Cityam 2012-11-30 PDF

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LAST CHANCE TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
THE BATTLE lines for a parliamen-
tary row over press freedom were
drawn yesterday, after David
Cameron rejected the central rec-
ommendation of the Leveson
inquiry and said he had serious
concerns about introducing legisla-
tion to support press regulation.
The combative stance was wel-
comed by the newspaper industry
but means Cameron will now be
pitted in a vicious battle against
both the Labour party and his Lib
Dem coalition colleagues, both of
whom signalled their support for
Lord Justice Levesons proposals of
statutory backing for a new, inde-
pendent press regulator.
The issue of principle is that for
the first time we would have crossed
the rubicon of writing elements of
press regulation into the law of the
land, Cameron told the Commons.
Im not convinced at this
stage that statute is
required, he added, warn-
ing that legislation could
be used by politicians to
impose rules and obliga-
tions on the press.
The inquiry was
ordered last sum-
mer following
revelations about
phone hacking at the News of the
World. The judges near-2,000 page
report was released yesterday after-
noon with a recommendation for a
new, independent regulatory body
that can resolve complaints about
the behaviour of the press at its core.
But the judge also said that it is
essential for legislation to
underpin the new organisation.
It is this demand for the first
statutory regulation of the
press since 1695 that
has angered many
Conservatives and
been met by over-
whelming opposi-
tion from the
industry.
In a break with convention which
dealt a further blow to the coalition,
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
made a separate statement to the
Commons where he set out his dif-
ferences to Cameron as well as his
support for legislation.
A free press does not mean a press
that is free to bully innocent people
or free to abuse grieving families,
Clegg said. Changing the law is the
only way to guarantee a system of
self-regulation.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said
there can be no more last chance
saloons for the press. But Mayor of
London Boris Johnson said the
Prime Minister was absolutely
right to oppose statutory rules.
Leveson wants the new watchdog
to be overseen by the broadcast regu-
lator Ofcom and have the power to
fine newspapers up to one per cent
of their turnover or 1m. He wants
to ban off-the-record briefings from
the police and politicians to the
media. A Downing Street source told
City A.M. the government was draw-
ing up draft legislation based on
Leveson with the explicit aim of
proving that it will not work.
Full coverage and
comment inside
See pages 2, 4, 5, 22 and 23
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BATTLE BEGINS
www.cityam.com ISSUE 1,772 FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2012 FREE
nPolitical parties bitterly divided over Lord Justice Levesons call for statutory regulation of the press
Lord Justice Leveson
BY JAMES WATERSON
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allister.heath@cityam.com
Follow me on Twitter: @allisterheath
CHINESE bank the China
Construction Bank will today issue a
dim sum bond in London, the first
Renminbi denominated bond ever
sold outside of China.
The one billion RMB bond follows
a landmark deal struck by
chancellor George Osborne and
Chinese vice premier Wang Qishan
in September to boost Londons role
as a RMB hub. The launch is the
first time Chinas authorities have
permitted an overseas issue.
Data shows that London has now
overtaken Singapore as the leading
international offshore RMB centre.
London launch
of China bond
BY MICHAEL BOW
BT yesterday announced plans to set
up the headquarters of its new sports
channel BT Sport at the Olympic park
in East London after inking a ten-year
deal with bosses to rent studios in the
grounds of the iconic stadium.
BT will start redeveloping the site
which housed 28,000 journalists
during the Olympics in February
after striking the deal with iCITY.
The building will house three
television studios and 20 edit suites.
BT won the rights to broadcast
Premier League games from August
2013 onwards.
BT in Olympic
park move
BY CITY A.M. REPORTER
UK banks must raise tens
of billions in extra capital
BRITISH banks capital levels could
differ from their reported levels by
tens of billions of pounds, the Bank
of England warned yesterday,
because they each measure risk
weighting in very different ways.
That means different banks could
hold different levels of capital
against the same asset, because they
have assessed it in different ways.
Fears of a discrepancy between real
and reported levels is undermining
investor confidence in the industry,
the Financial Stability Report said,
raising banks funding costs and hit-
ting interest rates and lending levels.
As well as inconsistent or overopti-
mistic risk weightings, unexpected
future credit losses may be under-
stated and costs arising from past
failures of conduct may not be fully
recognised, warned governor Sir
Mervyn King.
The report estimates the four
biggest banks have an unrecognised
shortfall of 5bn to 35bn.
The Bank called for the FSA to
intervene, looking behind the head-
line figures published by banks and
compelling those with a shortfall to
raise more capital or restructure to
cut the level of capital needed.
Sir Mervyn said he wants a report
by March from the FSA on the action
they have taken to assess capital lev-
Morgan Stanley to boost returns
Morgan Stanleys chief executive wants to
use the banks excess capital to boost
returns for the companys long
suffering shareholders. In the strongest
signal yet that Morgan Stanley is
preparing to hand back more than token
sums to shareholders since the financial
crisis, James Gorman told a securities
industry conference on Thursday that the
investment bank was now capital flush.
Mr Gorman said: To my mind the much
better action is giving it back to the long
suffering shareholders.
Tchenguiz motorway services sale
Robert Tchenguiz, the property tycoon, is
close to selling 300m worth of service
stations as he continues to dismantle the
empire he established before the 2008
financial crisis.
Helium prices balloon
A global shortage of helium, the lighter-
than-air gas, has put a stop to the sale of
inflatable Mickey Mouse heads at
Disneyland in Tokyo, threatened parades
during the US Thanksgiving holiday and
disrupted university research.
Rail official to get back to work
The most senior official suspended over
the West Coast rail fiasco vowed to fight
to clear her name yesterday after a High
Court judge adjourned a case she had
brought against the Transport Secretary.
Shoppers to pay bills at Tesco
Customers will soon be able to pay their
household bills at Tesco. Britains biggest
grocer is introducing PayPoint terminals
to 100 of its Tesco Express convenience
stores in the new year.
Facebook could make own games
Facebook could now develop its own
games for its platform as part of a new
agreement reached with Zynga. Under the
new agreement, Zynga could elect not to
use Facebooks payments mechanism to
collect revenue or display Facebooks ads.
Oil spills likely in Arctic, Shell says
Oil will probably be spilt by companies
drilling in the Arctic, Royal Dutch Shells
executive in charge of the companys
Alaskan operations has admitted.
Duke Energy chief exec to Retire
Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers is
retiring, and the Duke board will be
overhauled in a sweeping settlement with
North Carolina regulators over a
controversial boardroom coup last
summer.
Barclays to challenge energy case
Barclays said yesterday that it would go
to US district court to fight fines of nearly
$470m for alleged electricity-market
manipulation, a rare decision by the
subject of such a probe.
ONE of the Citys best known cor-
porate financiers, Peter
Meinertzhagen, has died at the
age of 66.
Meinertzhagen, whose clients
included Lord Hanson and his
company Hanson Trust, spent 42
years working in the City. Most of
his working life was at Hoare
Govett, the stockbroker that was
bought by ABN Amro, then RBS,
and is now part of Jefferies.
He retired from Hoare Govett in
2007 but made something of a
comeback more recently by join-
ing the board of Oriel Securities as
a non-executive director.
He had been in Oriels offices
only last week and recently visited
the newsroom here at City A.M.
He loved the markets and loved
talking to market-makers and
traders, said a friend yesterday.
Meinertzhagen :
City legend dies
Sir Mervyn King said banks do not fully appreciate the full scale of upcoming fines and payouts
2
NEWS
BY DAVID HELLIER
BY TIM WALLACE
To contact the newsdesk email news@cityam.com
Y
ESTERDAY wasnt quite the
tragic day for the freedom of the
press that it could have been, for
one reason only: at one minute
to midnight, David Cameron came
riding to the rescue of free speech. By
refusing to back the Leveson reports
key demand a new regulator
underpinned by statute and
ultimately policed by Ofcom the
Prime Minister showed that he will
fight to save the key British tradition
of the separation of press and state.
It was an unusually principled and
even brilliant performance from
Cameron. It was also a major political
risk: much of the public supports
state regulation of newspapers and
of most other things and his coali-
tion partners, Nick Cleggs misnamed
Liberal Democrats, also want to put
the politicians in charge.
The Prime Minister wants the news-
EDITORS
LETTER
ALLISTER HEATH
Why David Cameron was right to stand up for free speech
FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2012
paper industry to change and urgent-
ly tackle its problems and culture
which it certainly must. But he wants
the industry to make the changes
itself, which is the way it should be in
a free society and the way it would
be in any country with a proper con-
stitutional protection for free speech,
such as America, where a scheme
such as Lord Justice Levesons would
instantly be thrown out.
City A.M. fights every single day to
maintain the trust of its readers. That
means striving to behave ethically,
providing information in our stories
and features that is as accurate as pos-
sible, and telling it as we see it. We are
grateful that we operate in a country
where natural justice prevails and we
are allowed to voice our opinions
freely. We are deeply disgusted by the
phone-hacking scandal and of
course any journalist who breaks the
law or bribes the police should be
prosecuted.
But the fact that there is a minority
of bad eggs in some areas of journal-
ism doesnt mean that the whole
industry, including small, independ-
ent and entirely innocent papers such
as City A.M., should be neutered by
being brought under the ultimate
control of politicians. This would
merely replace one problem which
could better be dealt with via the
existing criminal law and new proce-
their graves. Fortunately, some heroic
left-wing MPs disagree; let us hope
that they can convince more of their
friends and colleagues. There was a
time when left-wingers were the most
steadfast and honourable defenders
of free speech and civil liberties; in
the US, many of the most passionate
defenders of freedom of expression
are left-wing Democrats. The contrast
with Britain is stark.
It is now vital that the newspaper
industry puts its house in order and
introduces better mechanisms to
crack down on wrongdoing. It must
become easier for legitimate griev-
ances to be dealt with. Cameron has
given the industry a breathing space
but it remains in a last chance saloon.
It must act, and fast.
dures in newspapers with another,
even bigger one. Statutory regulation
would lead to far worse things. As the
Prime Minister put it yesterday: The
danger is that this would create a
vehicle for politicians, whether today
or some time in the future, to impose
regulation and obligations on the
press, something that Lord Justice
Leveson himself wishes to avoid.
Lord Justice Levesons report is
flawed in other ways. Shockingly, it
devotes just one of its almost 2,000
pages to the internet, which it
describes as an ethical vacuum. But
one of the saddest developments is
that the political lefts leadership has
officially given up on freedom. Ed
Milibands endorsement in its entire-
ty of a report that he and his advisers
cannot possibly have read and digest-
ed fully was a travesty. Cleggs Liberal
Party forefathers must be spinning in
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els. Future changes could include
negotiating internationally to come
up with industry-wide risk weighting
standards, and may lead to more trans-
parency in capital level measurement.
But banks hit back, telling City A.M.
the Bank of England is simply playing
politics, and wants to be seen as tough
by telling banks to raise capital levels
while actually giving little detail.
The Banks comments dont ring
true investors still have confidence in
us, we think we have provisioned what
we need to on PPI, the Bank does not
give details on where it wants capital
levels to be, said a source at one of the
big four banks. We do want more def-
inition around standardised risk
weightings, and to be on the safe side
we are already going further than that.
Everything else is a bit wishy washy it
just seems a bit politicised.
The report also called on banks to cut
the number of zombie firms they
work with, being more forward look-
ing to see which firms will be unable
to pay off their debts in future.
By writing down more loans, the
Bank hopes to free up more cash for
lending to more productive firms.
City mourns Hoare Govett veteran
The new jobs website for London professionals
CITYAMCAREERS.com
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
KAZAKHSTAN telecoms firm Kcell
priced its London listing yesterday,
joining the flood of Russian and cen-
tral Asian firms looking to raise funds
in London.
The leading mobile phone operator
hopes to raise between $525m and
$650m in the initial public offering
(IPO). That would value the firm at
$2.1bn (1.3bn) to $2.6bn, as the
50m shares on offer represent 25
per cent of total share capital.
The instruments on sale in
London are global depository
receipts (GDRs), as is common in
such IPOs.
The price range per GDR has
been set at $10.50 to $13.00.
Kcells listing is being
undertaken as part of a
deal with Kazakhstans
government which
wants the national
champion to raise
funds. But it is not
thought the firm wants
to use the cash to invest
rather it plans to pay
down debts with the
funds.
The government is
not thought to be forc-
ing the deal through rap-
idly, as it is aware of global
Kcell prices IPO
as London bags
another listing
BY TIM WALLACE
market conditions.
But Kcell itself is understood to be
keen to list before the year is out in
case the US fiscal cliff is not averted
and causes market chaos.
London plays host to part of the list-
ing because Kazakhstans markets are
relatively immature and may struggle
to support an IPO of this size.
Support for the deal was enormous-
ly strong at the London roadshow, a
banker working on the IPO told
City A.M. We did two days worth
of business in the first five
hours, with particular interest
from emerging markets funds.
However the banker conceded
demand had been slightly tem-
pered by the MegaFon IPO,
which suffered from low
demand and only
priced at the bottom
end of the scale.
After another day
in London, road-
shows will now be
held in Europe and
New York, with the
book due to close on
11 December and
trading due to start
the next day.
Swiss giants UBS and Credit Suisse are lead-
ing the international drive on Kcells initial
public offering (IPO), which includes road-
shows in London, Europe and New York.
The pair are joined by Kazakhstans Visor
Capital, partly because Kcell is a national
champion, and partly because the listing is
joint London and Kazakhstan, so Visor is
leading the domestic offer.
Those joint global co-ordinators are being
joined by Renaissance Capital, which steps
in as joint bookrunner, and Halyk Finance,
which is a co-manager on the global offer.
Credit Suisse in particular has recent experi-
ence with joint London listings from the
same region it was a joint global coordi-
nator and joint global bookrunner on the
Sberbank IPO earlier this Autumn.
But all of the banks avoided the MegaFon
deal, which was hit when Goldman Sachs
withdrew, and only managed to come in at
the bottom end of the price range.
UBS
GLOBAL COORDINATOR
CREDIT SUISSE
GLOBAL COORDINATOR
VISOR CAPITAL
DOMESTIC BOOKRUNNER
Three big auditors are slapped
with lawsuits over past work
AUDIT firms Deloitte and KPMG
are among the firms named in a
US lawsuit brought by a
disgruntled investor in Hewlett-
Packard, though both firms
distanced themselves from the
troubled deal yesterday.
The case, filed in California,
claims the auditors missed
numerous red flags about
Autonomy, which HP bought last
year. The tech firm has since been
forced to write down $8.8bn
(5.5bn) of its purchase.
The lawsuit, brought by investor
BY MARION DAKERS
Philip Ricciardi, names a raft of
people linked to the deal including
Autonomy founder Mike Lynch,
Margaret Whitman, former HP chief
Leo Apotheker and Barclays.
HP chief executive Meg Whitman
has said her firm relied on the audits
by Deloitte and KPMG when sizing
up the purchase.
But KPMG said it was not engaged
in any audit work or oversight of
Deloittes audit, adding that the
claims are based on incorrect
understandings about the firms role
in this matter and are without
merit. Deloitte repeated its
statement that it was not asked by
HP to provide any due diligence on
the deal.
In a separate case, Ernst & Young is
being sued by the former Anglo Irish
Bank for its role before the bank was
nationalised in 2009.
Anglo, now known as the Irish
Bank Resolution Corp (IBRC), has
been under investigation for fraud
for the past four years and three
former executives face charges next
year. The bank gave no further
information on the litigation.
E&Y said it was aware of the
lawsuit but had not yet formally
been served and had only scant
details of the case.
Kcell chief executive
Veysel Aral
SHARES in Megafon, the Russian
mobile telecoms group controlled
by Arsenal stakeholder Alisher
Usmanov, rose above the $20 issue
price yesterday on news that the
stock would be fast tracked into
the main Russian stock market
index, the MSCI.
Normally the MSCI requires
three months of trading history
for a company that has just
floated, but there is a fast track
approach to large IPOs that is
based on valuation. Yesterday the
MSCI confirmed that Megafon
would qualify for early inclusion,
which means it will likely receive
Megafon rises above $20 as it is
fast-tracked into Russias MSCI
BY DAVID HELLIER
passive investment from many
Russian funds.
The MSCI currently has 26
constituent companies of which
three are in the telecoms sector.
The London and Moscow
flotation of Megafon was one of
the largest IPOs of the year. Its
progress through to its first day
of trading on Wednesday has
been dogged by questions over
the groups corporate governance
following a decision by Goldman
Sachs before the October
roadshow to pull out of the
banking syndicate advising on the
deal.
DAVID HELLIER: Page 11
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NEWS
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ADVISERS KCELLS IPO
WITH David Cameron making it
clear that newspapers will have
to overhaul the systems that
currently regulate the press if
they want to ward off legislation,
the industry is now scrambling
to put forward a new system.
All the major newspaper
groups, including those outside
of current body the Press
Complaints Commission (PCC),
have backed proposals put
forward by current PCC chair
Lord Hunt, which were criticised
by Lord Justice Leveson yesterday.
The plan proposes a system of
self-regulation with teeth,
which would establish a
revamped industry body with the
power to impose substantial
fines on newspapers, and give
members of the public a
platform to seek compensation.
Under the terms of the plan,
publishers would sign
commercial contracts with a new
regulatory body.
The body would then have the
power to investigate, enforce and
sanction newspapers for
breaking the terms of the
contract.
Douglas McCabe, a media
analyst at Enders Analysis, told
City A.M.: I dont doubt there
are already people working on a
new plan.
Newspapers
searching for
new way ahead
BY JAMES TITCOMB
BUSINESS leaders and industry bod-
ies warned against government inter-
ference in the press yesterday, and
urged the newspaper industry to
take the initiative in creating a new
regulatory framework.
Shares in paper owners News Corp,
Daily Mail & General Trust, and
Johnston Press also rose following
Lord Justice Levesons report despite
worries over state regulation, sig-
nalling a slight subsiding in City ten-
sion over his proposal.
