TODAY’S FAYRE

TODAY’S FAYRE – Monday 12^th November 2012

“What does it mean? Tired, angry, and ill at ease,
No man, woman, or child alive could please
Me now. And yet I almost dare to laugh
Because I sit and frame an epitaph--
"Here lies all that no one loved of him
And that loved no one." Then in a trice that whim
Has wearied. But, though I am like a river
At fall of evening when it seems that never
Has the sun lighted it or warmed it, while
Cross breezes cut the surface to a file,
This heart, some fraction of me, happily
Floats through a window even now to a tree
Down in the misting, dim-lit, quiet vale;
Not like a pewit that returns to wail
For something it has lost, but like a dove
That slants unanswering to its home and love.
There I find my rest, and through the dusk air
Flies what yet lives in me. Beauty is there.”

Edward Thomas – poet & soldier – 1878-1917

Lord Patten came in for some serious stick over his handling of the ‘Newsnight Scandal’ and George Entwhistle’s inevitable resignation – I thought rather unjustifiably so! After all he is the chairman of the BBC Trust, not the editor-in-chief.  Though he may have been aware of the ridiculous number of layers of management at the BBC, he appreciates the ‘tanker syndrome’ of implementing changes – it takes some time.  Perhaps George Entwhistle should never have been appointed as Director General in sole charge of such a huge and unwieldy operation.  Hindsight is a marvellous phenomenon. I thought Lord Patten gave a good account of himself to all television and radio stations. I think it was an error of judgement by Entwhistle and the noble lord to initially deny interviews to other broadcasting networks apart from the BBC.

I suspect that one of the reason why George Entwhistle’s gargantuan pay-off of £450,000 has been agreed is that there is a tacit acceptance that he probably was ill-equipped to take the job without adequate support and that Mark Thompson never handed over the responsibilities of DG in a comprehensive enough manner. 54 days is hardly long enough to make an impression as DG, particularly if the safety net has gaping holes in it!   Also his assistance has been promised to bed down the new DG. Consequently there is a price to pay for cooperation and the destruction of a senior and high respected doyen of the media.

As Lord Patten himself said there are more layers of management than in the Chinese Communist Party. Mr Entwhistle’s successor needs to be a business man, a man manager as well as an editor in chief.  In other words the art of good management is delegation, which ventures to suggest that the job is too much for one person!  The board of the BBC Trust is far too esoteric and intellectual. Have a look at its construction, if you get a minute!  It needs revamping with more business people with practical ability away from just media experience. Then it would be in a position to modernise the management of the BBC, which has always been a national treasure and must continue to be so.

Early this week market protagonists will be looking to see whether Xstrata continues to convey the impression that it destabilising Lonmin.  Xstrata, though, has other issues of greater importance – its merger with Glencore.  It appears that Qatar (12% stake) have come around to the idea of the deal though Norges, Schroders, Threadneedle and Knight Line may vote against it.

Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Treasury Secretary, seems determined that there will be no change in government policy over banking regulation.  He wants the BOE and ‘prudential regulation’ to be responsible for policy and the FSA for the implementation of bank regulation on a day to day basis.

Barclays may have to answer allegations over irregularities over its Saudi banking licence.

In terms of people employed New York may have overtaken London as the largest financial centre.  It is fair to say that there have been substantial redundancies made this year – circa 35,000, thanks to a cut back in investment banking and natural cost cutting by RBS and Lloyds. The misdemeanours suffered by UBS and JPM at the hand of a few staff have not enhanced London’s reputation.  Hon Kong may also eclipse London by 2015.  I have a funny feeling that there may be a fight back by London – centre of the time zone, an intoxicating centre to do business; English is the trading language of the world; regulation has improved and it is a smart market place! We shall see.

J Sainsbury posts numbers on Wednesday – like for like sales may increase by 1.7%, better than Tesco, though Tesco still has 30% market share and will make Wm Morrison’s effort look moderate (-2.2%). ASDA post numbers on Thursday – the same day as Walmart and they are expected to eclipse Tesco in terms of progress.

We may not see a stellar effort on Tuesday from Vodafone, despite the receipt of a £2.3 billion dividend from Verizon. Revenues will be down to £7.4 billion and this comes as a result of EU regulation in failing to allow more cross border alliances.

Japan confirmed the substantial drop in GDP for the year up until the end of September – -3.5%.  China saw a measurable rise in exports last month – up 11.5% - a great improvement on +1% in July. That was the fastest growth rate for 5 months.

Last night the Greek coalition government agreed the Budget for 2013.  The EU meets today to assess the request for a €31.5 billion bail-out. No approval is expected before 26^th November 2012.

The following post numbers this week in the UK – Monday – TAYLOR WIMPEY (TS), Tuesday – VODAFONE, ITV (TS), PERSIMMON (TS), Wednesday – J SAINSBURY, MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM, PRUDENTIAL (TS), WH SMITH (TS), Thursday – NATIONAL GRID, £is, RESOLUTION (TS), TED BAKER (TS), Friday – LSE.

DATA – Tuesday – CPI & RPI, Thursday – RETAIL SALES & EUROZONE INFLATION & GDP

US COMPANIES POSTING RESULTS THIS WEEK – Monday – DR HORTON, Tuesday – TJX, CISCO SYSTEMS, Thursday – WALMART, VIACOM, TARGET & DELL COMPUTERS.

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