Consumer confidence clouded June 15, 2010 The election and the prospect of an emergency budget sent consumer confidence plummeting to its lowest level in almost a year in May, according to a survey by Nationwide Building Society. Nationwide’s consumer confidence index fell to 65 in May, the lowest reading since June last year, from an upwardly revised reading of 75 in [...]
Walmart grows banking share June 15, 2010 Walmart, the US retail behemoth, has taken an equity stake in rapidly growing financial company Green Dot. In a significant move for both companies, Green Dot, which provides support for Walmart’s pre-paid cards, said it had issued 2m shares to the shopping centre group following an agreement in May that extended the existing alliance between [...]
Sky tells News Corp to raise its £12bn bid June 15, 2010 BSKYB yesterday told Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation it has to stump up at least £1bn more if it wants to buy the Pay-TV broadcaster. News Corp tabled a 700p a share, which values Sky at around £12.25bn, to buy the 60.9 per cent of Sky it does not already own. But yesterday Sky’s independent directors, [...]
The top team must drive a hard bargain with News Corporation June 15, 2010 THE eight independent directors charged with looking after interests of BSkyB shareholders are an experienced stellar bunch. But the group will come under scrutiny because they may be perceived as being too close to News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch who was chairman of Sky until 2007, and was replaced by his son James. The gang [...]
US releases BP emails June 15, 2010 BP is reeling from a fresh PR disaster after US Congressional investigators released a string of damaging emails predating the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. Confidential messages exchanged by BP executives in the days before the Gulf of Mexico disaster showed the oil major was “horribly negligent” in its approach to safety aboard the [...]
Q&A: HOW DAMAGES COULD UNFOLD June 15, 2010 Q. WHO COULD BE SUBJECT TO PENALTIES? A. The US Justice Department has launched both a criminal and civil investigation into the oil spill but officials have not identified the targets. However, the likely companies that will be the focus of the investigation include BP, Transocean, which operated the drill rig, Cameron International, which provided [...]
Tesco growth falters on low food inflation June 15, 2010 TESCO, the UK’s biggest supermarket, yesterday said stalling levels of food price inflation had put the brakes on its sales growth for the first quarter of the year. Like-for-like sales in the UK, adjusted for VAT, inched up just 0.1 per cent over the three months to the end of May, excluding sales of petrol. [...]
Tesco chief Leahy to retire June 15, 2010 THOSE with an innate fear of homogeneity may break into a cold sweat at the mention of Tesco, but there is no question that the supermarket is a robust business play. Faced with a decidedly tricky first quarter – roaring petrol prices eating a hole in shoppers’ pockets; depressed food inflation; a raft of potholes [...]
UK inflation retreats from a record high June 15, 2010 FALLING food and petrol prices dampened inflationary pressures last month and caused the consumer prices index (CPI) to retreat from its 17-month April high to an annual rate of 3.4 per cent in May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the largest downward contribution to the change in the CPI annual rate came [...]
Unions vow to fight pension reform plans June 15, 2010 TWO OF the UK’s largest unions have lashed out at the government’s plans to review public sector pensions, accusing ministers of “peddling myths” and “scaremongering”. Trade unions Unison and Unite have each spoken out against Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s plans to focus on public sector pensions, which he has called “gold plated” and argued [...]