Advertising trade body the ISBA
[Incorporated Society of British
Advertisers] said the press needed to
seize the baton to ward off state
regulation. Advertisers are great
believers in self regulation, we know
it works, the organisations director
of public affairs, Ian Twinn said.
News International, publisher of
The Sun and The Times, said it will
study the reports recommendations
before commenting in full. But the
group insisted that there was no
need for legislation.
Chief executive Tom Mockridge
said: We are keen to play our full
part in creating a new body that
commands the confidence of the
public. We believe that this can be
achieved without statutory regula-
tion and welcome the Prime
Ministers rejection of that proposal.
Financial communications firm
Cubbitt Consulting said politicians
should not burn the house to roast
the pig. We have a world class
BY JAMES TITCOMB AND
JAMES WATERSON
media in the UK and that can only
suffer from statutory regulation,
argued founder Simon Brocklebank-
Fowler.
Niri Shan and Mark Dennis of law
firm Taylor Wessing warned that
handing oversight of the newspaper
industry to broadcast quango Ofcom
could be problematic.
Ofcom is a statutory regulator; it
has an active role in content regula-
tion for the communications indus-
try. The media is unlikely to want a
statutory regulator from a different,
heavily-regulated area overseeing its
own self-regulatory body, they said.
Meanwhile the Institute for
Economic Affairs think tank warned
that Levesons suggestion to end pri-
vate, off-the-record briefings with the
press in the name of transparency
could backfire: The public interest
will not be served by ending private
briefings. Such a restriction would
almost certainly have prevented a
huge number of stories and scandals
coming to public attention.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson sup-
ported this stance, saying briefings
will remain an important part of
public life.
The Metropolitan Police, who have
been criticised for their handling of
the investigation into allegations of
phone hacking, said the report vindi-
cated their officers: Although there
were incidents that left a perception
of cosiness between particular senior
officers and some journalists, Lord
Justice Leveson found that that did
not influence or taint decision-
making.
4
NEWS: THE LEVESON REPORT
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Critics hit out at Levesons
Leveson said
the Press
Complaints
Commission
had failed
5
NEWS: THE LEVESON REPORT
cityam.com
plans for press
REPORTS CLAIMS AT A GLANCE
LORD JUSTICE LEVESON'S VISION OF THE REGULATORY FUTURE
n The press serves the country
very well for the vast majority of
the time.
n The existing watchdog, the Press
Complaints Commission (PCC) has
failed and a new body is required.
n The PCC should be replaced by
an independent self-regulatory
body whose chairman and board
members must be appointed in a
transparent way, without any
influence from industry or
government.
n Broadcast regulator Ofcom must
act as a backstop regulator if
newspapers refuse to join the
revamped PCC.
n Legislation is essential to
underpin the new body, though
this would not give any rights to
parliament to control what
newspapers publish.
n The legislation would ensure
that the organisation remained
independent and also enshrine
freedom of the press on the statute
book.
n Newspapers that refuse to take
part in the new self-regulatory
body could face punishment from
broadcast regulator Ofcom.
n There should be a new code of
conduct for journalists.
n Newspapers found guilty of
major breaches of the code of
conduct could be fined up to one
per cent of their turnover up to
1m.
n A hotline should be established
for journalists who want to reveal
that they are being forced to act in
unethical ways.
n There should be a new route for
members of the public to seek
arbitration without going through
the courts if they feel they have
been treated unfairly.
n The new regulator would
investigate complaints and enforce
swift justice if required.
n Over the last 30 years political
parties have developed too close a
relationship with the press in a way
which has not been in the public
interest.
n More meetings between
politicians and the press should be
disclosed.
n There should be changes to the
way that the police and politicians
give off-the-record briefings to the
press.
n Decisions on media ownership
should be made more transparent.
n Journalists have at times
wreaked havoc with the lives of
innocent people while chasing
stories.
n It is now up to politicians to
decide who guards the
guardians.
MEMBERSHIP
Open to all publishers on fair, reasonable and non-
discriminatory terms.
Funding is agreed between the board and members on a
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PETER LILLEY
IN THE FORUM
See page 22
CUSTOMERS will see gas and electric-
ity bills rise for at least the next
decade to fund a new round of green
energy investment, under plans pub-
lished yesterday by the government.
The idea is to encourage investment
in low-carbon power production, but
the plan could backfire as consumers
and small businesses struggle under
the burden of paying for expensive
new infrastructure.
The Energy Bill plans to use con-
tracts for difference to fix energy
prices for suppliers and encourage
investment in green power plants.
Energy secretary Ed Davey said the
bill was designed specifically to reduce
consumer bills, in the long-term argu-
ing that without a move to renewable
energy, bills would be higher because of
a reliance on volatile gas prices.
The green industry welcomed the
plan, with The Carbon Capture and
Storage Association, the Nuclear
Industry Association and
RenewableUK claiming the more sta-
Higher bills for
a decade due to
new energy bill
BY TIM WALLACE ble investment environment will cre-
ate up to 100,000 jobs.
And Ernst and Young believes the
measures will boost investment from
the 10bn seen last year closer to the
16bn it estimates is needed to hit
green energy targets.
But there will also be a major down-
side for other parts of the economy
the changes will be funded by the con-
sumer, hitting households already
squeezed by high inflation and low
wage growth, and hurting small firms
which have long suffered under the
burden of high utility bills.
The state itself expects household
bills to rise by 75 per year as the green
levy on bills will triple from 2.3bn to
7.6bn per year by 2010.
The Federation of Small Businesses
warned energy bills are already the
main source of rising costs for its
members, and pointed to research
showing eight per cent of small firms
believe they will go out of business if
bills rise by 25 per cent or more.
But the most energy-intensive firms
will be exempt from extra charges.
SHERBORNE Investors, the private
equity group founded by Edward
Bramson, launched its second cash
shell yesterday, in a 207m listing
on the Alternative Investment
Market.
The Sherborne Investors
(Guernsey) B vehicle began trading
on the junior market yesterday
after a float run by Jefferies and
HSBC.
Bramson, who won control of
F&C Asset Management in a
boardroom coup last year, is not
BY MARION DAKERS
thought to be at the helm of the
new fund.
But the turnaround specialist is
set to become more involved
in managing the vehicle
once he leaves his
executive chairmanship
at F&C next year.
His step back from
front-line management at
F&C is expected to take
place at the FTSE 250-listed
asset managers AGM in
May, when the roles of
chairman and
chief
executive will be split.
The new Sherborne fund intends
to invest in a company in which
there is a significant divergence
between actual and potential
operating profitability and
return on capital.
Big investors include Aviva,
which holds a 19.3 per cent
stake; George Soross fund
manager; Invesco Asset
Management; and Jupiter.
Energy secretary Ed Davey said bills will rise under the plan but by less than previously feared
Edward Bramsons
Sherborne has a new fund
n Renewable power firms will be able to fix
prices at a set minimum using derivatives
called contracts for difference
n The aim is to give them certainty that
they will receive enough income to attract
investors, rather than relying on the
relatively volatile energy markets
n The government will act as a counterparty
in the derivative trades, but the consumer
will pick up the tab, paying more to ensure
firms receive this minimum price
n A new capacity market will encourage
gas firms to expand facilities
n They will be paid for the capacity they
have on hand, even though they may not be
generating electricity
n That means the country should have
enough capacity even at times when wind
generators cannot work but again,
customers will pay higher bills
n A carbon floor price is due to come into
force this April, starting at 16/tCO2
n And the levy on bills to pay for more
investment will rise from 2.35bn to 7.6bn
WHAT DOES THE PLAN PROPOSE?
6
NEWS
cityam.com
Bramsons Sherborne floats
a new acquisition cash shell
THE CHIEF executive of Kingfisher
said uncertainty over the French
governments future tax policies had
hit consumer confidence in its
largest market, as it posted a six per
cent drop in third quarter profit.
The group, which runs B&Q and
Screwfix in the UK as well as
Castorama and Brico Depot in
France, reported profits of 257m in
the 13 weeks to 27 October.
Like-for-like sales fell 2.8 per cent
in France and were down 3.8 per
cent in the UK and Ireland. Total
sales fell 3.9 per cent to 2.71bn.
Cheshire described the outlook for
2013 as opaque and said it was
tough to predict when conditions in
the UK and Europe would improve.
He said the backdrop in France
was very uncertain, due to the lack
of clarity on the budget proposals
from President Francois Hollande.
Its a temporary period of
uncertainty rather than a major
dislocation in the economy but it
could be a six month uncertainty
while people try and work out what
their tax positions going to be, he
said.
Kingfisher hit
by French woes
BY KASMIRA JEFFORD
THE BOSS of Dixons Retail said he
expected to grab a bigger slice of the
market following rival Comets
demise, as it returned to profit in the
UK for the first time in five years.
Sebastian James said Currys and PC
World had not seen much disrup-
tion from the fire sale of Comets
stock, as shoppers fail to find the
items they want in the sale.
Last week I sat outside the Comet
store in Oxford and customers would
go in and then go across to us after-
wards, he said
In the long-term, he said the group,
which has hired 1,000 Comet staff on
a part-time basis, would benefit from
BY KASMIRA JEFFORD
consolidation in the sector and up its
19.8 per cent share. Comets exit could
add 30m to Dixons operating profit
next year, Panmure Gordon analyst
Philip Dorgan estimated.
Dixons reported that like-for-like
sales rose three per cent in the 24
weeks to 13 October, led by a strong
first quarter when shoppers bought
tablets and smart TVs before a sum-
mer of sporting events.
That helped Dixons post a first-half
profit of 5.6m in the UK, having
made a loss of 6m a year ago.
But problems at its French business
Pixmania dragged it to a total pre-tax
loss of 80m after it was forced to take
a 45m writedown on the value of the
unit.
T
HERE are two kinds of people
in this world: winners and
losers. And if the contrast
between rivals Dixons and
Comets recent luck is anything to
go by, the same looks to be true of
companies.
Luckily for Dixons, it looks like
Comets demise has put the firms
star firmly in the ascendant. Its
shares are up more than 50 per cent
over the past three months, and
analysts are estimating that
additional market share could top
up the firms operating profit in
2013 to the tune of 30m.
Add better-than-expected
interims, like the ones chief
executive Sebastian James wheeled
out yesterday, and youve got an
investment case in no need of an
extended warranty.
The UK performance looks
particularly impressive against a less
competitive backdrop, with
underlying sales up three per cent
and a return to profit after five long
years. But as with so many firms that
pushed to establish a European
present, weakened consumer
spending in Greece and Italy is
stifling growth, dragging down sales
in the Scandinavian market, where
Dixons has been building its
presence since the acquisition of
local brand Elkjop 13 years ago.
Of course in the run up to
Christmas the retailer will have a
firesale at Comet to compete with,
but as almost the last man standing
in the high-street white goods
market it seems to have won the
hearts of the British consumer and is
likely to end 2012 on a high though
further share gains are unlikely after
such a strong recent performance.
HOLLANDES GRAND DESIGNS HIT DIY
Meanwhile fellow retail-park
favourite Kingfisher is having
problems a little closer to home.
Despite a hefty high-street
presence in the UK, France is
actually the B&Q owners biggest
market, and half its profits come
from the firms Castorama and Brico
Depots on the other side of the
channel.
Francois Hollandes government
has hardly been selling itself as the
champion of business since its
competitiveness pact just two weeks
ago, when the President proposed a
20bn (16bn) of tax credits to the
corporate sector. This week has seen
his industry minister, the ever-tactful
Arnaud Montebourg, launch an
attack on steel giant Lakshmi Mittal
over his firm ArcelorMittals plans to
shut down blast furnaces in the
countrys socialist-dominated steel
belt.
Now Kingfisher is complaining
that Hollandes lack of clarity on
government spending in particular
his tax plans has thrown Frances
construction market into disarray,
sending like-for-like sales at its trade-
focused Brico Depots down 4.9 per
cent. Chief executive Ian Cheshire
yesterday called the outlook in
France very uncertain. With
analysts suggesting a worst-case
scenario would see profits in the
country downgraded by 30 per cent
next year and a 130m tax , its hard
to see a case for the shares which
have been bumping along
unspectacularly for most of this
year making a significant break for
outperformance anytime soon.
Elizabeth Fournier is news editor of City
A.M. @ej_fournier
BRITISH mobile banking technology
company Monitise confirmed
yesterday it was in discussions with
institutional and strategic investors
to raise up to 100m.
The company said the proceeds
would be used to fund new mobile
banking and commerce
opportunities for financial
institutions and payment
companies.
Our business is seeing enormous
demand for Mobile Money services,
said chief executive Alastair Lukies.
City A.M. columnist Mark
Kleinman broke the story yesterday
in this newspaper, and named
Canaccord Genuity as the likely
adviser.
Monitise in
talks to raise
up to 100m
cityam.com
8
NEWS
Dixons says it
will gain from
Comet collapse
Kingsher conrmed deteriorating French and Polish demand, with B&Qs
UK sales also subdued. On a more positive note, a resumption in gross mar-
gin shows how self-help is an important driver to offset macro challenges.
ANALYST VIEWS
The results were broadly in line with expectations...We continue to be con-

cerned that the decline in 2013 earnings is not just down to the one-offs of
the summer wet weather and the decline in the euro but is also structural.
We remain buyers on the view that the long term outlook for earnings
remains good. At some stage, there might be some help from the UK econ-
omy and, in the meantime, self-help opportunities should support prots.
WHAT ARE KINGFISHERS

GROWTH PROSPECTS?
Interviews by Kasmira Jefford
JAMES GRZINIC JEFFERIES
FREDDIE GEORGE SEYMOUR PIERCE
PHILIP DORGAN PANMURE GORDON

Kingfisher
CEO Ian
Cheshire said
the outlook
for next year
is opaque
BOTTOM
LINE
ELIZABETH FOURNIER
Dixons steals Comets place in the spotlight
THE NEW European banking
supervisory body, to be set up
under the roof of the European
Central Bank, will not be ready to
operate fully before 2014, an ECB
executive board member said
yesterday.
Making the ECB the supervisor
for lenders chiefly in the 17
countries that use the euro
would be the first of three
pillars in a banking union
and one EU leaders had
committed to complete by
this year, at least on a legal
basis.
Joerg Asmussen,
one of the ECB's
key negotiators
for a closer
integration of
the Eurozone,
said he was
Asmussen warns that banking
body wont kick off until 2014
BY HARRY BANKS confident that a meeting of
finance ministers on Tuesday
could deliver basic political
agreement on the matter.
"After that there will be
considerable work on details and
implementation and realistically I
expect that the European banking
supervision will not be able to
operate fully before the beginning
of 2014, Asmussen said in a
speech to be given at the annual
reception of the Association of
German pfandbrief banks.
Alongside the supervisory
body, a resolution and
restructuring mechanism to
shore up or wind down
troubled banks should set up
as soon as possible,
Asmussen said.
RETAIL SALES continued to decline
in the Eurozone in November,
according to data out yesterday,
making the month the 13th of
shrinking volumes.
Markits retail purchasing
managers index rose slightly to
45.8, from 45.3 in October, but still
indicated steady contraction, since
it remained below the crucial no
change level of 50.
This came as Italian 10-year bond
yields dived to a two-year low of
4.485 per cent before rising back to
4.6 per cent after a bond auction.
Spanish 10-year yields also fell,
hitting their lowest point since
March at 5.21 per cent, although
they also rose during the day,
eventually reaching 5.38 per cent.
And sentiment data from the
European Commission (EC) also
came in more cheery. The ECs
Eurozone retail sector suffers
another sharp drop in sales
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD measure of consumer confidence
rose 1.4 to 85.7, after eight months
of continuous falls. The Eurozones
two biggest economies, France and
Spain, enjoyed the biggest
improvements, the EC said.
And German labour market data
from Destatis added to this more
optimistic outlook on the
Eurozones economic climate.
Employment in Germany was up 1.4
per cent or 285,000 on the year,
official statistical body Destatis
said, hitting 41.9m. However,
unemployment also increased
36,000 over the year to hit 2.24m.
But analysts were unimpressed
with the improvements. The
economic outlook for the Eurozone
remains pretty awful, said
Jonathan Loynes at Capital
Economics. And Citigroup analysts
predicted the Eurozone would
remain in recession going into
2013.
www.cityamsurvey.com
THURSDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2012
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and these will be return economy seats for two persons, flying fromLondon Gatwick to Antigua with Virgin Atlantic. There is no cash alternative to the prize and spending money is not included. Holiday insurance is not included and must be purchased before travel. The prize is subject to availability, cannot be taken during peak seasons (Easter, July, August,
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must be taken before 30 November 2013. Sandals resorts are for couples and accommodations include a king size bed. Sandals Resorts reserves the right to relocate prize winners fromthe stated resort to an alternative Sandals resort if rooms become unavailable for the travel dates requested. By entering this competition you consent to your details being shared
with our parent company located outside the European Economic Area. The competition is not open to employees and their immediate families of promoter Unique Vacations (UK) Ltd and their associated agencies. Prize winners must be over 18. One entry per household. ABTA J3152.
THIS weekend will be your last chance to
contribute to City A.M.s annual
readership survey, with the online
questionnaire only available until
midnight on Sunday. Thank you to
everyone whos already taken part, and if
you havent yet contributed please take a
few moments to help us out. As a quality
newspaper provided free of charge, it is
important for us to understand who our
readers are and what you think of us, and
this survey is one of the main vehicles we
have to achieve this.
Many of our growing band of readers
have already been keen to help by filling
in our very simple and straightforward
survey at www.cityamsurvey.com but as
good capitalists here at City A.M. we also
believe in incentives. And in todays
somewhat depressed climate, we realise
that the chance to win a brilliant holiday
in the sun is just what the doctor ordered.
