Ackman and his analysts forecast strong growth for the
company, especially if the housing market picks up again in the
coming years.Pershing Square first began owning Fortune Brands about a
year ago. The company’s share price was up 5.5 percent at
$14.47 in afternoon trading after Pershing Square made its
announcement.
* Flaw could only be spotted in space: review boardBy Jim WolfWASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - An advanced guidance system
on a Raytheon Co warhead failed during a December
intercept test of the U.S. ground-based missile defense system
because of a design flaw that could be detected only in outer
space, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said Monday.”The design issue could only reveal itself in the
environment of outer space, not during ground testing,” Richard
Lehner, an MDA spokesman, said in an email. He said he could
not be more specific.Integration of components and deliveries of the so-called
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV, were suspended early this
year.They are still on hold at least until a post-mission
assessment of a non-intercept flight test planned for next
spring, Lehner said.John Patterson, a spokesman for Raytheon’s missile systems
business unit, referred a request for company comment back to
MDA.The EKV’s guidance system had a fault related to “outer
space-related dynamic environments” that caused the warhead to
fail in the final seconds of the Dec. 15 test, an independent
“failure review” board found, according to an MDA statement.”There is no indication of any quality control problem as
the cause of the failure,” it said.The warhead used in the December test was an advanced
version of the operational EKV now deployed on ground-based
interceptors housed in silos at Fort Greely, Alaska and
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.Boeing Co , prime contractor for the ground-based
midcourse system, worked closely with the failure review board
and has “high confidence in the findings,” said Scott Day, a
company spokesman.The MDA said deployed EKVs “do not have this design
issue.”Asked which company supplies the guidance system that
failed, Lehner wrote: “I cannot say, since the component is
classified.”Corrective design steps are being pursued and tested on the
ground and in a non-intercept test scheduled for late next
spring, the MDA statement said.Assuming the non-intercept test succeeds, the previously
failed intercept test will be repeated later next year, it
added.The ground-based missile defense is the sole U.S. shield
against long-range ballistic missiles that could be tipped with
chemical, biological or nuclear warheads. The system is being
shaped initially to thwart missiles that could be fired by Iran
and North Korea.A new version of Raytheon’s Standard Missile-3
interceptor, known as Block 1B, used in the overarching
shield’s sea-based layer failed in its first test on April 15.The current version of the SM-3 — the SM-3 Block 1A —
has had 22 successful intercepts out of 27 at-sea attempts
since the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense flight testing began
in 2002, MDA said at the time.
By Sarah MarshBERLIN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Germany’s 30 top companies set
voluntary targets on Monday to raise the number of women in
leadership positions, in the hope of averting legally imposed
quotas as a campaign to smash the glass ceiling gains momentum.While the political leader of Europe’s largest economy is a
woman, corporate management is still heavily dominated by men.
There was not a single woman on the management board of a
blue-chip firm until 2008, and today only 3.7 percent of top
German managers are female.Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet is at odds over whether
legislation is the right tool to help women penetrate the
commanding heights of business. Both Family Affairs Minister
Kristina Schroeder and Merkel have so far rejected the idea of
setting a legal quota.Schroeder welcomed Monday’s voluntary targets as serious
progress, but Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen called them
“insufficient” and suggested a legal quota may be necessary.Some other European countries, such as Norway, France and
Spain, require top listed companies by law to ensure at least a
third of top management is female.Germany’s blue-chip companies, listed on the DAX
index, published striking data on the representation of women at
leadership levels as well as the new targets.”We will let ourselves be publicly assessed year by year on
what we have actually achieved,” said BMW’s personnel manager
Harald Krueger, on behalf of firms in the DAX index.In March, Germany’s blue-chip companies agreed to set
voluntary targets to boost the number of women at management
levels and on Monday, they published their concrete aims,
varying from company to company.Sporting goods maker Adidas (ADSGn.DE) set itself the most
ambitious target of 32-35 percent leadership positions going to
women by 2015. Some 48 percent of its staff are women.Healthcare conglomerate Fresenius was the only
company to refuse to set a numerical target, saying it would
“continue to make qualification and not gender or other personal
attributes the criterion for selecting staff”.Some 71 percent of the company’s German staff are women,
while 19.1 percent of its German leadership positions are held
by women. The firm said it would continue to raise this level.Von der Leyen noted that the blue-chip firms did not propose
targets for raising the proportion of women at the very top
executive levels — currently just 3.7 percent.”This is a seriously below-grade number for the 21st
century, it just cannot continue like this,” she said.Monday’s data threw up some striking numbers. While 61.2
percent of retailer Metro’s German staff are women,
just 14.9 percent of leaders are women.
By Sarah MarshBERLIN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Germany’s 30 top companies set
voluntary targets on Monday to raise the number of women in
leadership positions, in the hope of averting legally imposed
quotas as a campaign to smash the glass ceiling gains momentum.While the political leader of Europe’s largest economy is a
woman, corporate management is still heavily dominated by men.
