparently I had avoided a police check and needed to be frisked for crack. There were at least a dozen coppers in this ridiculous exercise - do they really have nothing better to do”

Sindy column...

2010-08-23T10:47:00.002+01:00

August 22, 2010

SPECULATION that Betfair is on the verge of floating has been around for years, but the last whispers emanating from the online betting exchange’s advisers suggested everything could kick off as early as next month.

Want to bet? Sources close to the company now reckon that market conditions make that plan look increasingly ambitious and, in any case, I hear that finance director Stephen Morana is currently away on a long honeymoon while chief exec David Yu, chairman Ed Wray and a host of others are off on their summer holidays.

Furthermore, interviews for the group’s new head of communications continue next week – presumably to find a person to help talk up the company’s shares. That would leave the new spinner with a tight timeframe to work their notice, arrive and settle in before a September listing.

Developing, as they say.

IN MARCH, Cable & Wireless split into two separate businesses: Cable & Wireless Worldwide and Cable & Wireless Communications. Shareholders were given one share in each, with Worldwide remaining in the FTSE 100 and Communications joining the FTSE 250.

This thrilled Worldwide boss John Pluthero, who could barely resist an opportunity to wind up his former colleagues about the respective valuations. Since then, the share price of Communications has edged up very slightly, while Pluthero’s Worldwide has been forced to issue a profits warning and seen its market cap slump to the same size as its smaller sibling. It now faces almost certain relegation to the FTSE 250.

Who’s laughing now, John?

Q: Who, in 2009, said: "To be the chairman of a FTSE company, you have got to have built a reputation over 30 years. Given the current extreme volatility and difficult economic conditions, you potentially put all that at risk in a business that is bound to be different from that in which you spent your working life.''?

A: Robert Swannell, the banker who is to become the, er, next Marks & Spencer chairman.

ON August 10, investment manager Baillie Gifford decided to sell shares in Cairn Energy – triggering a stock exchange announcement that its stake had dipped below 5%. It won’t say how many it sold, which is perhaps not too surprising. Six days later Cairn shares shot up by 5%, as the company announced it would net up to £6bn by flogging most of its stake in Cairn India to miner Vedanta. A chunk of the proceeds will also be returned directly to shareholders.

A trifle embarrassing for Baillie, perhaps, as well as for Iain McLaren. He sits on the board of Baillie Gifford and Cairn Energy. It shows Chinese walls work, I suppose.

Wicked whisper

2010-08-20T12:01:00.002+01:00

Which of the City's top corporate lawyers has just left his wife for a 20-something-year-old dolly bird?

Surveillance...

2010-08-18T23:18:00.001+01:00

Clive Cowdery of Resolution and Andy Haste of RSA in the same Deutsche Bank building last week. (I know. It's a little fresh for this blog, but occasionally I do like to rush these out to confound my critics). Coincidence?

Surveillance...

2010-08-17T14:14:00.005+01:00

... Mohamed Al-Fayed in earnest talks outside a new development in Draper's Garden (near Moorgate) at 1.30pm today. The picture - sent in by a fellow Slacker - shows the great man flanked by estate agents (presumably) and anxious looking heavies with earpieces. Is the "Phoney Pharoah" making a comeback in the City?

Sindy column...

2010-08-16T11:34:00.004+01:00

August 15, 2010

IG GROUP – the granddaddy of the spread betting world – has appointed accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to sell its sports betting arm, Extrabet.

This will come as no surprise to readers of this column - which has repeatedly stated that the FTSE 250 company has been hawking its sports business around – although it may come as a shock to Extrabet boss Arman Tahmassebi who insisted earlier this year that there was “no talk of a sale”.

Still, news of the appointment follows a rationalisation of the division plus a decent World Cup. The price tag, however, remains a thorny issue and betting industry sources question whether the business, which saw revenues drop by almost 31% last year, is worth much.

IG Group and PWC both decline to comment. Developing.

JAMIE Waller – “undoubtedly Britain’s most famous bailiff” according to his own publicity – makes his living collecting from those who’ve not paid their debts. Somebody’s got to, I suppose, but I wonder if the star of the BBC’s Beat the Bailiff sees any irony regarding his chosen vocation and his own debt – owed to his company JBW Group?