So everybody who fills in the survey will
be entered into a draw for an all-inclusive
trip for two to one of Sandals Luxury
Included
resorts in beautiful Antigua, a

package which includes return flights (see
terms and conditions below; heartfelt
thanks to the company for making this
amazing prize possible). To add further
spice to the survey, we will also be
entering survey participants into a daily
draw to win a bottle of Louis Roederer
champagne. We recently reached our
highest ever audited circulation and have
very ambitious plans for the future. We
are by no means finished improving the
quality of the paper, and we are very keen
to hear any thoughts or suggestions you
may have. Thanks for reading City A.M.,
thank you for your loyalty and we look
forward to receiving your feedback at
www.cityamsurvey.com
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HELP US MAKE YOUR FAVOURITE PAPER EVEN BETTER
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N
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T

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D
A
Y
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary
Fund will not disburse Greeces
next bailout tranche until the
country completes a voluntary buy
back of its debt, it said yesterday.
Eurogroup finance ministers
and the IMF agreed earlier this
week to conduct the buy back as
part of measures to make Greeces
debt sustainable and release
urgent loans that help the near-
bankrupt economy stay afloat.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde will
wave through the recent review of
Greeces progress once
commitments such as the buy
back have been satisfied, an IMF
spokesperson said.
Approval of the review is needed
for the next tranche to be paid.
IMF wants buy
back of Greek
debt settled
Joerg Asmussen said that
details had to be resolved
TO the Marriott in Grosvenor Square
for the 14th annual Growing Business
Awards this week.
The ceremony was held to celebrate
Britains brightest business minds,
and in the spirit of 2012 was hosted by
a British Olympian, Steve Cram.
The night quickly went down the
toilet, so to speak, with Better
Bathrooms founder Colin Stephens
being named Entrepreneur of the
Year, and Chris Li, founder of Luxury
for Less and Bathempire.com, winning
the Young Entrepreneur of the Year
category.
A surprise winner was the Large
Firm of the Year, awarded to loan com-
pany Wonga.com. Judges admitted
that they knew the decision would be
controversial but put their wonga
where their mouth is, describing the
firms success as incontrovertible.
10
cityam.com
cityam.com/the-capitalist
THECAPITALIST
Catering giant SSP once part of
Compass but now owned by
private equity group EQT - proudly
describes itself online as the food
travel expert. Pity then that the firm is
unable to correctly spell the name of
the capitals most famous railway
station. A receipt from the Pasty Shop
at Waterloo, sent to The Capitalist by
an amused commuter, describes the
busy hub as Warterloo. The Capitalist
enquired with SSP as to whether this
was a silly Halloween hangover but was
told it was all a simple IT glitch:
Customers at SSPs Waterloo station
Pasty Shop can now enjoy
immaculately spelled till receipts along
with great tasting homemade pasties.
You heard it here first, readers.
The City headed to Mayfair on
Wednesday evening for a mid-
week party at Mahiki, hosted by financial
advisers Welbeck. Faces from Morgan
Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Icap and Clifford
Chance turned out to support the
fundraiser for the youth charity Snow
Camp, which takes inner city children to
the slopes. The Capitalist hears that
former All Black player Mark Robinson,
who is leading the Welbeck team in the
charitys race around Morzine in January,
was also leading the fun and games at the
club. Dressed in a novelty all-in-one ski
outfit the ex-Wasps player confirmed he
would be putting his money on New
Zealand this weekend. The Capitalist bets
this was before all but two of the poor
squad came down with a rather nasty
bout of the Norovirus.
EDITED BY CALLY SQUIRES
Got A Story? Email
thecapitalist@cityam.com
SOME of the Citys best-respected
women flocked to One Marylebone
on Wednesday, to enjoy a slap-up
lunch and give themselves a well
deserved pat on the back.
The excuse for such a decadent
afternoon was Reds fourth annual
Women of the Year awards.
Representing the business ladies
at the ceremony were shortlisters
Lynn Rattigan, deputy chief
operating officer at Ernst & Young
and Donna Langley, co-chairman of
Ladies who power lunch are
celebrated at One Marylebone
Universal Pictures, with well-
deserved awards going to Caren
Downie, buying director at online
retailer ASOS and Livia Firth,
creative director of eco-age.com.
Other big names on the judging
panel which determined the
winners included West Ham
Football Club vice-chair and
Apprentice star Karren Brady,
shadow home secretary Yvette
Cooper and Shine Group chairman
Elisabeth Murdoch.
Chairman of Shine Group Elisabeth Murdoch (L) and impressionist Ronni Ancona (R)
Left to right:
Lloyds Private
Bank director
Mark Miles,
Better
Bathrooms
founder Colin
Stephens and
Olympian Steve
Cram
Toilet humour
wins the day at
business bash
IN BRIEF
Aston Martin close to capital injection
n British sports car maker Aston Martin
said it is in advanced talks with potential
investors over an injection of capital into
the business. Indian tractor maker Mahindra
and Mahindra last week topped an offer
from Italian private equity fund
Investindustrial that had been agreed with
Astons owner, Kuwaiti investment house
Investment Dar, sources said. We are in
talks for a capital increase, the company is
not for sale and our existing shareholders,
Investment Dar, are very much committed
to Aston Martin, said an Aston Martin
spokeswoman. The spokeswoman
confirmed that Aston Martins third-quarter
presentation to bondholders, published
late on Wednesday, described the talks as
being at an advanced stage.
11
NEWS
cityam.com
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INSIDE
TRACK
DAVID HELLIER
I
n the end, the decision by
Goldman Sachs to extricate itself
from a leading position on the
syndicate of banks advising
Russias leading mobile telecoms
group Megafon on its 7bn London
and Moscow flotation didnt turn out
to be fatal. And although Goldman
didnt advise on the London flotation
of Kazakhstan-based telecoms group
Kcell, fears that its exit could dampen
investors appetite for all Russian
firms also proved unfounded.
Goldmans shock move, which came
ahead of the Megafons October global
roadshow, certainly frayed a few
nerves and caused the UKs listing
authority to take a closer look than
normal at the company, leading to a
delay in the flotation
procedure.
But Megafons listing went ahead on
Wednesday in what was a triumph for
those advisers, led by Morgan Stanley,
who stayed with the deal, as well as
the London market.
So flimsy is sentiment in the IPO
markets, though, that the soft start to
trading in Megafons shares on
Wednesday, even though they were
priced at the bottom of the range,
caused some to suspect that the flota-
tion of Kcell, the Kazakhstan-based
telecoms group, might not go ahead
as planned.
However, Kcell, advised by UBS and
Credit Suisse, announced its pricing
yesterday, with those working on the
deal stressing the groups difference
from Megafon; fewer corporate gover-
nance issues and much higher divi-
dends to name but two virtues.
Kcell is the leading mobile tele-
phone operator in Kazakhstan with
12.7m subscribers or 47 per cent of
the total market in the central Asian
country.
Most analysts have been fairly san-
guine about the effect of Goldman
Sachs decision to absent itself from
the Megafon deal. If Goldman had
remained in the syndicate there
would have been more investment
from some different institutions, said
Luis Saenz, head of equity trading at
BCS Financial Group.
But equally many investors were
only too happy to pick up shares at a
lower entry point.
The devastating thing for Megafon
was that Goldman Sachs decision
came just days ahead of the groups
roadshow, becoming the talking point
of early presentations.
Investment banks these days put
their reputations at risk at their peril,
so it will be fascinating to see how this
one turns out.
Will Morgan Stanley prove to have
made the right move in standing by its
client?
Or will Goldman look prescient if
and when a problem in governance
surfaces? Only time will tell.
SECOND GUESSING THE BANKS
STJ Advisors, a boutique banking
advisory group that pitches itself as
being a balance to the banking syndi-
cates on IPOs, isnt the most popular
name amongst investment bankers at
the larger banks.
The complaint is that STJ second
guesses the work done by the bank
syndicates and complicates things
with its time-consuming investor map-
ping processes.
But almost two years after a group of
banks discussed how to effectively
blackball STJ, the evidence is that the
group is thriving. Recently it was hired
by the Spanish bank, Banco Popular,
to advise on its rights issue and
helped produce a good result. Here to
stay, I think.
david.hellier@cityam.com
Kcell and Megafon shrug aside Goldman Sachs effect
12
NEWS
HEDGE fund manager Julian Barnett is
shutting down his Ridley Park Paragon
long/short equity fund, after two years in a
torrid market, a source said yesterday.
Barnett, who could not be contacted for
comment, set up the $350m (218m) fund in
May 2010 after leaving his role as star fund
manager at Aim-listed Polar Capital.
But he appears to have been unable to
repeat the success of his Polar Capital
Paragon fund, which returned more than 20
per cent in 2008, and has taken the decision
to close the fund to focus on long-only
investing.
Ridley Park Paragon reportedly lost 27 per
cent last year, though it had been up by more
than six per cent in 2012.
The fund said in a statement to the market
last week that it planned to cancel its listing
on the Irish Stock Exchange.
The volatile aftermath of the Eurozone
sovereign debt crisis has thrown many hedge
funds off course in recent years. Earlier this
month OMG Capital closed its doors and
returned cash to investors.
Barnetts Ridley Park
Paragon fund closes
BY MARION DAKERS
MOTOR insurer Direct Line yesterday said it was
exploring plans to slash a further 236 jobs in a
bid to reach its 100m cost cutting target
announced in September.
The firm, which recently revealed pricing for
its public float, said the job losses would come
across its commercial, risk and compliance and
chief customer office divisions.
Direct Line, which was spun out of Royal Bank
of Scotland, has started consultation with
workers under threat of redundancy. It follows
the announcement of cuts to senior management
in September and October.
The company is trying to save 100m by the
end of 2014. It has yet to finalise where 30m of
these savings will come from.
Some 20m will come from slashing its
marketing budget, with the other 50m coming
from 891 call centre job losses and 70 senior
management redundancies.
Chief executive of Direct Line Paul Geddes said:
These proposals are another important step on
our journey to deliver on our cost saving target.
They are essential to ensure we are as efficient
and competitive as possible.
Direct Line to cut 236
more jobs to save cash
BY MICHAEL BOW
REGULATORS yesterday approved the planned
takeover of the London Metal Exchange (LME) by
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx).
This means the deal to buy one of the Citys
oldest and certainly its most unusual trading
venues could complete as early as 6 December,
bringing to an end 135 years of member-
ownership.
LME is one of the few venues in the world that
still practises open outcry trading and visitors to
its Leadenhall Street offices can still see traders
enter the ring and use arcane hand signals to buy
and sell copper, aluminium, lead, nickel, tin and
zinc.
In July members of the exchange voted to
accept a 1.4bn offer from HKEx for the market.
As part of the deal, open outcry trading on the
worlds biggest marketplace for industrial metals
is guaranteed to continue until at least 2015.
But attempts to preserve it beyond that date
took a blow last week when Barclays announced
that it would only take part in electronic and
telephone trading for cost reasons. LME has
grown in importance as the world market for
metals has exploded in recent years and in
September recorded record-high trading volumes.
Takeover approved
for Metal Exchange
BY JAMES WATERSON
IN BRIEF
AstraZeneca wins China approval
nAstraZeneca has won approval for its
new heart drug Brilinta in China, an
increasingly important market for the
pharmaceuticals group. Chinas state
food and drug administration has
issued a drug import licence for the
product, meaning it will now be
available for treating patients with
acute coronary syndrome in the
country, the company said yesterday.
Shares in the firm rose 1.58 per cent,
outperforming the general market.
Aviva eyes 120 job losses
nInsurer Aviva said yesterday it would
shed about 120 jobs as it merges its
dedicated property claims service into
its existing claims centres. The staff
affected are based in Sheffield, where
Avivas Asprea property claims
management service is headquartered,
the insurer said in an emailed statement
yesterday. Aviva is cutting costs and
selling under-performing businesses as
part of a turnaround strategy launched
in July.
Shell expects Chesapeake boost
nRoyal Dutch Shell expects years and
years of production from oil and natural
gas acreage it recently bought from
Chesapeake Energy and plans to add
more drilling rigs, the head of Shell's
Americas operations said yesterday.
Shell paid $1.94bn last September for
618,000 acres in the Permian Basin, a
vast source of oil and natural gas in the
western part of Texas. The firm was
attracted to the land as it is already
producing, meaning production has
been proved viable, its chief exec said.
RIO Tinto said yesterday that it aims
to axe $7bn (4.4bn) in costs over the
next two years and sell more assets to
cushion itself against weaker com-
modity prices, while at the same
time beefing up output in its lucra-
tive iron ore business.
The firm is the only global iron ore
producer that has not slowed iron
ore expansion plans, forging ahead
with $21bn in mine, port and
rail work to boost its Australian
capacity.
For me the theme for this year,
next year and probably the extended
period beyond that in this volatile
environment will be everything hav-
ing to do about cost control, Rio
chief executive Tom Albanese said.
The company said it is aiming to
cut more than $5bn of operating and
support costs by the end of 2014, and
would cut spending on exploration
and evaluation projects by $1bn over
the rest of 2012 and 2013.
Much of the cost cuts would come
in its coal and aluminium assets,
Albanese said, adding that support
costs in Australia had become the
Rio Tinto plans
cost cuts and
assets sell-off
BY HARRY BANKS
most expensive in the world, com-
pared with five years ago when they
were among the cheapest.
It also plans to cut spending on sus-
taining operations by more than
$1bn in 2013.
Rio remained cautiously optimistic
about a pick-up in growth in China,
following recent stronger-than-
expected economic data.
More than a couple of months ago,
Im cautiously optimistic about the
fact that were beginning to see green
shoots in China, Albanese said.
The company has generated $12bn
from selling more than 20 assets
since 2008 and expects to add to that
next year.
Rio Tinto PLC
29Nov 23Nov 26Nov 27Nov 28Nov
2,950
2,900
3,000
3,050
3,100 p 3,090.00
29Nov
BHP BILLITON said yesterday it is
looking inside and outside the
company as well as using external
advisers to help with succession
plans for its chief executive,
following reports the worlds
biggest miner was preparing for
changes at the top.
Chairman Jac Nasser told BHPs
Australian annual general meeting
that planning for a successor to
chief executive Marius Kloppers
had started the day he was
appointed and was ongoing.
Kloppers oversaw phenomenal
growth during the final boom years
BHP assures it is looking inside
and out for chief exec successor
BY CITY A.M. REPORTER of the last decade and won plaudits
from investors for reining in costs
and maintaining shareholder
payouts.
But BHP now faces a sharp drop
in profits as it battles a tougher
environment after a slowdown in
top customer China has knocked
commodity prices. An early exit
would spare Kloppers the task of
overseeing a prolonged period of
sliding profits. BHPs profit is not
expected to get back to the high of
2011 for at least another five years.
In 2012-13, BHPs bottom line is
tipped to tumble by some $4bn
(2.5bn) to just under $15bn due to
lower mineral prices.
13
NEWS
cityam.com
Marius Kloppers has been popular with shareholders for maintaining payouts
IN BRIEF
Barnes & Noble Nook losses grow
nBarnes & Noble said yesterday that
the quarterly loss in its Nook division
increased as the bookseller increased
spending on its e-readers and tablets to
keep pace with larger rivals
Amazon.com and Apple. Overall revenue
in the quarter slipped 0.4 per cent to
$1.88bn, while retail sales, still its
biggest segment by far, fell 2.9 per cent
to $996m, hurt by flat same-store sales.
Mobile growth boosts Paypoint
nElectronics payments operator
Paypoint said it sees a substantial
opportunity for growth via mobile
payments as the company reported a
16 per cent rise in profits to 18.3m.
The company saw its biggest growth
in its half-year in PayByPhone which
allows people to pay for parking via
their phones. This led to a six per cent
rise in turnover to 101.7m.
AA bondholders call for shake-up
nA group of some of bankrupt
American Airlines most significant
bondholders said it will not support a
standalone restructuring unless a new
board is brought in, a move that may
increase hurdles for chief executive Tom
Horton. The 12-member bondholder
group includes JP Morgan, Pentwater
Capital Management and York Capital.
SHAFTESBURYs fortress of West End
properties helped the landlord post a
glowing set of full year results yester-
day, in what it called an exceptional-
ly busy year for London.
The FTSE 250 companys net asset
value rose by 7.6 per cent to 498p a
share in the year to 30 September,
driven by a boost in the value of the
portfolio by 8.9 per cent to 1.82bn.
Shaftesburys 1.8bn portfolio
stretches across Carnaby, Covent
Garden, Chinatown, Soho and
Charlotte Street. Some 72 per cent is
let to retailers and restaurants.
The group said vacancy levels con-
tinued to be at low levels of around
3.2 per cent and that it is enjoying
unusually high levels of interest
from retailers and other businesses
particularly since the summer.
Popular West
End lifts profits
at Shaftesbury
BY KASMIRA JEFFORD
Chairman John Manser said the
Olympics caused some short-term
disruption in visitor numbers but
added that it had no discernible
effect on the business.
Shaftesburys estimated rental
value (ERV) rose six per cent while
pre-tax profits increased 6.8 per cent
to 31.2m. A total of 44m was spent
on acquisitions in the period.
Shaftesbury PLC
545.0
542.5
540.0
547.5
550.0
552.5
555.0
557.5 p 550.00
29Nov
PUB chain Marstons said it had got
off to a good start to its new
financial year, but reported an
annual loss yesterday owing to an
impairment charge on its taverns.
The owner of more than 2,000
pubs, including the Pitcher and
Piano chain, said trading in
October and November had
improved on last year. This was
almost entirely down to food sales,
which have been up 3.4 per cent
Pub chain Marstons sees hope
in food sales but swings to loss
BY JAMES TITCOMB since September.
However, Marstons which also
brews ales such as Pedigree saw a
pre-tax loss of 135.5m in the 12
months ending 29 September, after
an 80m profit in the year before.
This was due to a 223m writedown
on the value of Marstons property.
Revenues improved by 5.5 per
cent to 720m, which chief
executive Ralph Findlay said was a
resilient performance during the
wet summer which has affected
most of the UKs pub chains.
