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Everyone expected the downgrade of Ford and General Motors to junk status. Now it has happened, the long-term consequences for the market are unclear. The move threatens to wipe out the trading profits of hedge funds and banks, with CDOs causing particular concern. Mark Brown reports.

As investment banks try to cut the cost of research for clients, outsourcing is taking on an ever-increasing and ever more important role in keeping costs under control. For the providers of these services, such as Copal Partners, the key is to move on from simply crunching the numbers to providing in-depth research for their clients on debt, equity and corporate finance.

Government-guaranteed issuers have long been a mainstay of the Japanese bond markets. Now the zaito issuers are seen as a market in their own right. Chris Leahy and Andy Wright report.

2004 was an important turning point for IPO activity around the world with an increase for the first time since 2000 in both the number of IPOs and the total capital raised, a survey by Ernst & Young has revealed. There were 1516 flotations globally in 2004 raising $124 billion of capital with every major region showing an increase in activity. The UK was the number one spot internationally in terms of numbers of listings with 191, the highest for any national market, raising $6.8 billion of funds.

There is a lot of protesting going on in Europe, especially about government by bureaucrats. What might be the economic implications? And can Italy stay in the euro zone?

Stora Enso, the forest products company, has appointed Hannu Ryöppönen as new Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Vice President, Finance, Accounting, Legal Affairs and Investor Relations as from 1 September 2005.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets (RBS) is the first major international bank to announce that it has gone live with streaming FX spot trading via the Bloomberg Professional Service.

- Top pay and benefits concern for organisations relates to pension fund investment

Health and beauty retailer Boots has confirmed its group financial controller Jim Smart will act as the finance chief until a successor to Howard Dodd is appointed. Dodd resigned from the post in March.

We thought that spreads on low-credit would widen as a result of rising T-Bond yields. Yet now losses at hedge funds may be the trigger of a vicious circle.

Managers in the UK receive higher fixed compensation compared to their colleagues in Continental Europe, according to a just-released Shared Service Centre Salary & Benefits Survey. This is the first time that Robert Half International and IQPC have conducted a poll of this kind to determine salary levels amongst finance and accounting staff within Shared Service Centres (SSC) and to highlight key trends in regards to the organization of a SSC.

MAILLIS S.A.: Organic Growth and Expansion in the US The M.J. Maillis Group with almost half a century of packaging expertise is involved in the manufacture and distribution of end of line industrial solutions offering complete solutions, covering both the heavy-duty and light packaging markets plus all industrial applications. From 1998 until the first half of 2002, M.J.MAILLIS Group completed an impressive growth cycle, undertaking major capital investments, developing sales networks in Europe and the U.S. and realizing strategic acquisitions. The Group now operates in more than 52 countries worldwide, through a network of 31 owned Affiliate companies and more than 350 independent distributors, bringing up its scale from 58 million Euros in 1998 to 341 million Euros in 2004. The top priority for 2002-2003 was to complete the consolidation, integration and restructuring of companies acquired within the framework of assimilating the explosive growth that took place in the previous period. Thereafter the Group aimed at and has achieved substantial organic growth. In particular the strategic objective of 15% top line organic growth was achieved with Consolidated Sales at Euro 341.1 mln in 2004 versus Euro 296.0 mln in 2003, (+15.3%). Consolidated E.B.I.T.D.A. reached Euro 59.5 mln versus Euro 50.0 mln in 2003, increased by 19.0% while E.B.T. amounted to Euro 25.9 mln versus Euro 21.3 mln in 2003, corresponding to an increase of 21.6%. Management's forecasts regarding Q105 results bring consolidated turnover up to Euro 93.4 mln (+9.5%) vs the 1st quarter 2004, whereas the turnover of the parent company is expected to reach Euro 33.4 mln, representing an increase of 30%. At the same time another key objective involved the establishment of the Group in North America under the same operational framework as the successful structure in Europe (manufacturing of machinery, materials and a strong distribution network providing complete "end-of-line" industrial solutions). The Group recently announced the successful completion of the first phase of its investment in North America with the start up - in April 2005 - of a new manufacturing facility in South Carolina for the production of pet strapping. This investment together with the Group's established North American machines production create the "springboard" for further aggressive expansion. News provided by Capital Link