SFO seeks a survival strategy

By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail
Updated: 04:43 EDT, 10 March 2011

The Serious Fraud Office under the leadership of Richard Alderman has at times seemed to promise more than it has delivered.

In the aftermath of the 'great panic' it vowed to take a close look at alleged wrong doing in the City.

So there has been disappointment in some circles that the creators of the toxic debt, many of them based in London, have so far managed to escape the arm of the law.

The collapse of the Icelandic banks, which financed the takeover of much of Britain's High Street, looks to have been an easier target.

It is understood that in the days before the Icelandic bank Kaupthing closed its doors more than two years ago, large sums of money managed to escape while ordinary depositors were left high and dry, leaving the British and Icelandic governments to bail them out.

Among those caught up in this investigation and arrested are the high-profile property entrepreneurs Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz.

Until the dawn raids on their offices Robert still entertained the idea of owning a group of London's fanciest hotels: Claridge's, the Berkeley and the Connaught, currently in the hands of the Irish bad debt agency. That now looks to be a dead duck.

The SFO has been fighting for its existence and has been threatened by a merger with the Crown Prosecution Service. If it cracks the Icelandic banking scandal it might well buy itself a new lease of independent life.

Powering up

Rolls-Royce looks to be regaining some of its composure after the Trent-900 engine snafu.

The joint bid with Daimler to buy German diesel engine maker tognum AG is the kind of deal which British companies used to do routinely. Now they tend to sit back, wait to be gobbled up by foreign predators or private equity and fail to think of England.

The price tag of £2.7bn looks hefty but Rolls, which historically has grown organically rather than by acquisition, expects a full capital return within four years.

So why is it doing it? Rolls-Royce, which is so dominant in aerospace engines, has been making strides in the marine sector especially with faster power systems. Its skill under Sir John Rose has been integrated systems which provide lifetime service to buyers including maintenance and upgrades.

So, it now wants to apply the same principles to fast and medium-fast diesel and gas-driven marine vessels such as coastguard boats.

Joint ventures were once frowned upon because of concerns about where the real command and control lies. Rolls believes it has beaten this back by operating the model across the globe and is confident that it can make Tognum work.

One suspects that eventually Daimler, which is the German engine maker's biggest shareholder, may seek to float itself off and concentrate on its core cars and trucks business.

Investors look happy enough. It is not often that an acquisition produces a run up in the share price of the acquirer. Rose's final deal looks to have passed the stock market test.

Export cheer

Finally, after the deep snow-induced gloom at the end of 2010, there looks to be some unexpected sunlight. Britain's trade deficit narrowed in January to its smallest level in a year with exports leading the way.

Admittedly, oil exports were a big contributor. But what is really impressive is that export volumes, excluding oil and other erratic items, rose by 6.1% in volume terms.

Among the big wins were intermediate goods, which include items such as car components, as well as food, drink and tobacco. When it comes to sin Britain - with BAT, Imperial and Diageo - does it better than most.

The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has been among those who have been counting on exports to lead the rebalancing of the economy in the wake of sterling's 20% plus devaluation.

It has been happening with the EEF, representing Britain's engineers, reporting no less than seven consecutive quarters of growth in manufacturing exports.

The sad truth is that even though the UK remains the 6th or 7th largest manufacturing economy in the world we simply do not have enough industry at present to turn growth around on its own. We need services exports to punch above their weight too.

Financial services have long been a balancing item in Britain's trade with the rest of the world. However, the great panic saw a significant contraction in the firepower of the City.

That is among the reasons that we cannot afford to see national champions, like HSBC, move offshore.