Chief executive Ralph Findlay wrote off 223m but hailed a resilient performance
14
NEWS
cityam.com
The new
jobs website
for London
professionals
C
I
T
Y
A
M
C
A
R
E
E
R
S
.
c
o
m
BRITISH Land yesterday said it has
acquired the 2.3-acre Canal Corridor
North site in Lancaster city centre
that includes the former Mitchells
of Lancaster brewery.
The property giant is also in talks
with Lancaster City Council to buy
its adjoining land to build a retail-
led scheme across the 10 acre site.
Lancaster has seen very little
retail investment over the last two
decades and we look forward to
creating a retail and leisure
destination to serve local people
and attract significant numbers of
visitors into the city, said Richard
Wise, head of retail development
for British Land.
Wise believes the initial
investment could lead to a future
development end value of over
75m for the company.
British Land
buys new site
BY ALEX CROELL
Waste management business
weighs on Pennons first-half
UTILITIES company Pennon Group
yesterday reported a drop in
profits at its recession-hit waste
management unit, as warned
earlier this month, and said it did
not see a recovery in prices for
recycled materials in the near
future.
Pre-tax profit at waste
management business Viridor fell
over 30 per cent in the six months
to the end of September to 28m,
in line with a profit warning issued
by the company two weeks ago.
A weak global economy has
severely depressed average prices
for waste paper and recovered
metals used in recycling, and
Viridor remained cautious about
the prospect of recyclate prices
recovering.
The fall in recyclate prices has
a fairly brutal impact on
turnover, Colin Drummond,
chief executive of Viridor, said.
Weve been able very quickly
to recover 50 per cent of the fall in
recyclate prices through a
combination of cost reduction,
facilities rationalisation,
headcount reduction, change in
the terms of our supply with
customers.
The performance at Viridor was
offset by a 10 per cent rise in pre-
tax profit at Pennons South West
Water business to 84m.
Shares in Pennon climbed over
four per cent to 625p yesterday,
recovering some of their losses after
they dropped as much as 10 per cent
following the profit warning.
Pennon Group PLC
605
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630 p
625.00
29Nov
HOGG Robinson shares fell five per
cent yesterday after the corporate
travel services group posted falling
revenues and earnings.
The FTSE Small Cap-listed firm
said turnover fell 10 per cent to
168.9m for the six months to the
end of September, while underlying
pre-tax profits declined seven per
cent to 17.3m.
The group blamed currency
movements for some of the drop, as
well as the gloomy economic
backdrop.
Corporates are understandably
cautious in their approach to travel
but our proven ability to help our
clients achieve best value from their
travel budgets is reflected in our
ongoing strong client retention
rate, said chief executive David
Radcliffe.
The firm said its clients were
choosing cheaper travel options
through its service, though this was
mitigated by new mandates from the
Finnish government, Pirelli and
Bayer.
Net debt jumped 46 per cent to
100.5m, in a period that saw Hogg
Robinson make two acquisitions.
Thrifty business
jet-setters dent
Hogg Robinson
BY MARION DAKERS
RYANAIR will today introduce two sur-
charges on its online flight bookings,
blaming an Office of Fair Trading rul-
ing for the hike in fees.
The low-cost airline, which has been
on the receiving end of several OFT
complaints over surprise booking fees,
said it is adding the levies after the
watchdogs crackdown on air tickets
over the summer.
Ryanair said the two per cent credit
card processing fee will be in addition
to its 6 per flight fee for all bookings
through its website, which will now
be included in the headline price.
Both charges come into effect today,
four months after a number of other
firms altered their online booking sys-
tems to comply with the OFTs recom-
mendations on transparent pricing.
The OFT yesterday objected to
Ryanairs reasoning, issuing a state-
ment to stress that is has not made
Ryanair blames
watchdog for a
hike in charges
BY MARION DAKERS
any airline introduce new payment
charges, increase their credit card
charges, or scrap any discounts they
wish to offer.
The Irish airline hit back, slamming
the OFTs planned changes over the
summer as anti-consumer.
As the OFT has removed our ability
to help passengers avoid fees through
exclusive partnerships perhaps they
may wish to pay these fees on the con-
sumers behalf, said a spokesman.
Wood Group seen as attractive
after 126m family stake sale
ANALYSTS picked energy services
firm Wood Group as a buying
opportunity yesterday after its
shares fell following a family stake
sale.
The Wood family trust and
members of the Wood family sold
just over 16m shares representing
their entire 4.4 per cent stake in
the firm through Credit Suisse
and JP Morgan Cazenove.
The sale of the stake at 775p per
share raised around 126m in total,
and saw the shares drop 4.3 per
cent yesterday to 780p, making it
BY KATIE HOPE
the biggest faller on the FTSE 100.
However, Sir Ian Wood, who
retired as chairman last month,
said he had no current plans to sell
any of his 2.4 per cent stake.
And analysts said the share price
drop made the stock attractive.
Oriel Securities highlighted its
strong international position in
offshore facilities and said this
meant Wood Group was in a good
position to take advantage of
increased industry spending.
This is a good opportunity to buy
into a high quality company, it
added.
Meanwhile, Liberum advised
investors not to read anything into
the share sale, noting the family
historically had shown little interest
in the firm.
John Wood Group PLC
780
790
800
810
820 p
780.00
29Nov
Ryanair Holdings PLC
4.65
4.70
4.75
4.80
4.85
4.78
29Nov
MONARCH said yesterday that its
turnaround plan is progressing
faster than expected as the airline
and holiday group posted rising
turnover and passenger numbers.
The firm did not release an
earnings figure for the year to
October, but finance director
Robert Palmer said the losses were
substantially reduced on the
45m operating loss a year ago.
Turnover was up 9.2 per cent to
827.7m, on traffic up 1.6 per cent
Monarchs recovery on course
as turnover and traffic increase
BY MARION DAKERS to 6.4m. Cost savings were as
expected at 31.6m.
We are very much on track on
the turnaround and we are ahead
of where we thought we would be
in terms of airline growth. Its all
encouraging, executive chairman
Iain Rawlinson told City A.M.
We are quite cautious for the
year ahead in terms of yields, but
we have some in-built growth in
the airline both in terms of winter
ski routes and continued expansion
from our new bases over the
summer.
16
NEWS
cityam.com
Monarch, which flies from six UK airports, said it is looking to buy new planes
GOLD Fields, the worlds fourth-
largest bullion producer, is
spinning off its two oldest South
African mines in the latest sign of
the countrys once mighty gold
industry succumbing to declining
output and soaring costs.
In a move that nearly severs its
ties with South Africa, Gold Fields
70-year-old KDC mines near
Johannesburg and its Beatrix
operations near the central city of
Bloemfontein will be renamed
Sibanye Gold and floated on the
Johannesburg stock exchange in
February.
The deal leaves Gold Fields with
just one mine in South Africa, the
Gold Fields spin-off plans show
decline of South African mining
highly mechanised South Deep
operation on which it has pinned
the bulk of its hopes for growth.
The rest of its mines are in Ghana,
Peru and Australia.
Gold production in South Africa
has halved in the last seven years,
knocking Africas biggest economy
off its perch as the worlds top
bullion producer, a position it
held throughout most of the 20th
century.
It is not only Gold Fields. Our
decline is no different from the
decline you see at AngloGold and
Harmonys South African
operations, Gold Fields chief
executive Nick Holland said.
We are all struggling with the
same challenges.
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SHARES in technology firm Invensys
continued to climb yesterday, as
investors reacted to news it had
offloaded its rail division to
Germanys Siemens for 1.7bn.
After rising more than 20 per cent
in late trading on Wednesday after-
noon, when the deal was
announced, shares in Invensys
gained another nine per cent yester-
day, closing at 305.8p and valuing
the firm at almost 2.3bn. Analysts
at RBC said the sale increased the
likelihood that Invensys could
become a bid target once the deal is
completed in the middle of 2013,
having admitted to early interest ear-
lier this year.
The disposal of rail leaves Invensys
more focused on automation and
eliminates the UK defined benefit
pension net deficit, thereby remov-
ing two major obstacles for potential
acquirers, said RBCs Andrew Carter.
Meanwhile Siemens promised
investors that the deal would con-
tribute to boosting its profits in a
Invensys ascent
continues after
Siemens deal
BY ELIZABETH FOURNIER tough economy. The engineering con-
glomerate, Germanys most valuable
company, aims to save 6bn (4.9bn)
and focus on its core areas of expert-
ise to close a gap with rivals such as
ABB and General Electric.
The deals will lift the operating
profit margin of Siemens
Infrastructure & Cities (I&C) division
by more than one percentage point in
fiscal 2014 from 7.5 per cent last year,
I&C chief executive Roland Busch
said.
We are investing in our profitabili-
ty. We see a margin improvement ...
as validation, Busch said.
New chief executive Peter Bertram said the results were disappointing
Phoenix IT Group PLC
160
162
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166
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167.00
29Nov
Invensys PLC
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260
280
300
320 p 305.00
29Nov
18
NEWS
cityam.com
Phoenix IT swings to loss after
manipulated books discovered
ACCOUNTING irregularities have
forced business software firm
Phoenix IT into a 68m
writedown, the company said
yesterday.
The impairment, which led to
the downfall of chief executive
David Courtley and the sacking of
Phoenix ITs auditors Deloitte in
October, dragged the company
into a pre-tax loss of 63.3m in
the six months to October.
The company said that an
internal review conducted by PwC
BY JAMES TITCOMB
found that the profits of
[subsidiary] Servo Limited have been
manipulated and overstated for a
number of years starting in the
financial year ending 31 March
2009.
Even with this charge taken out,
the companys performance was
worse than last years. Phoenix IT
saw revenues of 124m, five per
cent down on last year.
The company blamed this on
disruption on the transition to the
new structure, and reinvestment in
certain areas that had dropped to
unacceptable levels. Executive
chairman Peter Bertram, who
replaces Courtley, admitted the
results were disappointing.
CABLE maker Belden said yesterday
it will sell its Thermax and Raydex
cable businesses to diversified
manufacturer Carlisle Cos for
about $265m (165.4m), including
debt, as it looks to exit the
aerospace and defence markets.
Belden, which also makes cables
and networking products for the
broadcast and consumer
electronics industries, has been
unable to remain competitive
offering cables as a stand-alone
product to the aerospace and
defence markets, company
spokesman Matt Tractenberg said.
Carlisle said it expects the
acquisition to close by 31 December
and add to earnings in 2013.
Belden selling
unit to Carlisle
CISCO Systems said yesterday it
will buy privately held network
traffic-management software
maker Cariden Technologies for
about $141m (88m) in cash.
Cariden will be integrated into
Ciscos service provider
networking group unit, Cisco said.
California-based Cariden
supplies network planning, design
and traffic management solutions
for telecommunications service
providers. This is Ciscos third
acquisition in November. Earlier
this month Cisco said it will buy
privately held cloud networking
company Meraki for $1.2bn in
cash as part of its cloud and
networking strategy.
Cisco snaps up
software firm
IN BRIEF
Royal Bank of Canada profit rises
nRoyal Bank of Canadas quarterly
profit rose 22 per cent on a sharp
jump in fixed-income trading revenue
and steady loan growth, suggesting
the long-awaited slowdown in
Canadian consumer lending has yet to
materialise. The bank, Canadas
largest, earned C$1.9bn (1.2bn), or
C$1.25 a share, in the fourth quarter
ended 31 October. That compared with
a year-earlier profit of C$1.6bn, or
C$1.02 a share. Capital markets
income more than tripled to C$410m.
Hostess Brands attracts interest
nHostess Brands, the bankrupt
maker of Twinkies snack cakes,
received court permission to wind
down its 82-year-old business
yesterday but revealed furious
interest in its iconic brands from
potential buyers. Around 110 potential
bidders have contacted the company
about bidding for at least part of its
business, and 70 had enough interest
to sign confidentiality agreements,
Hostess banker told the hearing in
White Plains, New York.
Hangar8 snaps up JetClub
nAim-listed private jet operator
Hangar8 has spent 3.7m plus
500,000 new shares to take over
International JetClub, a high-end
aircraft management firm. The
acquisition boosts Hangar8s fleet
from 36 to 46. The firm also
announced a 4.2m share placing to
fund the acquisition, to be run by
Seymour Pierce. Oxford-based
Hangar8 this week defied a gloomy
aviation sector with soaring earnings.
HEDGE funds increased their bets
against big name European technolo-
gy stocks last month, after data
showed a surge in the short selling of
shares in the sector.
Data out this week shows 6.7 per
cent of European technology shares
including big name brands like
Nokia and Logitech are currently
out on loan to short sellers such as
hedge funds, an increase of three per
cent over the month.
Under short selling strategies,
hedge funds make money if the
firms do badly and their shares fall.
Leading the pack of companies hed-
gies think will do badly is German
Hedgies bet on
fresh downturn
in tech shares
BY MICHAEL BOW
tech manufacturer Aixtron, which
has 23.4 per cent of its shares out on
loan, almost three quarters of the
total amount allowed.
It would be hard to borrow any-
more, Markit director Alex Brog,
who conducted the research, said.
Mobile phone maker Nokia has also
seen an 8.1 per cent rise in the num-
ber of shorts against it, rising to 18.8
per cent of its stocks out on loan, as
investors bet against the success of its
forthcoming Lumia 920 phone.
Swiss company Logitech, which
makes keyboards and computer
accessories, is also being heavily
shorted after it posted a profit warn-
ing last month, sending its shares to a
nine year low.
19
NEWS
cityam.com
TAKE A COLD SNAP OF THE BROADGATE ICE CAB TO WIN A FREE SKATE
Broadgate Ice, the only ice rink in the Square Mile and Londons only turn-up and skate venue, has commissioned a
specially designed London Ice Cab to celebrate this years skating season. Budding skaters can snap the cab on
location around London and tweet the picture using #BroadgateIce to be in with the chance of winning a two-for-
one skate voucher including skate hire.
Broadgate Ices 2012/13 season was launched yesterday by London 2012 gold medal Olympic boxer Luke Campbell
and 100 Mayor of London Olympic Volunteers joined Luke to celebrate Broadgates commitment to oer a free
skate to all Olympic Volunteers. Luke said: Theres so much going on at the rink over the next few months, and it
was good fun helping them kick it all o.
The Ice season runs until 24th February and will round o a year of sporting and royal focus. Visitors will be able to
share a piece of the celebratory action by choosing their own ice-tunes skating soundtrack and having photos of
their group posted to their Facebook pages during selected skate sessions.
Along with oering sedate skates, Broadgate Ice oers a more challenging activity in the form of Broomball. An
import from Canada and currently growing in popularity in the UK, Broomball resembles ice hockey, with teams of
six players kitted out in trainers, knee and elbow pads and a crash helmet as they slip and slide across the ice
scoring goals using a broom.
The Ice Cab will be on the road until 28th December, so spotters
need to get their skates on.
WHERE:
Broadgate Ice Rink, Broadgate Circle, London EC2M 2RH
2 minutes from Liverpool Street Station
The voucher includes free access to the ice within designated time slots plus free skate
hire for one person when accompanied bya second paying skater.
visit www.broadgate.co.uk/tandc/broadgateice
for full details, terms and conditions.
ADVERTORIAL
JEWELLER Tiffany & Co yesterday lowered its full-year sales and profit outlook for the third
straight quarter and posted lower-than-expected revenue and earnings after a drop in same-
store sales in its Asia market. Like-for-like sales at Asian stores fell four per cent, excluding
currency effects, as global sales rose 3.8 per cent to $852.7m in the year to 31 October.
ASIAN SPARKLE FADES FOR TIFFANY & CO
TOP 5 MOST SHORTED TECH STOCKS IN EUROPE
Rank Company Name Country Stock out on loan
Aixtron Germany 23.4 per cent
Nokia Finland 18.8 per cent
Logitech Switzerland 18.8 per cent
Alcatel-Lucent France 15.6 per cent
Neopost France 13.3 per cent
1
2
3
4
5
NET migration into the UK fell to its
lowest total for almost eight years in
the year to March 2012, data out
yesterday revealed.
In the year to March, 536,000
people came from abroad to live in
the UK, according to estimates from
the Office for National Statistics,
down 42,000 on the year before, and
the lowest figure since the year to
June 2004. Combined with a bump
in emigration, which hit 353,000 in
the year to March compared to
336,000 a year earlier, net migration
collapsed from 242,000 to 183,000,
closing in on the governments goal
of below 100,000.
The fall appears to have continued
into recent months excluding
visitor and transit visas, 85,940 fewer
visas were issued in the year to
September than in the previous 12
months. A large contributor to the
figures was student visa issuance,
which collapsed 26 per cent in just a
year, while work-related visas fell by
just four per cent.
The government hailed the data as
evidence its policies were succeeding
in reducing immigration, but the
Institute of Directors warned that
cutting off the flow of global talent
could harm the UKs growth
prospects.
Net migration
to UK sinks to
eight-year low
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD
RETAIL sales growth accelerated in
November, industry data out yester-
day indicated, marking the third
month of expansion after Augusts
small decline.
The net balance of retailers who
reported a rise in sales year-on-year
rose to plus 33 per cent in November
from plus 30 per cent in October, the
Confederation of British Industry
(CBI) said.
And businesses thought this sales
growth could continue a net bal-
ance of plus 25 per cent told the CBI
they thought their volumes could go
up in December, slightly down from
the plus 27 per cent who had predict-
ed growth in November.
This months survey is reason to
be cheerful as we head into the fes-
tive period, said Anna Leach at the
CBI. Retailers at the board will be
heartened by these encouraging
results, she added, highlighting the
increase in employment as particu-
larly positive.
Retailers enjoy
a third month
of sales growth
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD
Howard Archer at IHS Global
Insight agreed the news was encour-
aging, and cited the recent slowdown
in inflation as a major factor.
But he said the recent bump in con-
sumer price inflation, bringing it
back up to 2.7 per cent, after it had
fallen down to 2.2 per cent, meant
there was a risk that purchasing
power will be squeezed before
Christmas.