According to the company’s latest accounts, Waller’s borrowed £185,197 from the firm, while two companies of which he is a director – JBW Investments and JBW High Court Enforcement – owe £22,025 and £24,605 respectively. He also trousered a £120,000 dividend last year.

“Er, er, what’s that based on?” asks Waller’s stuttering spokesman before returning to say that the debt is being paid back on time (so our man won’t be getting a visit from himself). “It’s a shame you’re planning to run a negative story,” he continues, “because he’s a really lovely chap.” Yes, bailiffs usually are.

SOMETIMES you have to be brave enough to back one view. Stockbrokers Panmure Gordon became sellers of shares in property group Rok in November 2008, according to share monitoring site Digital Look, and watched as the price almost doubled over the next eight months. Despite the shares then edging down slightly, the broker suddenly turned bullish – only for the price to maintain its downward trend before slumping last week on news of Rok’s accounting failings. Panmure has now reverted to its sell stance. Time to buy?

I READ that interdealer broker BGC is in talks to buy smaller rival Mint Partners, which requires further investment after its rapid expansion.

Mint - founded six years ago by Richard Barnett and one-time white collar boxer, Tim “Raging” Bullman - has since opened offices in New York, Paris and Dubai, as well as moving to a new London HQ and sponsoring the Polo in the Park. All of which has been pretty expensive.

BGC is one option while, I learn, the company has also been exploring tapping the co-founders’ family and friends for a cash call. Mint parries: “It is inappropriate to talk about individual discussions”. Quite so.

Standing up for the Hurd

2010-08-13T20:05:00.000+01:00

Larry Ellison, the boss of US tech giant Oracle, is back in the news following his moving defence of ousted HP chief Mark Hurd (as well as his company attempting to sue Google). The Evening Standard has taken this opportunity to remind its readers of a great gag devised by employees of PeopleSoft, a company Ellison bought in 2005, who wore T-shirts proclaiming what they thought Oracle stood for. Might this be how they would look?

Silly season for equity analysts

2010-08-10T11:27:00.005+01:00

In austerity Britain, it shouldn't be a massive surprise that people have taken the monumental decision to book their holidays later and look for better deals - which was essentially the cause of the profit warning this morning by travel operator TUI. No surprise, that is, unless you're one of the City's razor sharp equity analysts, whose recent takes on the company's shares are listed below...

Date	Broker name	New	Price	Old price target	New price target	Broker change
14-Jul-10	Royal Bank of Scotland	Buy	228.50p	-	-	New Coverage
05-Jul-10	UBS	Buy	209.80p	265.00p	250.00p	Upgrade
28-May-10	Nomura	Buy	237.70p	290.00p	305.00p	Upgrade
17-May-10	Panmure Gordon	Buy	248.10p	325.00p	-	Reiteration
12-May-10	CSFB	Neutral	265.00p	306.00p	275.00p	Reiteration
12-May-10	MF Global	Buy	265.00p	-	-	Reiteration
11-May-10	Panmure Gordon	Buy	248.90p	325.00p	-	Upgrade
04-May-10	Natixis Bleichroeder	Buy	268.20p	-	-	Upgrade
21-Apr-10	Citigroup	Buy	288.90p	370.00p	-	Reiteration

The A to Z of US litigation

2010-08-09T15:05:00.007+01:00

I see that AstraZeneca has agreed to pay $198m to 17,500 US claimants to settle part of a dispute over its anti-psychosis drug, Seroquel. They've been complaining that while the pharmaceuticals group warned them that taking the drug could cause obesity, they were not told that it could also cause diabetes (an obvious knock-on effect of being a fatso). So that's $198m for exactly the same side effects you're at risk from if you happen to be an, er, American. Sounds quite generous to me.

Wicked whisper...

2010-08-07T10:15:00.001+01:00

A week of orgasmic results in the banking sector, but which executive of a bailed-out bank is currently enjoying a cheeky bonus by shagging his secretary?

How the online media works...

2010-08-04T11:12:00.001+01:00

The Times gets an exclusive story and publishes it on its new "paid-for" website, no doubt expecting to pick up some additional revenue via new subscribers paying to read their scoop.
The Guardian follows the Times's tale and (unusually) leaves the second hand post on the front page of their website all day - purely in an effort to take some of the Times's traffic from Google searches and stop new subscribers.

