A turn up for the books

I see William Hill FD, Simon Lane, has left the bookmaker just a few weeks after its bond issue.
That's a nice touch. Presumably the decision to part company must have been made in the past few days, otherwise I'm sure the company would have let investors know about the switch when making representations during the fundraising.

Update 24/11/09, 15:10: Simon Lane attended the bond presentations yet failed to mention his job move. Says one investor: "They should really have delayed the process until they had a new finance director. He didn't answer many questions and didn't give out his [business] card." Shoddy.

Punters pray to St Paddy

A decent start to the Cheltenham Festival for the bookmakers with the defeat of odds-on favourite Dunguib in the first (Paddy Power had a liability of £4m alone on the supposed "banker of the week").

Still, elsewhere I hear that William Hill has been busy schmoozing investors to float the idea of another bond issue later this year - in order to refinance its debt (again) and extend maturities.

And who was conducting this City charm offensive? Er, none other than departing finance chief Simon Lane. Should an outgoing CFO really be allowed to present to the City, I hear you ask? The answer, in Cheltenham week, seems to be "yes".

Stuart changes Lanes in move away from IG

What is going on at Extrabet - the sports betting arm of spread betting giant IG Group?
Stuart Lane, the respected Extrabet boss, has left the building, which observers are viewing as a possible precursor to the FTSE 250 company offloading its sports division.
Such a deal has long been rumoured, as IG generates the vast majority of its revenue and profit from clients trading financial markets via its IG Index platform, while sports clients are rarely converted into more profitable financial clients - despite the industry's best efforts.
Developing...

Pavis bracing for a Brady bunch of fives

Karren Brady, the Birmingham City MD who is replacing Margaret Mountford as Sir Alan Sugar's sidekick on The Apprentice, is making another high profile public appearance tomorrow.
She will be in the boardroom at Meadow Lane to watch Sven Goran Eriksson's Notts County take on Burton Albion, the Football League newcomers who are managed by Mr Brady, aka Paul Peschisolido.
This invitation should rank as an even greater coup for Ms Brady than scooping her new reality telly role, after she famously fell out with County's former chairman, Derek Pavis, when he suggested that women should not be allowed inside football club boardrooms.
Pavis is likely to be in attendance tomorrow too. Developing...

Update: my story seems to have prompted bookmaker Paddy Power to start a betting market.

How the business of football works

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".