Nothing so crude
THAT stylish stockbroker Donald Cobbett collected his occasional writings and pub- lished them under the title Nothing So Crude as a Tip. Nothing so crude in this column, either — just occasional pointers, to Standard Chartered and a 65 per cent profit within the month, and to a more modest gain on Hambros. When City and Suburban displayed, in February, the For Sale sign on the Hambros' stately bank, the Hambros LV shares (so called for their Limited Voting, but known to all as Lun- cheon Vouchers) stood at 245p. This week they were suspended at 303p, to the tune of a singular announcement, described as amicable, that Lonrho was no longer in- terested. Nothing but the best, these days, for Lonrho: if not Harrods, why not Hambros? But what a great missed mo- ment in City history, to see Tiny Rowland stride in at the head of an accepting house — elected at last and at one blow to the City's most exclusive club. Sir Edward Du Cann would have enjoyed it, too. The City establishment would have been left grumb- ling a line from Groucho Marx. We are now finding out (as in Standard Char- tered's case, too) the new rules about buying and owning major banks. They are likely to be accompanied by new, unwrit- ten rules about the moral hazards of dealing with the banks, and it will be worth finding out what those are, too.
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