But retailers did not appear to share
his worries, with a net balance of
seven per cent expecting their overall
business situation to improve.
Interest rates inch down in third
month of Funding for Lending
INTEREST rates on new secured
loans edged down in October, the
third month since the Funding
for Lending Scheme (FLS) began,
data revealed yesterday, but rates
on unsecured loans rose.
The average interest rate on
new secured loans edged down
from 3.77 per cent to 3.74 per cent
last month, the Bank of England
said. And in the same month,
lenders extended 11.6bn in loans
secured on houses, up from the
11.3bn gross lending in
September.
But the average interest rate on
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD
unsecured loans hit 7.13 per cent
in October, up from 6.72 per cent
in September. In line with this,
total consumer credit fell from
157bn in September to 156bn in
October, dragging down total
lending to individuals, despite the
rise in secured lending.
But Chris Williamson at Markit
said that the mild improvements
do not mean FLS has succeeded.
Although the increase in
mortgage approvals from 50,000
to 53,000 is encouraging, the
number continues to run at
almost half of the average seen in
the 15 years leading up to the
financial crisis, he said.
The data therefore suggest that
the much-vaunted FLS has so far
done little to provide the housing
market with a much needed
boost, he added.
Housing market treads water in
November as weakness persists
HOUSE PRICES were completely flat
in November, data out yesterday
revealed, highlighting the weakness
in the market.
According to Nationwides latest
monthly survey average prices were
unchanged this month at just
under 164,000.
However, in spite of staying flat
in the month, the annual change
in price worsened from minus 0.9
per cent in the year to October to
minus 1.2 per cent in the year to
November.
For each of the last nine months,
prices have been lower than they
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD
were in the same month a year
earlier.
Despite the downward trend,
Robert Gardner, Nationwides chief
economist, said the underlying
position of the housing market was
stable. Annual price growth has
remained in a narrow band
between plus 1.5 per cent and
minus 1.5 per cent on all but two
occasions over the past two years,
he said.
And data out today suggested
that extra supply could keep
downward pressure on prices. The
Glenigan index for housing starts
was up three per cent in the three
months to November, compared to a
year ago, the firm said.
Private housing construction
continues to go from strength to
strength in the latter part of this
year. It is clear that there is the
demand for houses in the country
and it looks like the flood of
measures put in place by the
government are beginning to have a
sustained positive impact on the
housing market and construction
activity, said Glenigan economist
Andrew Whiffin.
And it was not just private
housing that held strong new
work in the social housing sector
increased by 11 per cent in the same
period, despite the cuts programme.
Lending costs come down but remain high
Jan2010 Feb2011 Apr 2012 May2013
3.4
3.5
3.3
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
4.0
S
o
u
r
c
e
: B
a
n
k
o
f
E
n
g
la
n
d
%
Retailers expect stronger market to stay
Jan12 Jan10 Jan08
-40
-60
-20
0
20
40
60 %ofretailersexpectingincreased
salesvolumes, netbalance
20
NEWS
cityam.com
IMMIGRATION HITS EIGHT YEAR LOW ON STUDENT CLAMPDOWN
IMMIGRATION FELL TO
in year to March 2012
DOWN from 578,000
536,000
EMIGRATION ROSE TO
UP from 336,000
353,000
NET MIGRATION FALLS TO
183,000
NET INWARD MIGRATION FALLS
net migration, thousands 700
0
100
YE
Jun 02
YE
Jun 03
YE
Jun 04
YE
Jun 05
YE
Jun 06
YE
Jun 07
YE
Jun 08
YE
Jun 09
YE
Jun 10
YE
Jun 11
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
200
300
400
500
600
(YE = Year Ending)
IMMIGRATION
EMIGRATION
NET MIGRATION
THE CHANCELLOR may be forced
to reconsider his fiscal targets, PwC
analysts said yesterday, as public
borrowing looked likely to
overshoot targets by around 10bn.
Weaker than expected tax
revenue has caused public
borrowing figures to exceed the
Office for Budget Responsibilitys
expectations, the financial services
giant said, and slower than
expected trend growth could cause
this borrowing gap to widen in the
future.
Bridging the gap would require
additional spending cuts or tax
increases of around one per cent of
GDP by 2018, PwC estimated, about
16bn at current value.
PwC says 10bn overshoot may
force Osborne into further cuts
BY ALEX CROELL
But chief economist John
Hawksworth at PwC said that given
the fragile state of the economy,
the chancellor should not
immediately impose more austerity
measures. In fact PwC called on
Osborne to use the Autumn
Statement to boost infrastructure
spending in areas such as road
maintenance to help support the
struggling construction sector.
So long as this extra spending is
more than offset by cuts in
recurrent spending in later years, it
should not prevent the chancellor
from meeting his medium term
fiscal targets, Hawksworth said.
This will, however, eventually
require some further painful fiscal
medicine once the economic
recovery is secure.
US ECONOMIC growth for the
third quarter was 2.7 per cent, on
an annualised basis, data out
yesterday revealed up from the
two per cent increase originally
estimated.
This came after growth running
at just 1.3 per cent in the second
quarter, the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) said, with the
increase coming from extra
inventory investment, and higher
federal government spending. The
BEA also pointed to recovery in
the housing market and slower
imports as factors in the
improvement.
Separately, other US data out
yesterday showed new
US economy grew even faster
than thought in third quarter
BY BEN SOUTHWOOD
unemployment insurance claims
fall below their level a year earlier.
A 46,541 drop in actual claims
drove a 23,000 fall in the
seasonally adjusted measure,
bringing it from 416,000 in the
week ending 17 November to
393,000 last week. In the same
week last year, there were 399,000
new claims.
The improvement was also
reflected in total insured
unemployment, where a 124,308
fall on the unadjusted measure
drove a 70,000 fall in the
seasonally adjusted figure, though
for a week earlier than the new
claims data. This left seasonally
adjusted total claims at 3.29m
more than 400,000 lower than a
year earlier.
21
Wall St rises as
tax talks make
trading volatile
U
S stocks finished higher
yesterday as investors bought on
sporadic dips in a market roiled
by conflicting comments from
Washington about negotiations on an
agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Tech shares, including Research In
Motionand Advanced Micro Devices,
helped the Nasdaq outperform the
broader market. Telecommunications
and health-care stocks were the days
best-performing sectors.
Reflecting the uncertainty surround-
ing US budget talks, trading was chop-
py. Wall Street reversed early gains and
fell shortly after House Speaker John
Boehner, the top Republican in
Congress, dashed hopes that lawmak-
ers were getting closer to a budget deal
that would avert automatic tax
increases and spending cuts set for
early 2013 the fiscal cliff that could
push the US economy into a recession
next year. But the market rebounded
by afternoon and the three major US
stock indexes rebounded.
US-listed shares of BlackBerry maker
Research In Motion rose four per cent
to $11.54 after Goldman Sachs upgrad-
ed the stock to buy from neutral
on optimism ahead of the launch of
the BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
Advanced Micro Devices shares
gained 4.1 per cent to $2.04 on plans to
sell and lease back its campus in Texas.
The sale and lease-back will raise cash
and fund its chipmaking business as
Advanced Micro Devices diversifies
beyond the struggling PC industry.
The Dow Jones industrial average
rose 36.71 points, or 0.28 per cent, to
13,021.82 at the close. The Standard &
Poors 500 Index gained 6.02 points, or
0.43 per cent, to 1,415.95. The Nasdaq
Composite Index advanced 20.25
points, or 0.68 per cent, to close at
3,012.03.
B
RITAINS FTSE 100 scaled three-week
highs yesterday, cheered by promises
of spending cuts at miner Rio Tinto
and by growing hopes of achieving a
US budget deal to avoid recession in the
worlds biggest economy.
The US fiscal cliff of some $600bn in
spending cuts and tax hikes that is other-
wise due to come into force in 2013 has
overtaken the Eurozone crisis as the top
concern for investors. US House of
Representatives Speaker John Boehner
sparked a rally in global risk assets after he
voiced optimism on Wednesday that a
compromise could be reached.
President Barack Obama added to the
positive mood, saying he hoped to get a
deal done in the next four weeks.
The general mood of the market is rea-
sonably positive, said Neil Marsh, strate-
gist at Newedge. There is probably going
to be a little bit of volatility surrounding
the will they, wont they, but ultimately
they will they have to ... If they dont
come up with a deal, what will happen not
just to the US economy but the world econ-
omy is unthinkable.
The FTSE 100 closed up 1.2 per cent, or
67.02 points, at 5,870.30, hitting levels last
seen on 7 November and heading for its
sixth straight month of gains.
From a technical point of view the index
is likely to face tough resistance around
the 5,930 area, where it has run out of
steam three times in as many months.
Miner Rio Tinto, the 10th-biggest stock in
the FTSE 100, added 5.1 per cent, after set-
ting out clear plans for operational cost
cuts and voicing guarded optimism on
demand from key market China.
The FTSE 350 mining sector added 3.1 per
cent, boosted by Rio.
BESTof theBROKERS
Cineworld Group PLC
p 250
248
246
244
242
243.99
29 Nov
CINEWORLD
Canaccord has reiterated
its rating for the cinema
chain at buy and has
upgraded its target price
to 350p from 280p due
to projected new sites
and an increase in online
usage.
DASHBOARD CITY
YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR JOB MOVES,
BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS
cityam.com
FTSE
5,900
5,875
5,850
5,800
5,775
5,825
5,870.30
29 Nov
Chemring Group PLC
p 245.0
242.5
240.0
237.5
235.0
232.5
230.0
227.5
241.43
29 Nov
CHEMRING
Espirito Santo has
lowered its target price
to 320p from 350p after
the departure of chief
executive David Price
and disintegration of
Carlyle bid talks. It keeps
its buy rating.
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC
p 790
785
780
775
770
772.96
29 Nov
BSKYB
Jefferies downgraded
the satellite broadcaster
to underperform from
hold, while decreasing
its target price to 650p.
Cites slowed subscriber
growth and increased
competition in the UK
pay TV market.
Cordea Savills
The international property
investment manager has
appointed Reynold Chan as
business development director,
Asia. Chan was most recently at
Calista Consultants, and began
his career in 1986 at Prudential
providing real estate. He will be
based in Hong Kong and report
to Justin OConnor, chief
executive at Cordea Savills.
BNY Mellon
The investment management and services firm has
announced the appointment of Paul Solway as managing
director and regional head of equity finance for Asia-
Pacific. Solway has over 20 years experience in the
financial services industry and has worked at several
leading global financial institutions including Macquarie
Bank, HSBC Securities and Nomura International.
Bupa
Robert Lang will join the healthcare specialists as
managing director of its international private medical
insurance business. He has more than 10 years
experience of the insurance sector having held various
roles within HSBC, and more recently at UBS where he
was managing director in the banks European wealth
management division.
Cavendish Asset Management
The investment managers have appointed Liz Evans as
director of portfolio management. Liz has been with
Cavendish since entering fund management in 1987,
initially as an analyst focusing on the UK and later as
fund manager of Cavendishs Asia Pacific Fund.
Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP)
SWIP has appointed two new sales directors, Michaela
Rayner and Martin Orrin, to be responsible for increasing
SWIPs share of the intermediary and discretionary fund
management markets in the UK. Rayner joins from Axa
Investment Managers and Orrin previously worked at
Smith and Williamson Investment Management.
WHOS SWITCHING JOBS Edited by Annabel Palmer
+44 (0)20 7092 0053
morganmckinley.com
SPECIALISTS IN GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT
CITY MOVES
in association with
LONDONREPORT
NEW YORK
REPORT
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To appear in CITYMOVES please email your career updates and pictures to citymoves@cityam.com
FTSE touches three week highs on
back of Rio pledge and US hopes
A
T the beginning of this year,
in this very column, I
outlined the threats to
freedom online both in the
UK and abroad through the
International Telecommunications
Union. Sadly, my predictions were
correct. We are facing the risk of
media regulation at home while an
international treaty negotiation
abroad threatens to regulate the
internet as we know it. Both will not
only impact freedom of speech, but
will affect the way the way we
communicate, conduct business, and
seek information online.
Next week sees the start of the
World Conference on Information
Technology (WCIT), where the
T
HE two scandals which gave
rise to the Leveson Inquiry were
phone hacking and bribing the
police. Both are already crimes.
The scandal was failure to
enforce the law. Yet Leveson baldly
dismisses these issues asserting
without evidence that more rigorous
application of the criminal law does
not and will not provide the solution.
Of course it would. Now, belatedly,
some 90 people have been arrested a
powerful deterrent against any repeti-
tion. But to acknowledge that would
have truncated his report. So instead
he proposes extending statutory
involvement to buttress a system of
regulation intended largely to tackle
quite different problems, with little rel-
evance to hacking or bribery.
Leveson was goaded into making
complex proposals by the two most
dangerous phrases in the political lexi-
con: something must be done and
the status quo is not an option. They
are the mantra of those in the com-
mentariat with no idea what should be
done but want to sound positive.
I have little sympathy for those news-
cityam.com/forum
The scandal was
failure to enforce the
law but Leveson baldly
dismisses these issues
THEFORUM
Twitter: @cityamforum on the web: cityam.com/forum or by email: theforum@cityam.com
Agree? Disagree? Got a sharp comment?
The Forumwants you to join the debate.
Top responses will be reprinted in The Forum.
22
PETER LILLEY
Leveson is wrong regulation is
not the answer to every problem
papers (City A.M. being almost the sole
exception) who invariably demand
unspecified government interference
to solve any problem and are now hoist
by their own petard.
In fact the status quo, however unsat-
isfactory, may be less bad than all the
alternatives. Churchill said democra-
cy is the worst method of government
except for all the alternatives. A free
and unregulated press, with all its fail-
ings, is the worst kind of media except
for all the alternatives which include
state regulation.
By all means let newspapers set up a
new collective system of self regula-
tion. But let us not expect too much of
it. The most effective form of self regu-
lation is a highly competitive press, not
one that colludes together. It was not
the Press Council or the police who
exposed phone hacking at the News of
the World. It was the Guardian.
Likewise it was ITVs Panorama not
Ofcom which exposed the BBC over
Jimmy Savile. And it was independent
bloggers who recently discovered the
BBCs lies and cover-up about the non-
existent 28 top scientists who sup-
posedly set their climate policy.
Leveson wants to set up a strong vol-
untary regulator, unelected but
empowered to write a code of practice,
whose contents will be binding on
those newspapers which subscribe to
the regulator, and will have to satisfy
Ofcom as to its contents and applica-
tion. Any newspaper refusing to join in
would apparently be regulated directly
by Ofcom and would risk the courts
presuming it to have shown wilful
disregard of standards and be liable to
exemplary damages.
How Ofcom would regulate the
online media of whose existence the
learned judge appears largely unaware
he does not say. Newspapers must
either volunteer to be regulated by an
independent body which is in turn
regulated by Ofcom, or submit directly
to Ofcom. All credit to David Cameron
for resisting this creeping state control
of our press.
A useful test of how this would work
is to ask how it would have handled
the Back to Basics furore. The media
pack decided that John Majors use of
the phrase Back to Basics implied
advocating family values, and there-
fore claimed the duty to investigate
the private life of every cabinet minis-
ter. They called on my neighbours ask-
ing for any filth about Lilley, offered
money to people in the pub opposite
my home if anyone saw any goings
on through my windows. Worst of all,
the Mirror made their front page story
about me visiting my nephew who was
dying of Aids, intending to smear me
in some way, and causing immense
distress to my sister. So I know how
horrible a free press can be.
But had the new strong independ-
ent regulator approved by Ofcom
existed, would it and should it have
called off the press hounds? It would
have been an intensely political deci-
sion one way or the other. Should the
regulator have such power? No it
shouldnt even though it would have
made my familys life more pleasant.
As for Cleggs petulant coda to the
Prime Ministers statement, it showed
the division within the LibDem psy-
che. Ten days ago Vince Cable
announced that no department could
introduce a new regulation unless it
repealed two others. Since then
LibDem ministers have announced
proposals to regulate four new indus-
tries. So they should surely not go
ahead until they tell us the eight
industries they propose to deregulate.
Peter Lilley is Conservative MP for Hitchin
and Harpenden.
Union will host the first
Regulations negotiations since 1988.
These are in an international treaty
in which telecommunications
regulations are agreed. But this year,
many countries are proposing
Internet regulation thereby
bringing it into the scope of
Regulations and Union.
But whereas proposed regulatory
regimes of financial services and the
media, ill-conceived or not, have
been prompted by economic crises
and national scandals respectively,
moves to create new oversights at
WCIT have been prompted because
of the internets overwhelming
successes, rather than its failures.
Rather than embrace the
economic opportunities that stem
from the laissez-faire approach to
the internet, authoritarian regimes
and state-run enterprises have
sought to use WCIT to regulate and
rein in freedom of expression, a
move that could see commercial
contracts, content, and online traffic
subject to global regulation. Whereas
the online global community sees
opportunities for civil society and
economic growth in an open
internet, these regimes see threats.
As information becomes more
diffuse, certain regimes and state-
run enterprises endeavour to
maintain their monopolies. That is
why states and special interests are
seeking to halt the free flow of
information, even if it means
impeding technological innovation
and commercial contracts. The WCIT
marks a key opportunity for Britain
and other countries that embrace
free speech and free markets to
defend against those that seek to
undermine both. This is a process
that must not be taken over by
regimes and telecoms monopolies,
but one that must acknowledge and
respect the interests of stakeholders.
Whenever new regulations are
proposed, British citizens and other
stakeholders have the added benefit
of providing scrutiny. The Leveson
report and its aftermath is a case in
point. At WCIT, the regimes seeking
to overhaul the internets
governance structure are seeking to
do so because it currently underpins
free and democratic societies. In
Dubai, the British government will
be representing more than just the
interests of her people, but those
that embrace the principles that we
often taken for granted.
