Going Bananas: Fyffes seals £1bn fruity deal March 10, 2014 IRISH banana distributor Fyffes yesterday inked a deal with US rival Chiquita to create a $1.1bn banana behemoth. Chiquita and Fyffes sell 180m boxes of bananas a year between them in a market dominated by just four players, raising antitrust concerns.
British jobs boom spreads as firms go on hiring spree March 10, 2014 EVERY region in Great Britain and every sector of the economy is expecting to see another spike in hiring during the second quarter of the year. Across the UK, 10 per cent of employers plan to expand their workforce between April and June, while only three per cent expect that they will reduce staffing levels. [...]
London the top world city for 2014 bonuses March 10, 2014 LONDON’S City workers won the highest bonuses this year compared to those based in the world’s other major financial markets, a new pay survey reveals. A global survey, conducted early this year by eFinancialCareers, found that on average bonuses are up by 29 per cent on last year, with finance professionals here faring better than [...]
Fidelity slams Barclays over £2.4bn payout March 10, 2014 INVESTOR group Fidelity has become the first City firm to criticise Barclays’ £2.4bn bonus pool for 2013 – an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year, despite a 32 per cent drop in profits. Fidelity’s global chief investment officer Dominic Rossi told Sky News last night: “It is disappointing that a year after [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 11 March 2014 March 10, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Seplat plans IPO in London and Lagos Seplat, the Nigerian oil company, is set to announce today plans for initial public offerings in London and Lagos, marking the return of natural resources listings to the UK stock market – some of which have proved controversial. The group, founded in 2009 by two Nigerian [...]
Cameron: talk to Ukraine or face sanctions March 10, 2014 PRIME Minister David Cameron has warned of economic sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not agree to meet with Ukrainian government officials in the next few days. The message comes as UK and EU officials begin drafting a plan to freeze the assets of Russian citizens, in a bid to encourage the Kremlin [...]
Still no sign of Malaysia Airlines plane three days after vanishing March 10, 2014 A THIRD day of search efforts for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight failed to locate the plane yesterday, in what the head of the country’s aviation body said was an “unprecedented mystery”. Despite reports of debris in the Gulf of Thailand, there was no confirmation yesterday of the whereabouts of the Boeing 777. Dozens of [...]
Public sector employees paid 15pc more than in private sector March 10, 2014 PUBLIC sector workers are paid nearly 15 per cent more on average than those in the private sector – £16.28 an hour compared to £14.16 – according to a report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published yesterday. Yet the gap has become smaller in recent years. “The average pay difference in favour of [...]
Co-op boss pay packet backed by bondholders March 10, 2014 CO-OP Bank bondholders yesterday backed a £3.66m pay deal for the wider group’s chief executive Euan Sutherland as the storm over the pay award intensified. Sutherland has been in the firing line over the plans after details appeared in The Observer newspaper on Sunday. He later said figures were leaked by members of his own [...]
Icahn’s plan to break up Ebay falters as board seats blocked March 10, 2014 EBAY has rejected proposals by activist investor Carl Icahn to appoint two of his employees to the online auction giant’s board, arguing that neither of Icahn’s nominees had enough experience. Icahn currently holds a two per cent stake in Ebay and has been pressing the board to accept his nominees and spin off its valuable, [...]