SPORTS DIRECT AND TO THE POINT

08 NEWS WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE 2016
CITYAM.COM
London leads with 18 per cent share
of the country’s micro-businesses
BILLY BAMBROUGH
@BillyBambrough
LONDON has been found to be a
so-called micro-business hotspot,
accounting for almost a fifth of the
UK’s businesses with fewer than nine
employees.
There were found to be 2.17m
micro-businesses across the UK,
research from Direct Line has
revealed, with the south east of
England and London making up a
whopping 700,000 of them.
Across London there are 47 microbusinesses
per 1,000 people. The
south east and east of England
clocked up 38 and 36 for every 1,000
people respectively.
“It is unsurprising to see that
London and the south east account
for more than a third of the nation’s
micro-businesses, as families in these
areas are often seeking to gain extra
sources of income by turning their
hobbies into professions,” said Direct
Line’s head of business Nick Breton.
The average turnover of the UK’s
micro-businesses currently stands at
£286,879, compared with the average
turnover for small- and mediumsized
firms of £703,419. While 18 per
cent micro-businesses across the UK
operate on sales under £50,000,
there are 23,500 micro-businesses in
the UK with sales of more than £1m.
Jerome Kerviel has previously been found guilty of breach of trust and fraud charges
SocGen ordered
to pay €450,000
to former trader
HAYLEY KIRTON
@HayleyLEK
SOCIETE Generale was yesterday
ordered to pay €450,000 (£350,171) to
Jerome Kerviel on the grounds the former
trader was unfairly dismissed.
Kerviel has previously been found
guilty for breach of trust and fraud,
with his unauthorised trades losing
the bank €4.9bn in 2008.
He was convicted in 2010 and later
sentenced to three years in prison but,
in September 2014, was released after
just five months.
The French court ruled that the bank
fired the ex-trader without real cause.
Judge Hugues Cambournac said:
“Societe Generale can’t pretend it was
not aware of Jerome Kerviel’s fake
operations.” He said that the dismissal
“didn’t sanction Kerviel’s acts, but its
consequences”.
In his ruling, the judge said Societe
Generale was informed about Kerviel
exceeding trading limits since April
2007 through several alerts.
He added that in November that
year, the bank got a Eurex alert about
Kerviel’s “substantial” positions on
Allianz SE. He went on to say that
Societe Generale “tolerated” Kerviel’s
acts and that’s why his dismissal in
February 2008 was unfair.
Kerviel has never denied masking his
€50bn positions, but contends his
managers should have been aware of
his actions, something the bank has
always strenuously denied.
A Societe Generale spokesperson
said: “This decision is incomprehensible
and inconsistent with the decision
of the Supreme Court [cour de cassation],
which has passed definitive sentence
on Jerome Kerviel.
“It is counter to the facts that have
been judged. We will appeal against
this decision.”
Meanwhile, Kerviel’s lawyer David
Koubbi told Reuters this most recent
court decision “tore apart the story
which Societe Generale has presented
from the beginning”.
The ruling comes as Kerviel faces a
separate civil case due to start next
week before an appellate court in
Versailles about how much he has to
pay the bank towards the losses.
Icap-Tullett Prebon deal could
be investigated by watchdog
CAITLÍN MORRISON
@citycait
THE COMPETITION and Markets
Authority (CMA) is set to refer a
proposed deal between brokers Icap
and Tullett Prebon for an in-depth
investigation if the companies do not
address the watchdog’s concerns
relating to broking of oil products.
Icap announced last November
that it was selling its global voicebroking
and information business to
Tullett Prebon, in a deal expected to
deliver around £60m in savings for
Tullett.
Yesterday, the regulator said it
believes the proposed merger gave
rise to “a realistic prospect of a
substantial lessening of
competition for the voice/hybrid
broking of oil products, where
competition from other brokers is
more limited, there is a lesser
constraint from electronic
platforms and exchanges, and the
CMA received a number of third
party concerns”.