THE DAILY BRIEFING
VERDICT DUE The jury in the London trial of five former Barclays traders charged with conspiracy to manipulate global Libor interest rates retired to consider its verdict yesterday.
stylianos Contogoulas, Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant, alex Pabon and Ryan Reich each deny dishonestly skewing Libor – a benchmark for rates on about $450 trillion of loans and contracts worldwide – to boost their profits and defraud others between June 2005 and september 2007.
The prosecution alleges the men plotted with former colleague Peter Johnson and others to rig Libor. Johnson pleaded guilty in 2014. He has yet to be sentenced. PARK SALE Hammerson has sold Thurrock shopping Park for £93m to investment firm TH Real Estate.
The sale generates a £26m profit for the property group which bought the Essex site for £64m in 2012 and spent £3m redeveloping it. Hammerson shares rose 3.8pc, or 21p to 570.5p. POSTAL DEAL Royal Mail’s European business has acquired an express delivery company in spain.
General Logistics systems has bought asM Transporte Urgente, the country’s second biggest parcels network, for £54.9m. shares rose 4.3pc, or 22.5p to 531.5p. DRUGS BOOST Glaxosmithkline has reported positive results for its chronic lung problem treatment.
The drugs firm said its study met its goals of significantly improving lung functions in those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. shares rose 2.1pc, or 29.5p to 1417p. GEM SALE Faberge owner Gemfields’ ruby auction in singapore has raised £30m and sold 1.5m carats. The gems are mined in Mozambique by a joint venture called Montepuez Ruby Mining, 75pc-owned by Gemfields. shares rose 0.3pc, or 0.12p to 38p. BANK SETTLES HsBC is spending £23.8m to end a Us lawsuit claiming investors were harmed by a rate rigging scandal.
shareholders said they suffered because traders fixed the yen Libor and Euroyen Tibor rates between 2006 and 2010. BRANCH CLOSURES Britain’s biggest banks are axing branches in the poorest parts of the country ahead of more affluent areas.
a total of 600 outlets closed in the year to april. Reuters analysis shows nine out of ten were in places where wages were below the national average of £28,000. CURRENCY CRASH nigeria’s currency has crashed after its central bank removed a peg to the Us dollar in a bid to boost growth.
The naira fell 30pc against the dollar yesterday, according to Reuters.
It was trading at 280 naira to a dollar last night.