Philips gets a boost from Saeco espresso buy out May 25, 2009 THE electronics giant behind the Senseo brand of coffee makers, Philips, has agreed to buy Europe’s largest maker of espresso machines, Saeco, for an undisclosed sum. The Italian based firm Saeco had sales of €318m (£280m) over the 12 months ended 31 March, Philips said. Saeco makes machines branded under the Saeco and Gaggia names, [...]
Pension threat to firms must be eased, says CBI May 25, 2009 THE government must lengthen the period over which it assesses the health of company pension schemes, according to the CBI. The employers’ organisation is today pushing for “urgent action” to extend the rule forcing the Pensions Regulator to investigate firms’ funding plans where deficit repayments will take more than ten years to 15 years. It [...]
SWINE FLU HITS THE CITY (WELL, SORT OF…) May 25, 2009 IT had to happen eventually: the global swine flu outbreak has officially claimed its first City victim. Well, that might be a touch exaggerated, since the poor chap in question – Sterling Printers director Simon Pearson-Miles, who’s better known in the City simply as “PM” – only contracted a mild sniffle after coming into contact [...]
Tories pledge deep change May 25, 2009 CONSERVATIVE party leader David Cameron has promised that his party will deliver a radical redistribution of power, in an attempt to address voter disquiet over MP expenses. “We need to look seriously at the immense power prime ministers wield through their ability to call an election whenever they want. If we want parliament to be [...]
BarCap wants 65 more in M&A May 25, 2009 Barclays Capital will recruit up to another 65 bankers to its European mergers and acquisitions team before its hiring spree ends. Global head of M&A Paul Parker said the investment banking unit of Barclays was looking to add another 30 or 40 bankers in mainland Europe and up to 25 in the UK. Mark Warham, [...]
Crude oil drops on OPEC fears May 25, 2009 THE price of crude oil dropped back to around $61 (£38) a barrel yesterday, ahead of an OPEC meeting this week. Oil has rallied over investor sentiment that the worst of the downturn is over. But fears that OPEC members won’t cut their oil output at their meeting on Thursday meant prices dropped. Brent prices [...]
Travelzest is undeterred by libel lawsuit May 25, 2009 TOUR operator group Travelzest is pressing ahead with its investigation into the alleged theft of company money, despite a defamation lawsuit filed by founder and former chief executive Chris Mottershead. Mottershead launched libel proceedings last week, almost a month after the group announced it had suspended him pending the outcome of an investigation into “a [...]
Ashley wallet suffers due to relegation May 25, 2009 SPORTS Direct owner Mike Ashley’s fortune looks set for another battering after the football club he owns, Newcastle United, was relegated from the Premier League. Ashley’s club stands to lose at least £30m a season from a drop in TV revenue which will wipe millions off the value of the struggling north east outfit, in [...]
Cheap Nano is a no-go in India May 25, 2009 Just 20 per cent of Tata Motors’ orders for the world’s cheapest car are for the bargain basement $2,600 model, it emerged yesterday. Chairman Ratan Tata spent four years designing the budget car with 500 engineers, saying the Indian customer would rather have a cheap car with no air-conditioning. Half of the customers booked the [...]
MPs should show how to use pay to reward talent May 25, 2009 May has been a very embarrassing month. People keep talking about money. Not the anonymous multi-trillion pound bailout/quantitative easing/fiscal stimulus piles of money, but the cringingly personal “my house is bigger than yours” monthly pay-cheque sort of money. One of CNBC TV’s guests last week hit the nail on the head when he said; “the [...]