QUOTES OF THE WEEK:"This is the death of the German banking system."
– What Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann reportedly said during the financial crisis that led to the bailout of German bank Hypo Real Estate, which was originally sparked by liquidity problems at Dublin-based Depfa Bank, according to minutes of meetings released this week.
"They've got an opinion. We've got an opinion. We won. End of story."
– How to shake off corporate governance pests at your annual general meeting in the style of Stuart Rose, still executive chairman of Marks & Spencer.
Good Week
Scarlett O'Hara
Epic doomed romance Gone with the Wind (1939) has regained its rightful position as the highest grossing film of all time at the US box office in a new inflation-adjusted chart by spoilsport analysts at Bloomberg, who have calculated that the American civil war film’s receipts of $199 million translate into $1.45 billion (€1 billion) once ticket price inflation is taken into account, comfortably relegating epic doomed romance Titanic’s adjusted takings of $921 million into a lowly sixth place. Fiddle-dee-dee, indeed.
Penny's
Stuart Rose may have been trumpeting the success of the 150 years of Marks Spencer range of vintage dresses to shareholders this week, but right down at the lowest of clothing price points, Primark, which trades as Penneys in Ireland, was trousering a 20 per cent increase in sales in the 40 weeks to June 20th, according to parent company AB Foods.
Meanwhile, on the rest of the high street, the recession has forced an early start to the summer sales, with the Central Statistics Office’s consumer price index revealing a 2.6 per cent drop in clothes prices in June.
Bad Week
Chinese - Australian relations
The fraying diplomatic relations between China and Australia have fractured months after a deal between Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto and Chinalco, a state-owned Chinese mining company, fell through.
Four Rio Tinto employees, one of whom is an Australian national, have been arrested in China on charges of stealing state secrets – an offence that can carry a life sentence in China. Rio Tinto had been involved in contentious iron-ore price talks with Chinese steel mills in recent weeks.
Canary Wharf
It looks so tranquil and heavenly when surrounded by clouds in those TV news stock shots, and now the financial district of London’s docklands is about become even more peaceful. Japanese bank Nomura, the buyer of Lehman’s UK business, is planning to move from Canary Wharf’s towers back to the more traditional confines of the Square Mile.
The Nomura “swear box”, which fines ex-Lehman bankers £5 each time they use the word Lehman in meetings, will presumably also be relocating.
The Numbers
14
– the percentage of credit applications from small businesses that are refused, according to the banks.
24
– the real percentage refusal rate for credit applications, according to small businesses.
2,300
– the number of new jobs created by companies attracted to Irish shores by foreign direct investment body IDA Ireland since the beginning of the year.
6,000
– the number of jobs lost at IDA Ireland client companies since the beginning of the year.
