Only a week after blocking a much-needed fund-raising exercise by Blacks Leisure, it has been revealed that Sports Direct is considering making an offer for the company. While the recent history of Blacks Leisure has been volatile to say the least it had appeared only seven days ago that the company had agreed a fund-raising exercise with institutional shareholders only for Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, to step into the fray. The company used its 28.5% stake in Blacks Leisure to block the fund-raising and organise a meeting with management.
It is becoming more and more evident that the UK government would like to take a more hands-on approach with regards to UK investment markets. Indeed Lord Mandelson has today put forward a number of proposals regarding changes to the takeover code and other suggestions which could impact upon investment strategies and fund managers in the UK. So are we seeing the end of the free investment market?
After the Cadbury takeover by Kraft Foods, Lord Mandelson has again taken up the baton for "UK companies" with a number of suggested changes to the UK takeover code. He has also expressed an opinion about the investment styles and strategies of UK fund managers amid calls for more "long termism" and greater transparency during potential bid situations.
Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, has today played down weekend press speculation regarding a reduction in his £1 million plus salary. There is speculation that institutional shareholders will place pressure on the Marks & Spencer's board to reduce his salary after day-to-day control of the company is passed over to incoming chief executive Marc Bolland. However, Sir Stuart Rose today suggested that he has not been asked to review his salary nor is he aware of any plans to reduce his remuneration package.
The FSA (Financial Services Authority) has published a review of the level of fines available in its quest to control and regulate the UK financial services industry. There is a suggestion that we could see a trebling in the size of fines from 6 March with future fines likely to be more directly related to the income received by a company and the revenue created by the division directly involved in the enforcement issue.
Michael Geoghegan, the chief executive of HSBC, is in line for a £4 million bonus this year but he has revealed plans to give this to charity. However, five of the company's top earners will share a bonus pot of £35 million. The highest bonus is set to go to Stuart Gulliver, the head of the company's investment banking division, who is in line for a £9 million bonus which he has indicated he will retain.
While there is no doubt that many investors are happy to take short-term profits on short-term gambles, the vast majority of those in the UK market will have pension money and long-term savings invested for the future. Over the last two years the UK markets have been very depressed, although there have been showing signs of recovery over the last few months, but looking to the longer term there could be some interesting investment opportunities.
Stuart Rose, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, has again attracted the wrath of institutional shareholders who are now demanding that his £1.13 million basic salary is reduced after he hands over day-to-day control to new chief executive Marc Bolland. It is this mixture of reduced responsibility for Stuart Rose and the £15 million package which attracted Marc Bolland to the group which has caught the attention of many shareholders. However, if shareholders push for a reduction in Stuart Rose's salary there may be further repercussions.
As the UK banking arena continues to recover there are growing concerns that political interference and regulatory issues could slow down the recovery at Lloyds bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. Only last week the two companies reported better-than-expected figures but compared to others in the sector they are certainly not performing as well.
Lloyds bank today reported better-than-expected figures for the year ended 31 December 2009 although there was still a pre-tax loss of £6.3 billion. This compares with a loss of £6.7 billion for the previous year and is markedly better than the £7.4 billion loss expected by many analysts. While this is certainly a step in the right direction there is still much work to be done with the group's impairment charge touching nearly £24 billion against £14.9 billion in 2008.