After a slump and a court case the Virgin airline boss is ready for more August 30, 2010 Virgin Atlantic boss Steve Ridgway is still dealing with the fallout from the collapse of a price-fixing trial involving his airline. Despite not actually facing any charges, his firm, which has always styled itself as the people’s champion, was battered and bruised by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) case, which alleged collusion between Virgin [...]
House prices fall further as demand dips August 30, 2010 BRITISH house prices suffered their biggest fall since April 2009 this month, declining by 0.3 per cent, property data company Hometrack said yesterday in its monthly survey of estate agents and surveyors. August is traditionally a weak month for British house prices, with many buyers on holiday, and Hometrack’s data are not seasonally adjusted. Nonetheless [...]
do you expect house prices to keep falling August 30, 2010 ED STANSFIELD | CAPITAL ECONOMICS We forecast the Nationwide survey to be five per cent lower at the end of this year compared to December 2009 and the outlook remains downbeat for 2011. The market has softened already before we have seen any real fiscal tightening. Although London is likely to remain resilient in the [...]
S&P CASTS DOUBT ON BANK REVIVAL August 26, 2010 RATING agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) cast doubt on the strength of the UK banking sector’s recovery yesterday, saying lenders had been buoyed by a rising economic tide. The claim, made after this month’s bumper first-half earnings season, was immediately rebuffed by banking industry figures. While institutions realise they have been helped by an improving [...]
Nadir offers more cash to the Tories August 26, 2010 ASIL Nadir, the controversial tycoon who yesterday returned to the UK after 17 years living in exile, embarrassed the Conservatives by saying he would like to give them money. The notorious fugitive, who donated £500,000 to the Tories in the 1990s, said he would like to hand over even more cash to David Cameron’s party. [...]
Greece starts bank sell-off August 26, 2010 GREECE’S government took a step toward offloading its stakes in ATEbank and Hellenic Postbank yesterday when it named Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Lazard as advisers. A statement said the three investment banks would “explore and assess the Greek state’s strategic options, evaluate its holdings in the banking sector and assess the consequences of such options”. [...]
Chote is still best man for the OBR August 26, 2010 THE highly respected Institue of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been a thorn in the side of government – both Conservative and Labour – for as long as I can remember. During the Gordon Brown era it constantly pulled up the then chancellor for overpromising on the public finances and earlier this week it savaged the [...]
Migration stats cause rift August 26, 2010 THE LATEST migration figures have become a battleground for the coalition government, after Conservative minister Damian Green used the 20 per cent jump in net entrants to illustrate the need for a cap on migration. Immigration minister Green said yesterday the figures “show why we must tighten our immigration system in order to reduce net [...]
Credit Suisse hired for AIA IPO August 26, 2010 Months after advising Prudential on its failed $35.5bn (£23bn) bid for AIA, Credit Suisse has been hired to help the Asian business float on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Credit Suisse joins Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan?Stanley, Citigroup and?Deutsche Bank on AIA’s initial public offering (IPO), whose basic features will be worked [...]
Dana attempts to delay takeover August 26, 2010 Dana Petroleum will try and stall KNOC’s plans for a hostile takeover today by holding back details of its planned £240m purchase of North Sea assets. Dana hopes that by leaving the information out of its interim results, KNOC will remain bound by insider trading rules.