"He has nothing to lose, " Mark Davis, telecoms analyst at West LB Panmure said.

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"BP realizes it has to change, " said Peter Hitchens, an oil analyst at Panmure Gordon.

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"The only place the music industry competes is in signing and promoting acts, " said Paul Richards, a music industry analyst with WestLB Panmure in London.

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"We suspect that the latest batch of negative headlines over the remuneration report at the AGM was the last straw and Moss had to go, " said Barrie Cornes at Panmure Gordon stockbrokers.

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Panmure Gordon analyst Sandy Chen also points out that, as prudent as HSBC has been with its investment banking business, it has made some opportunistic acquisitions of distressed assets in the past, most notably in the case of Household International in the United States.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Analysts at Panmure Gordon Co. said it was plausible that Kraft Foods might team up with a private equity firm to buy Cadbury and divide the assets between them, with Kraft getting the confectionary business and the private equity fund getting the company's stable and profitable beverage unit.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Analysts at Panmure Gordon Co. said it was plausible that Kraft Foods (nyse: KFT - news - people ) might team up with a private equity firm to buy Cadbury and divide the assets between them, with Kraft getting the confectionary business and the private equity fund getting the company's stable and profitable beverage unit.

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