Dominique Lazanski is an independent
consultant and head of digital policy for
the Taxpayers Alliance.
THE LONG
VIEW
DOMINIQUE LAZANSKI
New treaty threatens the economic opportunities of a laissez-faire internet
MORNING UPDATE
A.M.
23
The Forum is open for you to take part. Got a sharp comment on
one of todays columns? Do you have another subject you want
to share your opinion on? We want to hear your views.
Email theforum@cityam.com or comment at cityam.com/forum
The tax debate
[Re: Firms call for tax breaks in
infrastructure, Monday]
I would happily support an overhaul of the
tax system to try and bring better balance
to, and a fairer sharing of, the burden of
paying our countrys bills. However, the
vilification of anyone who legally manages
their tax affairs is worrying. The avoidance
of tax has now become a moral crime
against the state. Talk of people using tax
loopholes to avoid payments sounds far
worse than people managing their tax
affairs according to the law. Tax laws are
written by experts, and are part of the UKs
economic policy. The debate ignores the
benefits that the tax laws were designed to
bring to the country such as the crucial
investment in infrastructure that this
article refers to. It overlooks that tax
affects where people will choose to keep
and spend their money. There is also a
failure to understand that company
directors and professional advisors would
be in breach of their duties if they did not
act in the best interests of their clients and
companies. If the UK takes an isolationist
and moralising stance on tax law, there is a
risk that shareholders, and other investors
who are not subject to UK tax, will move
away from UK companies and investments.
But, there is a more sinister risk: that
financial and legal certainty will be
sacrificed in favour of whatever moral
crusade is popular at the time.
Christopher Parr, partner, City & Westminster
Corporate Finance.
L
ORD Justice Leveson met his
deadline yesterday, issuing the
findings of his eight month
inquiry into the culture,
practices, and ethics of the
press. It came as no surprise that he
concluded the state has a role to play
in overseeing newspapers.
Leveson decided that a statutory
body, much like Ofcom, should take
responsibility for monitoring the
press. To see why this cannot work,
we need to take a glance at Ireland,
where a regulatory system enshrined
by statute already exists in the form
of the Press Council and
Ombudsman. Technically, the
ombudsman is professor John
Horgan, but practically, the responsi-
bility lies with Irelands justice minis-
ter Alan Shatter. This raises some
serious concerns: Shatter has sig-
nalled his intention to bring in more
formal privacy legislation.
Irish newspapers broadsheets in
particular are more conservative
than their British counterparts and
rarely challenge the status quo. On
those few occasions when Irish news-
papers go out on a limb, the govern-
ment is eager to step-in, threatening
draconian new privacy laws. But
what purpose does regulation serve if
new laws are to be threatened at
every step? Given the differences
between the British and Irish press
even between editions of the same
newspapers it is hard to see how
adopting Irelands system of regula-
tion would contribute to a free press.
It either simply wouldnt work, or it
would act to stop the press from dig-
ging for stories that could harm the
great and the good.
And it is hardly the case that regu-
lation will stop newspapers from
ever making mistakes. On
Wednesday, X-Factor star Louis Walsh
won a 500,000 (404,000) settlement
after taking the Irish Sun to the
TOP TWEETS
Status quo not an option.I support Leveson
recommendation for independent regulator
with real power. A new law governing press
may curb free speech.
@David_Cameron
An independent overseer of press? The body
could never be truly independent as the
press will be too afraid to look into them.
@epoliak
The phrase independent self-regulation is
something of an oxymoron.
@heresy_corner
The treatment meted out to BP by US
government is unbalanced and unfair. It
seems the UK is being discriminated against.
@truemagic68
Should we be worried that zombie firms
will worsen the effects of the recession?
YES
We should be afraid of zombie companies that eat away at good
assets and valuable finance. Allowing bad business models to
persist spurns one of the very few positive effects of a recession:
clearing out the economically unproductive companies to make
way for strong, innovative ones. Forbearance is a nice phrase, but a
little pain for a few zombies now will avoid more economic
suffering later down the line. Zombies are typically companies with
declining productivity; part of the reason that the UK has growing
employment and poor economic growth, the so-called productivity
puzzle. This doesnt necessarily mean that we need to kill all
zombie companies off; just dumping failing managers could help to
transform a zombie into something with more life. The UK needs
better people and stronger companies to grow. Darwin understood
the theory well; the UK now needs corporate Darwinism.
Jon Moulton is chairman at The Better Capital Team.
Jon Moulton
NO
Christine Elliott
Cautious, yes. Afraid, no so long as you understand what sort of
zombie youre dealing with and take decisions accordingly. The
idea that an insolvency feeding frenzy will kick-start growth and
automatically boost UK productivity is utterly misplaced. Zombie
companies arent just numbers on bank balance sheets, they are
people with livelihoods, families, and suppliers at risk. Zombie
companies need the opportunity to be transformed for the long
term. Banks are reluctant owners of businesses. Turnaround
investors know how to create value in zombie situations if given
the chance. Establish potential viability, mind cash flow, get a
credible plan, have the team to deliver it, deal with debt hangover
and the living dead may revive. The only real fear is the unintended
consequence of a poorly-conceived policy on debt forbearance.
Christine Elliott is chief executive and director at The Institute for
Turnaround.
RAPIDresponses
Ireland shows why
press controls are
not the solution
courts in a defamation action.
Regulation is just another obstacle
between journalists and the truth.
Journalists should be judged by the
law of the land; they dont need spe-
cial treatment one way or the other.
And Levesons proposals, which
include the power to investigate seri-
ous or systemic breaches of a new
press code, go well beyond those of
Irelands press ombudsman.
The practices that Leveson was
installed to inquire into, such as
phone hacking, are matters of crimi-
nal law, not press etiquette. And lets
not forget, these actions were
exposed by a newspaper. Levesons
regime would have done nothing to
stop the most recent journalism
scandal the libelling of Lord
McAlpine, including by prominent
journalists, on Twitter.
Most paid-for British newspapers
are struggling in a time where peo-
ple increasingly turn to other
sources, including free print or digi-
tal. Creating a special regime makes
no sense in an era where anyone and
everyone can be a journalist, blogger,
publisher. Levesons proposed regime
applies only to newspapers, news
magazines (although The Spectator
has already announced it will refuse
to comply), and their online and
mobile editions. What it will not, and
cannot, apply to is the wider world of
blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts.
Jason Walsh is a journalist based in
Ireland. He spoke on press freedom at the
Battle of Ideas festival in October, part-
nered by City A.M.
JASON WALSH
Printed by Iliffe Print Cambridge, Winship Road, Milton, Cambridge CB24 6PP
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Now you can be your
own Lord Grantham
24
cityam.com
PROPERTY
Y
ES, DOWNTON Abbey has
ended, and unless Julian
Fellowes has one last trick up
his sleeve, all that remains are
memories and DVD box sets. But for
anyone seeking to live out his or her
fantasies of being a Crawley, all hope
is not lost.
Gothic Victorian architecture, the
style of Highclere Castle, is a hot com-
modity on the property market.
Mostly built between 1840 and 1900
after the Industrial Revolutions hey-
day, these houses favour red brick and
medieval touches, as well as leaded
glass and oriel windows.
Buyers heading south might look to
Mayfield Grange in East Sussex, a
scheme from Weston Homes. The 20
acre country estate sits on the former
Mayfield College site, dating from
1868. Its 16 three, four and five bed-
room houses and 39 new-build apart-
ments start from 325,000.
The conversion has kept its dramat-
ic staircase, intricately painted, arched
stained glass windows and high-ceil-
ings. It was built by Edward Welby
Pugin, son of Neo-Gothic architect
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, in
1865 for the Duchess of Leeds. The
building was originally an orphanage
under the Xavierian Brothers.
Since then, new-build homes St
Anthonys House and St James House
have been designed according to
Mayfields Gothic Victorian origins.
In Norwich, Jacobean and Gothic
architecture comes alive in the six
bedroom Eastfield House. The Grade II
listed building sits on 7.4 acres of land
and features red brick and cast stone
architecture with a tiled roof. Its high
ceilings, cornices and double aspect
sash windows are still in place.
The sitting and dining rooms keep
their ornate fireplaces, while the
front of the house has two large west-
facing oriel windows. In the kitchen is
a four oven gas-fired AGA, while the
ground floor has a sun room and con-
servatory. The house is priced at
950,000 and is managed by Strutt &
Parker.
In Nottinghamshire, Beauvale
House carries its own illustrious histo-
ry. The Grade II listed structure was
designed by E.W. Godwin in 1873 for
the 7th Earl Cowper, and legend says
the house was the setting for D.H.
Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover.
The six bedroom house has under-
gone recent restorations to maintain
features like fireplaces with original
tiles, an antique pine kitchen, leaded
windows and high ceilings, not to
mention its five reception rooms.
Outside, the true showstoppers are
the observation tower and gardens,
especially the semi-circular fountain
at the back of the property. Managed
by Savills in Nottingham, Beauvale
House is priced at 895,000.
Victorian style took some turns in
the mid-19th century. Roman,
Parisian and Queen Anne styles took
attention from Gothic influences.
Today, the medieval look can still be
found but do not expect Mr Carson to
answer the door.
Amelia Brust
MAYFIELD GRANGE
Price: 325,000 for an
apartment
Uninhabited for many years,
the property has recently
been restored and refur-
bished and now houses 39
spacious apartments and 16
houses.
Contact Weston Homes on
www.weston-homes.com or
01279 873 333.
EASTFIELD HOUSE
Price: 950,000
This 6 bedroom, 2 bathroom Victorian house comes with a swimming pool and sits on 7.4 acres of land.
Contact Strutt & Parker on www.struttandparker.com or 01603 617 431.
BEAUVALE HOUSE
Price: 895,000
This period home has spectacular views of the countryside and excellent road links to Nottingham centre.
Contact Savills on www.savills.com or 0115 934 8000.
West India Quay, Hertsmere Road E14
1,595,000leasehold
A spectacular 21st & 22nd foor 2 bedroom duplex apartment in the prestigious No. 1
West India Quay development. Te property boasts a most sought-after south & west
aspect with commanding views of Te City.
Meridian Place E14
425 per week
A spacious 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of Canary Wharf, boasting a large
reception room with freplace & fantastic views of the Dock. Te property also benefts
from a new fully ftted kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a balcony & allocated parking.
Canary Wharf & Docklands
020 7510 8300
sales.canarywharf@chestertonhumberts.com
Canary Wharf & Docklands
020 7510 8310
lettings.canarywharf@chestertonhumberts.com
River Court, Upper Ground SE1
785,000 leasehold
A 2 bedroom apartment located within this riverside development close to Blackfriars
Station, Southbank & Tate Modern. Te property has 2 balconies with river views,
porterage & parking.
Boss Street SE1
695 per week
A well presented & spacious duplex apartment situated on the 5th & 6th foors of this
converted warehouse. Tis bright apartment benefts from 24hr porterage as well as a lift.
Tower Bridge & City
020 7357 7999
sales.towerbridge@chestertonhumberts.com
Tower Bridge & City
020 7357 6911
lettings.towerbridge@chestertonhumberts.com
chestertonhumberts.com
Tis the season
Get your home Christmas-ready with these easy, festive accessories
FOR FURTHER INFO TEXT:
LIME25 to 60123
Launching
28th November
Register your
interest now
London N1
www.lime-wharf.co.uk
h c n au L

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N R I E RTH U R F FO
E M LI 25 to
XT: FO TE N
3 2 01 6
26
cityam.com
PROPERTY INTERIORS
ROASTED CHESTNUT DELUXE CANDLE
Jo Malone, 80
www.jomalone.co.uk
CRANBERRY WREATH
Selfridges, 69.95
www.selfridges.com
VINTAGE ROSE NAPKIN RINGS (SET OF 4)
Walton & Co, 12
www.selfridges.com
SNOWFLAKE FELT COASTERS (SET OF 4)
John Lewis, 15
www.johnlewis.com
CHRISTMAS CARD HOLDER
Selfridges, 34.95
www.selfridges.com
TARTAN CHRISTMAS STOCKING
Gisela Graham, 15.95
www.selfridges.com
LARGE TABLE RUNNER
Walton & Co, 32
www.selfridges.com
CHRISTMAS CUSHION
Marks & Spencer, 12
www.marksandspencer.com
FABRIC CHRISTMAS TREE ADVENT CALENDAR
Gisela Graham, 26.95
www.selfridges.com
WOOD NAPKIN RINGS (SET OF 4)
John Lewis, 10
www.johnlewis.com
*Distance approximate. Source: National Rail Enquiries. Image is indicative only.
One and two bedroom apartments with state-of-the-art
xtures and ttings
A gated development complete with parking,
on Ewell Road in Tolworth
Just 1km from Tolworth station (London Waterloo 30mins)
*
TOLWORTH
Ewell Road KT6 7AZ
1 & 2 bedroom apartments
launching this weekend
0844 488 3180
lindenhomes.co.uk/redsquare
QR scan me now
For more information or to reserve
your place at our o-plan launch
please call
Launching this weekend
1st December
IN ASSOCIATION WITH CNM ESTATES
Prices from
51,875*
* represents a 25% share
Tel: 0208 308 4193
Email: homes@gallionsha.co.uk
Web: www.parksideviewhomes.co.uk

OVER
40%
RESERVED
1, 2 & 3 BED APARTMENTS
Available through Shared Ownership

on selected
apartments for all
completions by
31
st
Dec 2012.**
**Ask for details.
Conditions may apply.
FREE
LEGAL FEES OR
WHITE GOODS

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**Ask for details.
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Telephone: 0208 281 2785
Email: silverhind@weston-homes.com
Visit: www.weston-homes.com
Housebuilder of
the Year 2010
SPACIOUS APARTMENTS - FROM 1,250 SQ FT,
UNDER 30 MINUTES FROM CENTRAL LONDON!*
*Approximate time travelling via car into London City centre or via underground to London Liverpool Street. Travel time approximate only and subject to travel conditions.
21 WAPPING LANE E1
Quatro - Now Viewing
21 WAPPING LANE E1
The last remaining 3 bedroom Shared Ownership apartments in
trendy and desirable Wapping. Quatro will provide
an exceptional central London address within easy reach
of the Thames and the many amenities on offer.
Prices start from 130,000*
To book an appointment ca||
020 8357 4444 or emai| sa|es@nhhg.org.uk
and quote CAM30
www.nottinghillhousing.org.uk/quatro
Photography from development
H
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*Based on a 25% share of a 3 bedroom property with a full market value of 520,000.
Computer generated image
Map not to scale
29
cityam.com
PROPERTY FOCUS ON KENTISH TOWN
GROVE END LODGE, NW5
Price: 2.65m
The 2,510 sq. ft. detached house has four bedrooms and a double reception
room along with front and rear gardens. Its self-contained studio flat can be
used as an office, a fifth bedroom or as a multi-purpose room.
Contact Knight Frank on www.knightfrank.com or 020 7431 8686
PATSHULL ROAD, NW5
Price: 1.7m
With five bedrooms over four floors, this semi-detached house is a cosy choice
for any family. It has a rear garden and maintains some Victorian details. The
closest transport links are Kentish Town and Tufnell Park station.
Contact Chesterton Humberts on www.chestertonhumberts.com or 020 7267 1010
OSPRINGE ROAD, NW5
Price: 795,000
This three bedroom apartment comes with wood flooring, access to a private
balcony, south-facing sash windows and is within close proximity to Parliament
Hill. The closest transport links are Kentish Town and Tufnell Park station.
PRINCE OF WALES ROAD, NW5
Price: 845,000
This two-bedroom apartment on the lower ground floor of the house has a
generous reception room, wood flooring and a fireplace. Private underground
parking is available.
The area has become a popular choice for
buyers wanting to be within close proximi-
ty of the Heath in Hampstead but whose
budgets do not extend to the prices that
properties in Hampstead command.
Theres a lot to do in the area. Kentish
Town has a buzzing nightlife and music
scene thanks, in part, to the popularity of
The Forum. A thriving art scene is another
big draw. Many galleries and studio are
housed there including that of the famous
celebrity photographer Rankin.
The postcode provides good value for
money when you bear in mind that prop-
erties in Primrose Hill and Belsize Park,
which are only a stones throw away, cost
at least 40 per cent more per square foot,
explains a sales representative from estate
agent Olivers Town. The area has recently
seen a huge investment from house
builders and developers who understand
the potential of this part of North West
London. Without question, those who buy
in NW5 between now and the end of next
year will be handsomely rewarded over a
2-3 year period.
NEED TO KNOW | AREA INSIGHT
LOCAL AREA
|
PRICES
SOURCE: HOME
Detached Semi-Detached Terraced Flats
Kentish Town 1.46m 1.89m 1.6m 513,398
FOCUS ON: KENTISH TOWN
Weve just opened our new Show Home, dont miss it.
With Easy Start
*
we can help you make that all important move
heres how it works:
You own 100% of your home and pay just 85% of the price now
Well give you an interest free loan for 5 years for the remaining 15%
A 5% deposit is required to secure your mortgage
REDHILL
Surrey RH1 2LH
4 bedroom townhouses
from 449,995
or 382,500 with Easy Start
*
Marketing Suite and Show Home
open daily 10am 5pm
0844 417 5662
lindenhomes.co.uk/watercolour
QR scan me now
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT. *On selected homes only, subject to Easy Start terms
and conditions and only available to customers where a primary mortgage is required to secure the purchase. 382,500 represents 85% of the full purchase price of 449,995. Mortgage application will be subject to status.
Prices correct at time of going to press. Photographs show Water Colour. Linden Limited. Reg. No. 01108676. Reg. Of ce: Cowley Business Park, Cowley, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 2AL
New Show Home now open
Selling Agent: Cubitt & West
30
cityam.com
PROPERTY FOCUS ON KENTISH TOWN
UK guarantors for
offshore properties
RAGLAN STREET, NW5
Price: 399,000
Spread across the first floor of a double-fronted property on Raglan street, this one bedroom
apartment comes with a spacious bathroom, modern fitted kitchen and a large garden.
