The City Diary: Scandal? What scandal?
To the annual general meeting of wealth manager St James's Place, which is not really an AGM at all – more a shindig to tell the troops how fabulous they all are.
They are the same bunch whose efforts during 2010 were best remembered for a scandal involving 31 of SJP's clients, who collectively lost millions after one of the firm's senior partners advised them to invest in his own projects. Still, that's all forgotten now and the salesforce decamped to the O2 on Friday to listen to speakers including broadcaster Clare Balding, the England cricket national selector Geoff Miller, Ashes hero Alastair Cook, and national treasure David Beckham.
Beckham was charm itself, says my spy: "Annoyingly. He wouldn't reveal whether the new baby will be a boy or a girl, but he did tell a story about training at Tottenham as a kid. He turned up in a Man U kit."
The glitterati and the top venue will not have come cheaply. Which makes one think: are St James's clients doing as well as the company?
King of Shaves cut to quick
Will King, the boss of King of Shaves, is unveiling his new razor next week – on the same day as a similar launch by his competitor, the industry giant Gillette. One will be among the biggest new consumer product launches of the year, and the other, er, won't be. King has been hit by a late setback and tweets: "My car has been broken into in a London car park overnight. Irreplaceable stuff stolen", later adding: "My bag recovered at another NCP. Unique KoS stuff missing. Irreplaceable too." I have to ask: industrial espionage? "Ooh, er," he replies. "You've worried me now".
Off-budget over easyJet
Carolyn McCall, the rookie easyJet boss who made her name piloting Guardian Media, had a ticking off from her largest shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, after an uninspiring half-yearly statement last week. But might UBS analysts be in line for a rocket too? A day before the budget carrier's news, the Swiss bank's scribblers told clients they'd suddenly turned positive – upgrading their view of the airline's shares to buy, from neutral, with a target price upped to 520p from 470p. A day later they slumped to 383p.
Ken's alright, Jack
So Jack DiMaio – the precocious ex-Morgan Stanley hedge-fund manager – is replaced at the bank by chief risk officer Ken deRegt, who is well known to those in elevated places. On 17 September 2008, two days after Lehman failed, he was the 13th person called by New York Federal Reserve chief, Tim Geithner.
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