Goldman Sachs slapped with £17.5m fine September 9, 2010 Britain’s financial watchdog slapped a £17.5m fine on Goldman Sachs inadequate disclosure of a US probe into the Wall Street powerhouse. The fine – one of the biggest ever imposed in Britain – was related to Goldman’s troubled Abacus mortgage-security product, which resulted in the investment bank being investigated by the U.S. Securities & Exchange [...]
UK trade gap hits new record as imports soar September 9, 2010 Britain’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world unexpectedly widened to a record high in July after imports of chemicals and oil surged and exports fell, data off showed. The total trade deficit, which includes services, also widened sharply to its highest in almost five years, denting hopes that exports will be able [...]
IG revenue surges to £79m September 9, 2010 Britain’s biggest spread betting company IG, posted a sharp rise in first quarter revenues and said it was well placed for further growth despite continued financial market uncertainty. Turnover for the three months ending 31 August rose 16 per cent from last year to £79m, driven by higher revenues in Singapore, Europe, Australia and at [...]
Redrow swings back into profit September 9, 2010 British housebuilder Redrow swung to full-year pretax profit, well ahead of analyst expectations, thanks to an overhaul of the business, higher selling prices and more home sales. The company reported a full-year pre-tax profit of £0.7m, against last year’s pre-tax loss from trading operations before exceptionals of £44.2m and a total pre-tax loss of £140.8m. [...]
Regulator block NAB’s $12bn bid for Axa Asia September 9, 2010 Australia’s competition regulator blocked National Australia Bank’s $12bn (£7.8bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific for a second time, dashing NAB’s efforts to cement its dominance in the world’s fourth-largest wealth management market. The decision clears the decks for Australia’s second-biggest fund manager, AMP, to take another tilt at AXA Asia Pacific after its cash and [...]
HMV sales plunge by 10pc in World Cup blow September 9, 2010 Music, books and games retailer HMV Group reported a 10.6 per cent fall in sales for the first quarter as the World Cup distracted customers from DVDs and books. The group, which is trying to widen its product mix with live music and ticketing, said it was pinning its hopes on a successful Christmas period. [...]
Home Retail Group says profit to dive by a quarter September 9, 2010 Home Retail Group forecast a 20-25 per cent reduction in first-half profit, with sales at its Argos stores continuing to fall as low income shoppers cut back on spending. The firm, which also owns the Homebase DIY business, said it expected to make a year to the end of February 2011 underlying pre-tax profit of [...]
Morrisons eyes move into online grocery September 9, 2010 Supermarket giant Morrisons has reported pre-tax profit of £412m for the first half – as it confirmed that it was considering a move into online retail. The profit was eight per cent down on the same period last year, but in line with forecasts. Underlying profit was up taking into account a one-off payment in [...]
Barclays dismisses bank break-up threat September 8, 2010 BARCLAYS executives have privately dismissed the idea that UK banks will be forced to break up their retail and investment banking operations, even though the government’s independent banking commission still has a year left to deliberate its options. Those close to the bank said yesterday that Barclays would not have appointed its investment banking chief [...]
BP gulf spill triggers new row September 8, 2010 BP admitted it made several mistakes that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill yesterday, but tried to deflect some blame to rig operator Transocean and contractor Halliburton in the first detailed report into the cause of the disaster. BP claimed in the report that “a sequence of failures involving a number of different [...]