Contact Olivers Town on www.oliverstown.com or 020 7284 1222.
LAWFORD ROAD, NW5
Price: 515,000
This two bedroom first floor apartment stretches over 700 sq. ft. in a semi-detached Victorian
house. There are sash windows, a fully fitted kitchen, private loft access, oak flooring and a shared
garden. Contact Faron Sutaria on www.faronsutaria.co.uk or 020 7267 7074.
HOLMES ROAD, NW5
Price: 925,000
This large apartment sits on the second floor of a highly sought after development. The property
has three bedrooms, a semi-open plan kitchen and ample storage space.
Contact Olivers Town on www.oliverstown.com or 020 7284 1222.
CAVERSHAM ROAD, NW5
Price: 515,000
This flat in the heart of Kentish Town has two bedrooms, substantial lounge and kitchen space and
sash windows that bring in ample natural light. A communal garden is at the rear of the property.
Contact Faron Sutaria on www.faronsutaria.co.uk or 020 7267 7074.
Q
Im based in Jersey and am buying
a property under 2m in an
offshore name. The landlord is
asking for a UK based guarantor
and wants bank references for them. Is
this normal?
A
Buying top end property in London
means dealing with the big landed
estates. They often have arcane rules
meaning theyll ask for a bank,
professional and personal reference to check
youre someone able to pay your way in the
upkeep of their building. While it may be
offensive to some, its something that has
worked for at least two generations. The
problem with offshore companies is that
theyre difficult to trace and landlords dont
like that when they have to chase the person
up for arrears or if theres some notice to
serve. Their way round this is to insist on a
UK based guarantor to take responsibility if
communication stops. Some landlords will
ask for a deposit equivalent to two years
service charge and ground rent as an
additional requirement, so try that first and
see if theyll drop the guarantor request. It
seems to me that insisting on a UK
guarantor would be a good way for the
government to keep tabs on all offshore
properties.
DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS & GORDON
ED MEAD
Q
A
and
Premier London living at the Citys finest address
Take this final opportunity to purchase at 75 Leman Street, the fine Edwardian building
transformed by Berkeley into the Citys most desirable address. There are now just a few
luxury penthouses and apartments remaining, all benefitting from exceptional facilities
that include a pool, gym and spa in the adjoining Goodmans Fields development.
Luxury 2 & 3 bedroom duplex apartments and penthouses from 975,000.
Call 020 3217 1000 for information.
www.75lemanstreet.co.uk
Proud to be a member of the Berkeley Group of companies
Sales & Marketing Suite, Leman Street, London, E1 8EY.
Open 7 days a week, 10am-6pm. D
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T
HIS GRADE II listed country
house is situated near the
Essex/Hertfordshire border,
outside the rural villages of
Sheering, Lower Sheering and
Sawbridgeworth. With four
reception rooms, 10 principal
bedrooms and five bathrooms,
plus seven further rooms on the
second floor and substantial
cellars, this 4.65m property is
ideal for private and guest
accommodation.
The 46-acre house was built for
Samuel Feake, a director of the
South Sea Company, in 1723. The
18th-century portion is of timber
frame with brick infill, whereas the
later 19th-century addition is most-
ly brick construction with a slate
and tile roof. It was renovated in
the 1960s.
Approaching the house, visitors
see a tree-lined lake. Durrington
comes with some interesting archi-
tectural quirks like an underground
brick-arch passage stretching from
the front door. The three grand
open fireplaces throughout the
house are all adorned with carved-
timber mantels. The triple bay front
elevation combined with a modil-
lion pediment porch, make
Durrington a striking sight. Bay and
double-hung Venetian sash win-
dows highlight the Palladian splen-
dour of the structure, as well as an
exterior modillion cornice.
On the ground floor, the entrance
hall is flanked by the paneled din-
ing and morning room. The former
has an ornate dentil cornice, while
two built-in cupboards and serving
sideboards surround the fireplace.
The large bay windows have over-
look the lawns and lake. Meanwhile,
the south-facing morning room sees
plenty of natural sunlight and links
to the billiard room, with its sunken
painted panel ceiling and cornice
borders. Behind it is the drawing
room, with three French windows
that lead to the terrace running the
length of the southern. All bed-
rooms are on the first floor, and the
cellar has a wine storage.
Aside from an office and garage,
the vast outbuildings include four
cottages: Jacobs, 2 Durrington,
Stable and Clock. The old carriage
house, complete with an 18th centu-
ry clock tower, also has garaging and
stores. Potting sheds, a greenhouse,
tennis court and croquet lawn
encourage residents to stay outside.
The property also includes extensive
formal and informal gardens, most-
ly to the south and east of the house.
An alfresco dining area and orchard
enhance the natural beauty of the
estate.
Amelia Brust
The 18th century manor boats impressive views of its extensive gardens and many of its original interior features are still in tact.
32
cityam.com
PROPERTY PROPERTY OF THE MONTH
October proved that the
appetite for London properties
continue to increase, with 10
per cent more offers received
last month than the same time
last year and the same increase
in buyers year on year.
Vendors remain precariously
bullish in some cases, citing
Christmas, lack of stock,
expectations of price rises in
London and falls in the country
next year as reasons. Not all
commentators are as optimistic.
It seems again that stock levels
are following a downward trend
and with plenty of keen buyers
out looking at the moment, you
would have to be a brave
vendor to risk holding off and
not selling in the current
market.
It seems that the lethargic start
to the autumn market, thanks to
the Olympics, means that
perhaps November and
December will be busier than
anticipated.
Londons property market is likely to be busier than expect as 2012 draws to a close.
DOUGLAS & GORDON AVERAGE LONDON SALES PRICE INDEX
Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012
1 bed flat 387,500 404,167 408,333 410,833
2 bed flat 579,583 608,333 620,833 634,167
3 bed house 1,277,083 1,340,000 1,367,917 1,369,167
4 bed house 1,933,333 2,006,250 2,025,000 2,110,833
Supply
500
400
300
200
100
0
Jan JunJul AugSepOct NovDec FebMar Apr May
2010 2011 2012
July 2010
high(448)
Dec 2006
low(127)
Supply & Demand
Jan Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Feb Mar Apr May
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Demand 2012
Demand 2011
Supply 2012
Supply 2011
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Demand
Jan JunJul AugSepOct NovDec FebMar Apr May
2010 2011 2012
Jan2012
high(1029)
Dec 2011
low(211)
LONDON
BAROMETER
ED MEAD DIRECTOR OF DOUGLAS & GORDON
Its all about the
great outdoors at
Durrington House
Call now to make your
appointment to view
QR scan me now
0844 488 1652
lindenhomes.co.uk/salters
SALTERS YARD
Bermondsey SE1 3AA
Studios, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments
from 249,995
2 & 3 bedroom houses from 674,995
In the heart of fashionable Bermondsey
A short walk from Shad Thames and London Bridge tube
Some with Winter Gardens, private balconies or terraces
Superior specication
Details correct at time of going to press. Distances approximate.
SELLI NG FAST OVER 50% SOLD ALREADY
LIFE&STYLE
35
cityam.com
GOING OUT
FILM
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Cert 12A By Alex Dymoke
hhiii
This adaptation is far from great
T
HERE HAVE been fourteen big
and small screen adaptations
of Great Expectations only
something great or
unexpected could justify a fifteenth.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
director Mike Newells version is
neither. Despite a few good
performances, it is a safe, flat and
ultimately pointless adaptation.
Great Expectations owes much of its
impact to its breadth. Its not just a
story of unrequited love; its a story of
unrequited love spread across an
entire lifetime. Any feature-length
adaptation must work hard to cap-
ture the novels expansiveness.
Newells 120 minute version fails to
do this.
Secrets are inescapable in the world
of Great Expectations, and the novel
is lit up by a number of bombshell dis-
closures. Scriptwriter David Nicholls
(author of bestselling romantic novel,
One Day) brusquely accounts for
these in a series of cack-handed flash-
backs. The screenplay dashes through
the key scenes, ticking all the boxes,
but never exceeding any of the classic
versions from the past. This is default
Dickens a watered down blend of
every adaptation before it.
A few eye-catching performances
partially redeem the superficiality
and stylistic conservatism. Ms
Havisham played by Helena Bonham
Carter was always a tantalising
prospect, and she doesnt disappoint.
There is a mad-cap humour to her
portrayal of the wizened spinster, a
welcome antidote to Gillian
Andersons overdone ghost-Havisham
from the recent TV miniseries.
Ralph Fiennes grubby Magwitch is
also a highlight. His swarthiness and
disconcerting deep-set eyes are a per-
fect match for the convict turned
benefactor. However, Fiennes and
Bonham Carter are only on screen
intermittently. For the majority of the
film, the focus is on Jeremy Irvines
Pip.
It was widely noted that Douglas
Booth was too pretty as Pip in last
years BBC adaptation. The same is
true of Irvine. With Pip, the clue is in
the name: there must be something
pathetic about him, something wan
and runty. Irvine is too handsome; his
jutting jaw and dusting of stubble fail
to evoke Pips essential vulnerability.
Mike Newells recent career is check-
ered with schmaltz (Mona Lisa Smile)
and ill-judged blockbusters (Prince of
Persia: The Sands of Time). This drably
competent adaptation of Great
Expectations is an improvement on
those outings. It meets all the basic
requirements. Its fine. But with
ground this well trodden, fine isnt
good enough.
Helena
Bonham
Carter is an
entertaining
Ms Havisham
Go and see this great British comedy
The Hunt is an art-house classic; Rise of The Guardians falls flat
SITCOM STALWARTS Alice
Lowe and Steve Oram star in
Sightseers, the new comedy
from feted indie director, Ben
Wheatley.
The pair play fledgling
lovebirds Chris and Tina, who
desert Tinas vindictive
mother Carol and set out on a
road trip across Englands
green and pleasant land in
their treasured Abbey Oxford
caravan.
Along the way, they take in
the Keswick Pencil Museum,
Crich Tramway Village and a
number of other quaint
destinations each of which
bears witness to the pairs
less-than-savoury approach to
holiday making.
Accidents seem to follow
Chris and Tina, and before
long the bodies are piling up
at an alarming rate, though
they seem more concerned
with parking spaces, gift shop
prices and the regional
availability of Tinas favourite
pasta sauce.
Its a decidedly offbeat
film, and one whose
disquieting characters, odd
soundtrack choices and
occasional fits of graphic
violence might ordinarily
deny it mainstream appeal.
But Sightseers finds a saving
grace in its fearless, wicked
sense of humour. As Tinas
scheming, manipulative
mother, Eileen Davis is
particularly funny.
Packed with surprises,
Wheatley, Lowe and Orams
creation deserves pride of
place in this years UK cinema
canon, if only because it
refuses to conform to any
established model. And in the
landscape of British
filmmaking, swamped as it is
with knock-off Shaun of the
Deads and would-be Bridget
Joness Diaries, thats a rare
trait indeed.
FIFTEEN YEARS since his break-
through film Festen garnered a
host of international awards, The
Hunt looks set to re-establish
Danish director Thomas
Vinterberg as an art house force to
be reckoned with.
Mads Mikkelson plays Lucas, a
nursery school teacher in a
small Danish village who is
falsely accused of sexually
abusing a young girl. His quiet
incredulity at the accusation
leaves him unable (and
seemingly unwilling) to defend
himself. With devastating
clarity, Vinterberg shows us a
man reduced from beloved pillar
of the community to vilified
outcast in a matter of days.
Mikkelsen brings unshowy
depth to a character who in lesser
hands might have been little more
than an uncomplicated saint at
the mercy of his surroundings.
FESTIVE ANIMATION Rise of the
Guardians features Santa Claus
(Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny
(Hugh Jackman), the tooth-fairy,
a gold creature who makes
dreams, a flying boy who can
turn things to ice, and a
Voldemort-type character who
conjures nightmares.
While Dreamworks have
obviously made good use of
their things that appeal to
children spider-diagram, the
hodgepodge of characters and
ideas makes for an
unappetisingly bitty virtual
world.
Despite some spectacular
action sequences and some
decent writing, Rise of the
Guardians fails to meet the high
standards set by the major
animation studios.
FILM
SIGHTSEERS
Cert 15 By Charlie Lyne
hhhhi
FILM
THE HUNT
Cert 15 By Charlie Lyne
hhhhh
FILM
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
Cert PG By Alex Dymoke
hhiii
36
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Fill the grid so that each
block adds up to the total
in the box above or to the
left of it.
You can only use the
digits1-9 and you must not
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Using only the letters in the Wordwheel, you have
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none of which may be plurals, foreign words or
proper nouns. Each word must be of three letters
or more, all must contain the central letter and
letters can only be used once in every word. There
is at least one nine-letter word in the wheel.
Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so that
each row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the
numbers from 1 to 9 to solve this tricky Sudoku puzzle.
Copyright Puzzle Press Ltd, www.puzzlepress.co.uk
KAKURO
QUICK CROSSWORD
LAST ISSUES
SOLUTIONS
KAKURO
WORDWHEEL
SUDOKU
SUDOKU
QUICK CROSSWORD
WORDWHEEL
1 2 3 4 5 6
7
8
9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16
17
18
19
20 21
30 10
13 26
12 20
7 11 10
45
8 13
45
14 9 8
10 9
27 29
20 11
11
13
6
11
16
15
17
23
22
7
10
28
6
24
42
10
21
16
8
4
3
35
11
14
5
9
ACROSS
1 Mayhem (5)
4 Swim for
pleasure (5)
7 Minor skirmish (7)
8 Poker stakes (5)
9 Antipathetic (6)
12 Russian city on the
Vyatka River (5)
15 Haywire (5)
17 Fix up (6)
18 Downright (5)
19 Polish to a high
sheen (7)
20 Look at intently (5)
21 Rich cake (5)
DOWN
1 Seize (a vehicle)
in transit (6)
2 Speculative
undertaking (7)
3 Plant which is the
source of tapioca (7)
5 Corroborate (6)
6 Splits down the
middle (6)
10 Hearing distance (7)
11 Conveyance
attached to a
motorcycle (7)
13 Break into
suddenly (6)
14 Icebreaker (6)
16 Fairy (6)
U
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H A P P Y B I P E D
D A D A I
P O O R R A B I E S
O A G O S I
S A P S M C L A N
T F O R E S E E F
N O E L D L Y R E
A N A C E C
T A N K E R S P A T
A I Y T F
L E G A L P A S T A
7 8 9 6 3 4 2 1
3 6 7 1 8 5 9 4 2
2 1 6 9 8 9 8
1 9 2 7
5 2 5 9 8 9
9 7 4 5 6 1 2 3
2 3 4 8 9 6
7 1 3 6
9 7 5 9 8 4 8
7 4 1 2 6 3 8 5 9
5 2 3 1 4 2 1 4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
The nine-letter word was
HAMSTRUNG
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BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 CHANNEL4 CHANNEL5
JOHN BISHOPS BIG YEAR
BBC1, 9.30PM
The first of two shows in which he
combines stand-up, sketches and clips
to take a light-hearted look back at
the past 12 months.
ATTENBOROUGH: 60 YEARS IN
THE WILD BBC2, 9PM
David Attenborough reflects on
environmental changes during his film-
making career and the revolution in
attitudes towards nature.
WILD THINGS WITH DOMINIC
MONAGHAN CHANNEL5, 8PM
The actor searches for the black hairy
thick-tailed scorpion in Namibia,
spotting a camel spider, a whip snake
and a horned adder along the way.
TVPICK
WILL it be third time lucky for
Rafael Benitez? Goalless draws at
home to Manchester City and
Fulham havent done anything to
sway the Rafa Out brigade, who
made their feelings known even
before the Spaniard had taken
charge for the first time on
Sunday.
And with a seven-point gap to
league leaders Manchester United,
a win is essential at Upton Park
tomorrow, if the Blues are to
justify Benitezs faith that his
team remain in the hunt for the
title.
The good news for Chelsea is that
they last lost to West Ham in 2003,
thanks to a 1-0 defeat at the
Boleyn Ground with Paolo Di
Canio the scorer. They have won
10 of the 12 contests since, scoring
30 times and conceding just seven.
Considering that record, Corals
offer of 10/11 for the away win
looks a good bet.
The Hammers have made a decent
start to the season under Sam
Allardyce but come in to this
clash after successive defeats, at
White Hart Lane and Old
Trafford, and on a three-game
winless stretch.
Their opponents might not have
won in six, but there is too much
quality in the Chelsea squad for
that run to continue much longer.
I expect the Hammers will follow
the blueprint laid out by Fulham
on Wednesday evening at
Stamford Bridge and try to
contain their visitors.
A 1-0 or 2-0 Chelsea win looks
about right to me, and I am
tempted by the former, at 7/1 with
Coral.
Anticipating a low scoring contest
I will be selling total goals, at 2.7,
with Sporting Index.
E
NGLANDs autumn
international series has
presented far more questions
than it has answered and
things could get a whole lot worse
as the world champions are up next.
The fallout from defeat to South
Africa has only added to the
pressure on England to finish off
the series with a result that can act
as a platform ahead of the Six
Nations next year.
Much of the focus has been on
captain Chris Robshaws decision to
kick a penalty late on when England
were four points down to the
Springboks with just minutes to
play, but more should have been
made of the inability to slot two first-
half kicks at goal that would have
made the argument redundant.
Poor decision making has been a
common factor in Englands two
Tests with Australia and South Africa
and leaves them staring down the
barrel of a whitewash against the
Tri-Nation sides.
That in itself is no great disgrace
as those three rugby nations have
long been regarded as the best in the
world. Yet Australia and South Africa
are nowhere near the quality theyve
shown in the past.
Stuart Lancasters preparations for
the All Blacks had a setback early on
when Toby Flood was ruled out of
the match with a bruised foot which
means that Owen Farrell is set to
start at fly-half. Steve Hansen has no
such problems in that department
as he welcomes back No10 Dan
Carter, who has shaken off an injury.