Sindy Column...

2010-08-02T09:47:00.001+01:00

The intriguing tale of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, failed property developer Paul Kemsley, Ernst & Young and a couple of libel suits.... For this week's column, click here.

Gross Gross

2010-07-30T23:27:00.000+01:00

Does Bill Gross, managing director of investment management giant Pimco, suddenly fancy himself as a comic? The introduction to his monthly investment outlook is devoted exclusively to a monologue, in which he rues the demise of the manual flusher on public toilets (they still exist, Bill).

He writes: “I don’t know where it is located exactly, but there’s an electronic eye in the plumbing of public toilets these days that can sense when you get up and down and are finally finished with your ‘business’. My doctor says a proctology exam is a necessary evil but cameras in toilets? Never having seen myself from this particular angle, it is particularly embarrassing to turn over the assignment to a camera and in effect say, ‘Snap away – see anything that doesn’t look right?’.”

Hmm. Stick with the day job for a while yet, old boy.

Virgin (in)Active

2010-07-28T10:29:00.003+01:00

Much talk about a potential sale of Virgin Active to private equity. But is it really likely?

Potential bidders seem baffled by the stories and suggest that ubiquitous adviser Goldman Sachs - fresh from its Ocado triumph - is leaking the stories in a desperate effort to stuff another over-priced offer down investors' throats. Developing...

(Yet) another Kleinkman inclusive...

2010-07-26T11:54:00.005+01:00

"The board of BP is considering announcing as soon as next week that Tony Hayward, its embattled chief executive, is to step down, I have learned." Mark Kleinman, Sky News Blog, Friday July 23.

"As I revealed exclusively on this blog on Friday and discussed on air yesterday (both long before any other media organisation followed the story, despite some dubious claims to the contrary today), Hayward's exit three years after he became BP's boss leaves the company with an opportunity to rebuild its future." Mark Kleinman, Sky News Blog, Sunday July 25.

"Tony Hayward is to step down as BP’s chief executive within the next ten weeks as the company seeks to draw a line under its disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. " The Times, Wednesday July 21.

Sindy Column...

2010-07-26T11:14:00.004+01:00

TUI Travel in the High Court after three middle aged women jump from exploding boat. For this week's column, click here.

Dissing Missing Gissing

2010-07-21T09:03:00.006+01:00

Everybody in the City knew that the Ocado emergency rights issue/float was a dog - unless, of course, they worked for the company, its spinners Brunswick or the plethora of investment banks the online grocer paid to keep quiet about the offer (all of which are sell signs on their own).

Still, with hindsight, another red flag occurs. My old friend, Jason "Missing" Gissing, the group's newly anonymous co-founder and former finance director, now has the job of Ocado's "Director of People, Culture and Communications". Would anybody invest in a company employing directors with such pretentious titles?

Betting on a float

2010-07-20T15:26:00.002+01:00

More on the planned Betfair float. Headhunters are currently compiling a list of candidates to become the betting exchange's new head of of corporate communications. Developing...

Return of a Gissing person

2010-07-19T14:50:00.005+01:00

Has Ocado co-founder, Jason "Missing" Gissing, really got nothing better to do?

The Bullingdon Club boy was once the online grocer's frontman but, strangely, has had a remarkably low profile during the company's emergency rights issue/float and did not even make the team-sheet for last week's all important US investor roadshow.

I simply wondered where he'd got to, and it seems my innocent musings have touched a nerve as Missing has actually bothered to reply.

"Dear Slackbelly," he writes, during a rare piece of downtime. "Thank you for speculating on whether Gissing has gone missing. I am pleased to inform you that I am very much alive and well, and present!"

"If things get quiet over the summer, perhaps you would like to come to Hatfield, where I spend most of my time helping run Ocado and looking after the welfare of our 4000+ workforce. I suspect it might make a change from most of your company visits. I also suspect that you will find our people happy that I haven’t actually gone missing as I am spending much of my time improving the internal workings of Ocado (including staff welfare). It doesn’t make for good reading, but its [sic] just as important as meeting potential new investors in our IPO! Best regards, Jason."

Most self-effacing - and this from an entrepreneur who is desperately trying to float his (unprofitable) company in two days' time. Get on with it man!