Nationwide profit plunges by 46pc May 26, 2010 NATIONWIDE Building Society has reported a 46 per cent drop in annual profits as low interest rates continue to take their toll. Underlying pre-tax profits dropped to £212m for the year to 4 April compared with £393m a year earlier. The group said it expected the difficult conditions to continue throughout the year. Meanwhile it [...]
Cable & Wireless trades in line with forecasts May 26, 2010 TELECOMS firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide posted full-year results in line with forecasts and said it was confident it would meet expectations for cash and earnings generation as conditions improve. The former Cable & Wireless group split earlier this year into CWC – focussed in the Caribbean, Macau and Panama – and Cable & Wireless [...]
Burberry profit up 23pc May 26, 2010 LUXURY goods group Burberry beat forecasts with a 23 per cent rise in annual profit – fuelled by strong sales of coats and leather goods. Profit before tax and one-off items was £215m in the year ended 31 March. Sales rose seven per cent to £1.28bn. The company said it would almost double capital spending [...]
Markets in turmoil May 25, 2010 SHARES worldwide plunged yesterday as fears that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis would lead to a fresh collapse in the banking sector, and rising tensions between North and South Korea took their toll on jittery investors. The FTSE 100 index plummeted, ending the day 2.5 per cent lower at 4,940.68, below the psychologically important 5,000 level [...]
New coalition hits the ground running May 25, 2010 THE NEW government hit the ground running yesterday, announcing a flurry of legislation in its inaugural Queen’s Speech. Financial services took centre stage, with chancellor George Osborne responsible for steering five of the 22 bills through parliament – more than any other cabinet minister. The legislation will usher in sweeping changes to the way the [...]
Doubts cast over Spanish banks merger May 25, 2010 FOUR Spanish savings banks will merge into a joint holdings group in a bid to fend off the deepening Eurozone crisis. The pooled resources of the four unlisted regional lenders will create Spain’s fifth biggest financial institution, with assets of more than €135bn (£115bn). The merger between Caja Mediterráneo from Valencia, Cajastur from Asturias, Caja [...]
Let us hope this is not a repeat of the crisis of 2008 May 25, 2010 WE have stumbled into another mini-financial crisis, one which has an outside chance of bringing the global recovery to a shuddering halt. The debt crisis in the Eurozone, far from having been sorted out with the help of German taxpayers’ money, is getting steadily worse, contaminating global financial markets; jittery investors are panicking at every [...]
Germany extends ban on short selling May 25, 2010 GERMANY is expected to roll out further restrictions on short selling. A draft German finance ministry document yesterday called for restrictions on speculative trades to be extended to all shares, widening a ban imposed last week. The shock move last week banned naked shorting on top financial firms, euro government bonds and related credit default [...]
Libor causes jitters as it continues its steady rise May 25, 2010 INTERBANK lending hit another 10 month high yesterday, with concerns over sovereign debt showing no sign of abating. The rate that banks charge each other for short-term loans in dollars – known as the London interbank offered rate, or Libor – edged to 0.54 per cent, up from 0.5 per cent on Monday, according to [...]
Barnier will announce EU banking levy May 25, 2010 THE EU will today propose a levy on European banks that would pay for future bailouts of financial institutions. Michel Barnier, EU internal market commissioner, is expected to announce the plans to force member countries to implement the tax. The controversial strategy is intended to limit the cost to tax payers when financial institutions run [...]