New Zealand have cruised to three
comfortable victories so far and
Hansen will want to sign off the
season with another over the Red
Rose.
Most impressive is that the past
two victories, where they have
racked up 75 points, have been
without star man Carter. Theres no
doubting his influence, but the All
Blacks style is ingrained within the
side meaning that players can slot
in, like Aaron Cruden whose assured
performance against Wales saw him
replace Carter and kick 18 points.
Its been nine successive
internationals since England
overcame the All Blacks, and its no
surprise to see the visitors as short as
1/12 with Coral. However, the past
two matches have been decided by
13 points and 10 points respectively.
This will also be New Zealands first
genuine test this autumn and they
havent put together 80 minutes of
flowing rugby yet when beating
struggling Scotland, Italy and Wales.
This is the All Blacks 11th match
in the last 16 weeks and although
England will likely lose, they can run
them far closer if they use their
heads better. England had chances to
beat both Australia and South
Africa, and with a 16 point handicap,
Im happy to get with them at 10/11
with Coral.
Spread bettors are also advised to
sell New Zealands points supremacy
at 14 with Sporting Index.
Chris Robshaw will be hoping to push New Zealand all the way tomorrow
37
THEPUNTER
SPORT TRADER
WILLIAM CHRIMES AND BEN CLEMINSON PREVIEW THE WEEKENDS BEST SPORTS BETS
n Pointers
England with +16 handicap at 10/11 with Coral
Sell New Zealands points supremacy at 14 with
Sporting Index
n Pointers
Chelsea at 10/11 with Coral
Chelsea to win 1-0 at 7/1 with Coral
Sell total goals at 2.7 with Sporting Index
Tomorrow 2.30pm
WEST HAM.....................................
CHELSEA........................................
Tomorrow 12.45pm
England can run the All
Blacks close in final Test
THE second London derby of the day
takes place at Craven Cottage, with
Tottenham favourites to claim what
would be a third straight league win.
Victories over West Ham and
Liverpool have helped get Spurs top
four tilt back on track and they have
an encouraging record against the
Cottagers.
Tottenham have won the last five
league meetings between the teams
and should make that six.
The spotlight will be on ex-Fulham
pair Clint Dempsey and Mousa
Dembele, with the Belgians return
to the side of particular significance
for Andre Villas-Boas.
Dembele has not lost in a Spurs
shirt and, with him alongside
Sandro at the heart of midfield, the
Lilywhites look far more dynamic
and dangerous.
Martin Jol will be desperate to
deny his old club, but Fulham have
just one win in nine in the Premier
League and lost 3-1 to Sunderland
last time out at home.
The visitors are worthy of
investment, at 6/4 with Coral, but
they just cant keep a clean sheet
they have managed only one in 14
league outings.
Spurs have clocked up three 2-1
wins this term and that is the kind
of scoreline Im expecting here. It
can be backed at 8/1 with Coral and
the advice for spread bettors is to
buy total goals at 2.9 with Sporting
Index.
FULHAM........................................
TOTTENHAM..................................
Tomorrow 3.00pm
n Pointers
Tottenham at 6/4 with Coral
Tottenham to win 2-1 at 7/1 with Coral
Buy total goals at 2.9 with Sporting Index
Chelsea can finally take the three points needed to get Rafa up and running
ENGLAND.......................................
NEW ZEALAND ..............................
ENGLAND TEAM
A Goode; C Ashton, M Tuilagi,
B Barritt, M Brown; O Farrell, B
Youngs; A Corbisiero, T Youngs,
D Cole, J Launchbury, G Parling, T
Wood, C Robshaw (capt), B Morgan
Replacements: D Paice, D Wilson,
M Vunipola, C Lawes, J Haskell, D Care,
F Burns, J Joseph
ENGLANDS hopes of ending the year
on a high were boosted yesterday
when it emerged tomorrows oppo-
nents New Zealand have been rav-
aged by the norovirus.
The winter vomiting and diar-
rhoea bug has affected all but two of
the All Blacks squad, disrupting their
preparations for the Test at
Twickenham.
No8 Kieran Read said they had
endured a good tour of the bath-
rooms, while coach Steve Hansen
admitted the illness had made it a
difficult week.
The debilitating virus compound-
ed a trying few days for New Zealand,
following fierce criticism of Andrew
Hores forearm smash on Wales lock
Bradley Davies last week.
Hansen revealed the players had
suffered most on Wednesday but is
optimistic his team will have suffi-
cient energy to extend their 20-
match unbeaten run.
Its been a difficult week with a
lot of people being sick, said
Hansen. Weve had guys go down
with diarrhoea and vomiting. It start-
ed in Wales and just continued right
through.
Hopefully weve been smart
enough to keep the energy tanks full.
I think theres only two that have
missed out [on the bug]. A couple of
them arent [all right], but most of
them are.
Fly-half Dan Carter is well enough
to return after injury kept him out of
Saturdays win in Cardiff, while Kevin
Mealamu replaces the banned Hore
and Brodie Retallick comes in for sec-
ond row Luke Romano.
England coach Stuart Lancaster has
warned the All Blacks that his team
will draw on the pain of narrow
defeats to South Africa and Australia
in the last fortnight in order to finish
the autumn with a victory.
Fly-half Owen Farrell replaces the
injured Toby Flood, while lock
Courtney Lawes returns to the bench
with uncapped No10 Freddie Burns.
Lancaster said: We felt we had put
in a performance that deserved a win
last week and it is about using that
frustration in a positive way.
Teaforthree and Alfie Spinner look the
best value calls in Hennessy Gold Cup
SPORT
cityam.com/sport
BY FRANK DALLERES
@cityam_sport
1700+ Shops Text CITYAM
to 82211
coral.co.uk 0800242232
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38
THEPUNTER RACING TRADER
BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE ACTION AT NEWBURYS HENNESSY GOLD CUP MEETING
n Pointers
PUFFIN BILLY 3.45pm Newbury (today)
CALL ME A STAR 12.50pm Newbury
(tomorrow)
TEAFORTHREE e/w 3.10pm Newbury
(tomorrow)
ALFIE SPINNER e/w 3.10pm Newbury
(tomorrow)
T
HE weather has played
havoc with British racing
this week and
tomorrows Hennessy
Gold Cup (3.10pm) will be a
thorough test where only the
strongest of stayers need apply.
Last seasons novice chasers
are a special bunch and RSA
Chase winner Bobs Worth
could be the best of them.
Nicky Henderson has won this
race just once but it was with
another RSA winner,
Trabolgan. Bobs Worth has
shown a clear preference for
going left-handed and he looks
a serious Cheltenham Gold
Cup contender for March.
That said, this will be the
softest ground he has
encountered and his trainer
seriously considered pulling
him out of the race. If he
handles the conditions he will
go close, but Im not willing to
take the risk at 7/2 with Coral.
Paul Nicholls has plundered
nearly every big Saturday race
in the past month and Tidal
Bay has been well supported.
He shoulders top weight, but
that proved no barrier to
Denman (twice) or Trabolgan
in the last seven years.
But Tidal Bay was 16/1 last
week and is now as short as 7/1,
so on value grounds Im willing
to leave him alone.
The two Im interested in
both contested the four-mile
National Hunt Chase at this
years Cheltenham Festival, the
winner TEAFORTHREE and
the fifth, ALFIE SPINNER.
AP McCoy is aboard the
Rebecca Curtis-trained runner
who will relish the conditions
and step up in trip. His main
target this season has always
been the Welsh National but
Curtis has stated how well he is
at home. The 14/1 available
with Coral is worth taking.
Alfie Spinner has won just
three of 20 career starts but run
some excellent races in defeat.
The key to this seven-year-old is
soft ground and a severe test of
stamina, so tomorrows
conditions should suit
perfectly. He ran well at Ascot
this month and Mark Quinlans
claim means he will carry just
9st 11lb. Nick Williams won
this race with Diamond Harry
two years ago and his
stablemate is a solid each-way
proposition at 14/1 with Coral.
Earlier on the card, CALL ME
A STAR is a mare Alan Kings
red-hot yard holds in the
highest regard and should be
hard to beat in the 12.50pm.
She was among the best of
her sex in bumpers and got off
to a winning start over hurdles
at Uttoxeter. Listed company
requires more improvement
but, having proved she can
handle soft conditions, the
daughter of Midnight Legend is
a confident selection.
Before all that, the best bet
today is PUFFIN BILLY in the
last (3.45pm). Oliver Sherwoods
charge was hugely impressive in
both his bumper triumphs and
looks destined for bigger things.
You can follow me on Twitter
@BillEsdaile for all my views.
Norovirus hits
All Blacks for
England clash
FORMER England captain Michael
Vaughan has hailed his adversary
Ricky Ponting as the best batsman he
ever faced after the Australian
announced his intention to retire
from international cricket after the
third Test against South Africa.
Ponting, who is the second highest
run scorer in Test history behind
Indian Sachin Tendulkar with 13,366
runs, plays his 168th and final Test
in Perth on Friday.
Vaughan, who triumphed over
Ponting in the 2005 Ashes, said: The
best batsman I had the privilege to
play against was Ricky Ponting.
Australian cricket will not be the
same without him. Punter [Ponting]
played better against me than Sachin
Tendulkar did. Both are incredible
players, but if I had to pick one it
would be Ricky.
Ponting, who has hit a total of 71
international centuries, is the only
cricketer to be involved in over 100
Test victories and is also statistically
the most successful Test captain of
all time with 48 victories in 77
between 2004 and December 2010.
Ponting to quit
as the greatest,
says Vaughan
Finn return to fitness
heightens pressure
on under-fire Broad
Defoe no to Redknapp reunion
IN BRIEF
Crash was a blessing, says Wiggo
n CYCLING: Tour de France champion
Bradley Wiggins says the accident in
which he broke a rib this month was a
blessing in disguise. The London 2012
time trial gold medallist said: Things
were getting out of control. Its nice to
get back to riding my bike. Its what I
enjoy. Its all the other stuff I didnt
enjoy the celebrity lifestyle.
Brazil hire Scolari again
n FOOTBALL: Former Chelsea manager
Luiz Felipe Scolari has been appointed
Brazil coach for a second time. The 64-
year-old, sacked in 2009 after eight
months at the Blues, replaced Mario
Menezes, who was dismissed last week.
La Liga trio on Ballon shortlist
n FOOTBALL: Real Madrid star Cristiano
Ronaldo and Barcelona pair Lionel Messi
and Andres Iniesta have been named on
a three-man shortlist for this years
Ballon dOr. Real boss Jose Mourinho,
ex-Barca manager Pep Guardiola and
Spains Vicente del Bosque have been
nominated for coach of the year.
FERRARIs hopes of Fernando Alonso
being handed the world title on a
technicality have been dashed after
Formula Ones governing body the
FIA said Sebastian Vettel committed
no offence during the Brazilian
Grand Prix on Sunday.
Vettel won the title at Interlagos
by just three points but Ferrari have
written to the FIA for official
clarification of whether the
Germans overtake of Toro Rossos
Jean-Eric Vergne was legitimate.
A penalty could result in Vettel
losing the championship, but the 25-
year-olds third successive title is set
to stand after the FIA indicated he
did nothing wrong.
The incident wasnt reported to
stewards in the first place because it
didnt seem like there was a need to
report it at the time, said a
spokesman for the FIA. Ferrari has
now sent us a letter asking for an
explanation; we will give it to them.
Vettel to stay
champion as
FIA clear pass
ENGLAND fast bowler Steven Finn
has recovered from a thigh strain to
travel with the squad to Kolkata for
next weeks third Test against India,
after coming through a warm-up
game unscathed.
Finn took 4-50 on Tuesday and
bowled seven overs yesterday to
prove his fitness during an England
Performance Programme innings
and 193-run victory over a DY Patil
Academy XI.
Surrey seam bowler Sean Meaker,
who was called up to the Test squad
as cover for the Middlesex bowler at
the start of the Indian tour, will stay
with the EPP squad despite a decent
spell with the ball.
Meaker took 3-8 yesterday but
accepts Finn, who has 66 wickets in
16 England Tests, will be ahead of
him for a place in the third Test,
which starts on Wednesday.
Finny has that X-factor, and it
would be great to see him back, said
Meaker. I wouldnt be surprised if
we saw him [in the third Test]. He
bowled brilliantly, hit the mark
straight away and got four wickets.
Finns return increases the
pressure on Stuart Broad, who has
failed to take a wicket in the opening
two Tests, but has more Test wickets
than any other pace bowler in the
world this year.
FORMER England cricket captain
Andrew Flintoff has vowed to
prove his doubters wrong when he
makes his boxing debut against
American Richard Dawson at the
Manchester Arena tonight.
The Ashes heros boxing venture
has been met with surprise and
criticism, despite having former
world featherweight champion
Barry McGuigan in his corner.
Flintoffs opponent is undefeated
in two professional fights and 11
years his junior but weighed in 25
pounds heavier than the 34-year-
old yesterday.
There will be critics and doubters
out there and its a big task Ive
taken on, said Flintoff. Im just
concentrating on the fight.
39
If theres a chance to get a player of
Beckhams stature, wed be foolish not to
explore it
BY ALEX SHARP
BY ALEX SHARP
TOTTENHAM striker Jermain Defoe
has dismissed a possible reunion
with Harry Redknapp at Queens
Park Rangers and pledged to see out
his career at White Hart Lane.
Redknapp has prioritised signing a
forward as he looks to reverse his
new clubs disastrous start to the
season and drag them off the
bottom of the Premier League.
Defoe, 30, has been mooted as a
target, having been signed by
Redknapp for Portsmouth and Spurs,
and made his senior debut under
him at West Ham.
But he said: Thats not going to
happen. Im not leaving Tottenham, I
love the club and to score goals at a
big club like this is fantastic.
I think I can say Id like to finish
my career at Tottenham. I want to
achieve something special here.
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has
declared his intention to hold onto
Defoe, who has 12 goals this season,
comparing him to sought-after
Atletico Madrid star Falcao.
Redknapp has admitted he would
gladly welcome 24m Aston Villa
outcast Darren Bent to QPR, despite
selling him while Tottenham boss
and publicly deriding him for
missing a chance by saying my
missus could have scored.
BY FRANK DALLERES
BY ALEX SHARP
BY ALEX SHARP
Flintoff ready to bowl over his
critics for debut inside the ring
Results
:I@:B<K
SCOOND TCST HATOH.Oclcmbc. New Zealar 4IZ (5J.O
a1ers, l R P l T+]|ar 4Z) +r 949ec. (54 a1ers, l R P l
T+]|ar 5), Sri |arla Z44 (94 a1ers, T T S+m+r+Weer+ o)
+r 95O (85.5 a1ers, A D V+t|eWs 84). New Zealar
beat Sri |arla b] I6 rars.
>FC=
NCDBANK OHA||CNOC (Scatl Africa)-(O|r & lr| ar|ess
st+te, first rr sccres). O B H++s (USA), N Oa|s+erts (Be|),
I P l+Wr|e, l Oast|a|/er (Rs+), l westWaa, Z P H+rsar
(SWe), | Va||r+r| (lt+), O Sc|W+rt/e| (Rs+), V K+]mer (Oer),
O Petterssar (SWe) J J Rase, 5 O Va|ra] (Rs+).
KF;8PJ;@8IP
(.45pm ar|ess st+te)
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B|rm|r|+m 1 V||es|raa| ......................................................................
=8:lgJ\Zfe[Ifle[
Br+far O|t] 1 Brertfar..............................................................................
98JB<K98CC
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wa|1es, V+rc|ester O|+rts 1 O|+saW Rac|s, Verse] T|ers
1 O|es||re Jets, NeWc+st|e E+|es 1 Dar|+m w||c+ts,
S|eff|e| S|+r|s 1 larar l|ars.
9FO@E>
BBBO|O Britisl & Ocmmcrwealtl Hea]weilt title. D
Pr|ce V V S|e|tar (l|1erpaa|).
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|irst ODI. B+r|+es| 1 west lr|es (K|a|r+, 5.JO+m).
Tlir Test-a] Z cf 5. Aastr+||+ 1 S Afr|c+ (Pert|, Z.JO+m).
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Clite |eaae. Be|f+st O|+rts 1 ||fe ||]ers (O]sse] Arer+).
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Aia Premierslip Rab] (.45). H+r|e|a|rs 1 warcester,
S+|e 1 Nart|+mptar.
RabcDirect PROIZ (.O5). Ospre]s 1 O+r|ff B|aes.
Tle Olampicrslip (.45). Br|sta| 1 larar Scatt|s|,
Darc+ster 1 Jerse], NeWc+st|e 1 P|]maat| A|||ar (8pm).
I
F recent form over the last two
seasons is any indication to the
outcome of tomorrows match,
England have no chance against
New Zealand. In simple rugby terms
an experienced, powerful and
talented All Black team will have the
beating of a fledging England side.
However, do not underestimate
home advantage. England must be
high tempo, with an edge. With a
ferocious start and 80,000 fans
behind the team, there is always a
chance. Allow the All Blacks to settle
at your peril. England will be
hurting after successive weekends of
blown opportunities. Channel that
anger into every black shirt with
guidance from Ben Youngs and
Owen Farrell, and we can all dream.
Maximising home advantage is
also a major reason why Saracens
shareholders are prepared to invest
25m into a state of the art stadium
at Allianz Park. The best teams play
in front of the best supporters.
Sport is big business and rugby is
no exception. Allianz Park aims to
raise the bar with regard to match
day experience for the public. This
can only be good for rugby and sport.
Hugh Vyvyan is an ex-England and
Saracens player currently developing the
Saracens Tulip Club offering in the City.
RUGBY
COMMENT
HUGH VYVYAN
Red Rose must
channel anger
at Twickenham
Flintoff (left) weighed in 25 pounds lighter than his opponent Richard Dawson (right)
Finn has 66 wickets in 16 England Tests
Monaco chief executive Tor-Kristian Karlsen

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