There was not a single woman on the management board of a
blue-chip firm until 2008, and today only 3.7 percent of top
German managers are female.Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet is at odds over whether
legislation is the right tool to help women penetrate the
commanding heights of business. Both Family Affairs Minister
Kristina Schroeder and Merkel have so far rejected the idea of
setting a legal quota.Schroeder welcomed Monday’s voluntary targets as serious
progress, but Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen called them
“insufficient” and suggested a legal quota may be necessary.Some other European countries, such as Norway, France and
Spain, require top listed companies by law to ensure at least a
third of top management is female.Germany’s blue-chip companies, listed on the DAX
index, published striking data on the representation of women at
leadership levels as well as the new targets.”We will let ourselves be publicly assessed year by year on
what we have actually achieved,” said BMW’s personnel manager
Harald Krueger, on behalf of firms in the DAX index.In March, Germany’s blue-chip companies agreed to set
voluntary targets to boost the number of women at management
levels and on Monday, they published their concrete aims,
varying from company to company.Sporting goods maker Adidas (ADSGn.DE) set itself the most
ambitious target of 32-35 percent leadership positions going to
women by 2015. Some 48 percent of its staff are women.Healthcare conglomerate Fresenius was the only
company to refuse to set a numerical target, saying it would
“continue to make qualification and not gender or other personal
attributes the criterion for selecting staff”.Some 71 percent of the company’s German staff are women,
while 19.1 percent of its German leadership positions are held
by women. The firm said it would continue to raise this level.Von der Leyen noted that the blue-chip firms did not propose
targets for raising the proportion of women at the very top
executive levels — currently just 3.7 percent.”This is a seriously below-grade number for the 21st
century, it just cannot continue like this,” she said.Monday’s data threw up some striking numbers. While 61.2
percent of retailer Metro’s German staff are women,
just 14.9 percent of leaders are women.
The world’s No. 1 oil exporter like most of its Gulf Arab neighbors is a major holder of dollar assets as its riyal currency is pegged to the greenback and crude accounts for 85 percent of its budget revenue.Asked if the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency had considered buying European sovereign bonds such as Italian ones, Governor Muhammad al-Jasser told Reuters: “We do not buy specific bonds at all. We have not done it.”“We always have a much more integrated reserve investment strategy which looks at it in a continuous and dynamic way that values security, safety and liquidity and therefore we do not look opportunistically at distressed assets or special assets that come up one way or the other,” Jasser said after a meeting of the Group of 20 countries in Paris.The central bank of Saudi Arabia, which is the only Middle Eastern member of the G20 group of developed and emerging economies, rarely comments on its reserve strategy.Gold, which has tumbled from a record high of above $1,920 an ounce, is another asset of little interest to the Saudi central bank due to its volatility, Jasser said.”We have gold in our reserves but we have not bought and we have not sold it in a very long time. It has become a very speculative asset and we do not get into any speculative assets,” he said.Asked whether the central bank was going to stick to this strategy, Jasser said: “Yes”.Boosted by robust oil prices of above $100 per barrel this year, the Saudi central bank’s net foreign asset reserves have climbed steadily to a record high of 1.879 trillion riyals ($500 billion) in August.Gold reserves have been unchanged at 1.556 billion riyals since 2008, the central bank’s data show.Jasser also said U.S. Treasuries continued to be “an important safe haven and major asset” in global financial markets.”62 percent of global reserves are still in U.S. assets. It is safe to say they are there to stay for a while,” he said.A downgrade of the United States’ top-notch ‘AAA’ credit rating by Standard & Poor’s in August shocked the global markets but had no adverse impact on its bonds.BANKS ROBUSTJasser also said banks in the world’s top Arab economy were well positioned to deal with any upcoming shocks as well as the European debt crisis. Capital adequacy for banks was north of 17 percent with most of it Tier 1 capital.”That’s very robust. Second, our banks sources of funding are predominantly domestic from domestic deposits which is a reasonably stable source of funding,” he said, standing in front of the G20 meeting venue at a sprawling complex of Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.”Most of the lending is domestic also so the exposure to the outside is very limited and therefore we are very confident that our banking system is well positioned to withstand any stress emanating from what’s happening in Europe,” he said.Robust lending growth to the private sector of more than 9 percent in the first 10 months of the year indicated strong demand, while inflation has stabilized in a tight range of 4.6-4.9 percent and should begin trending down, Jasser said.”Our economy is doing very well and is expected to continue next year. This year, I have forecast that we will have at least 5 percent growth and probably something close to that next year,” he said.Analysts polled by Reuters in September expected the $447 billion Saudi economy to expand by 6.5 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2012 helped by an estimated $130 billion boost in social spending, or nearly 30 percent of GDP.Jasser said interest rates settings were appropriate at the moment with no signs of inflation coming from monetary impetus.”I still think it is an appropriate setting now until we see inflation due to monetary impetus,” he said.Asked whether that meant credit growth needed to be in double digits, Jasser said: “Something like that. And it also depends on credit whether it is going to productive activities and leading to growth one would not worry too much about it, if it is going to finance speculative activities one has to worry.”The Saudi central bank has been keeping its repo rate at 2 percent since January 2009 and reverse repo rate at 0.25 percent since June 2009. It needs to hold its key rates near U.S. benchmarks to avoid excessive pressures on its dollar peg.($1 = 3.76 Saudi Riyals)
Emma Thomasson and Edward Taylor tell the inside story of UBS’s turbulent week in today’s second special report “How a rogue trader crashed UBS.”
UBS chief Oswald Gruebel’s decision to resign after the bank said a rogue trader lost as much as $2.3 billion was not just a response to the immediate crisis. It was also an admission that the bank’s latest scandal has effectively undone all his efforts over the past two years to lobby against tougher bank regulations.
The alleged rogue trades have killed any remaining ambitions UBS might have to compete with the titans of Wall Street. They also cast a huge shadow across the entire industry and make tough new regulations far more likely, as the 67-year-old hinted in a memo to staff after he quit. “That it was possible for one of our traders in London to inflict a multi-billion loss on our bank through unauthorised trading shocked me, as it did everyone else, deeply. This incident has worldwide repercussions, including political ones,” he wrote.
After a round of job cuts, the recent events sparked some gallows humor in the banking world. As one senior banker in Zurich put it:
“The joke going around is that Gruebel didn’t need to sack 3,500 people to save 2 billion. He could have just sacked ONE.”
UBS had only recently started to win back the trust of its wealthy private banking clients after risky bets on subprime mortgages came close to felling it in the financial crisis of 2008, as this graphic shows:
