A CURIOUS PAST LIES BEHIND THE FSA’S CITY BONUS CRACKDOWN August 1, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) was talking tough last week with plans to adopt EU rules that regulate bonuses at financial institutions. The rules include measures to ensure that 40 per cent of bonuses are paid over three years and that half of these deferred payments are non-cash. This attempt to reform City bonuses is [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK August 1, 2010 SIX City music aficionados visited Island Restaurant & Bar for dinner before strolling across Hyde Park to enjoy a night at the BBC Proms last week. Of course, this classy group knew that the right way to enjoy their musical feast was with a culinary version beforehand. They prepared well for the concert, sipping their [...]
US economic growth slows July 30, 2010 US economic growth slowed in the second quarter as a capital investment drive by businesses saw imports increasing at their fastest pace since the first quarter of 1984, a government report showed. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.4 per cent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its first estimate, after a revised 3.7 [...]
Bradford & Bingley back in the black July 30, 2010 Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender which was nationalised after running into problems during the credit crisis, said on Friday it had swung to a first-half profit after making a loss a year earlier. The bank reported a pretax profit of £896m for the six months ending June 30, having made a loss of £160m [...]
China overtakes Japan as world’s second largest economy July 30, 2010 CHINA has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Depending on how fast its exchange rate rises, China is on course to overtake the United States and vault into the No 1 spot sometime around [...]
Honda posts record profit for quarter July 30, 2010 HONDA has posted a record $3.15bn profit (£2bn) fuelled by strong sales in Asia. The Tokyo-based company revised up its annual net profit forecast by 33.8 per cent for the year ending March 2011. “The company posted a healthy operating profit and net profit, which both turned out to be the record high for a [...]
Virgin Atlantic sees £132m loss July 30, 2010 VIRGIN Atlantic has reported a pre-tax operating loss for the period March 2009 to February 2010 of £132m. That compared with a profit of £60m in the same period the year before. Revenues for 2009/10 dropped 8.6 per cent to £2.35bn but operating costs reduced by eight per cent. Virgin said it carried 15 per [...]
EDF to sell UK power network in £5.8bn deal July 30, 2010 BILLIONAIRE Li Ka-shing has offered to buy UK power grids from France’s EDF for £5.8bn, giving his companies a foothold in more lucrative overseas markets. Cheung Kong Infrastructure and Hongkong Electric said they won an auction for three power distribution grids and private power networks owned in Britain by EDF, the world’s second-largest utility. EDF’s [...]
Samsung in record quarterly profit July 30, 2010 SAMSUNG Electronics has reported record quarterly profits thanks to increased sales of smartphones and memory chips. The South Korean firm’s net profit in the three months to the end of June was 4.28 trillion won (£2.3bn). That reprsented an 83 per rise on the same period a year earlier. Revenue surged by 17 per cent, [...]
BA reports £164m loss as strikes and ash cloud take their toll July 30, 2010 BA has reported a £164m pre-tax loss for the three months to June. The figure was higher than the £148m loss it made in the same period last year. BA said that taking into account the impact of all disruptions – including the volcanic ash cloud and the strikes by cabin crew at the company [...]