Slow recovery dents UK sales at Experian July 15, 2010 CREDIT information company Experian saw its UK operations shrink by a further one per cent in the last quarter, but strong growth elsewhere led to a seven per cent rise in revenue. The FTSE 100 firm, which offers consumer credit checks and operates in more than 90 countries, said the longer than expected consumer slump [...]
Redstone fined £630K by FSA July 15, 2010 REDSTONE Mortgages has received a £630,000 fine from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to treat customers facing mortgage arrears fairly. The FSA said yesterday the fine, which could have been as high as £900,000 if the sub-prime lender had not co-operated with the regulator, was handed to Redstone for “a number of serious [...]
Experian July 15, 2010 CREDIT services have been under pressure in the recession as people have cut back on spending, but Experian is clearly now on the up again. Its first quarter results – showing total revenue growth of seven per cent – are its strongest for three years. It has delivered improved performances worldwide with organic growth in [...]
Capital One and Discover defaults fall July 15, 2010 Credit card charge-offs and delinquencies improved at Capital One Financial and Discover Financial Services in June as fewer Americans fell seriously behind on credit card payments. The companies said yesterday that their credit card delinquency rates in June fell to the lowest levels this year. Delinquencies are a sign of future losses. Discover said in [...]
Buncefield sentence to be handed down today July 15, 2010 A JUDGE will today hand down a sentence expected to run into the millions to companies linked to the 2005 Buncefield explosion. Today the St Alban’s Crown Court will sentence five companies for their involvement in the disaster, which caused damage spreading over a 450-metre area north of London and injured more than 40 people. [...]
Bidding interest in Caledon Resources hots up after collapse of Polo merger July 15, 2010 A BIDDING war for Australian coking coal producer Caledon Resources has been ignited after merger talks with rival Polo Resources fell through last month. Aim-listed Caledon told the stock exchange yesterday that it had received “a number of unsolicited and indicative enquiries from third parties in respect of possible alternative transactions, one of which relates [...]
Stress tests set to clear UK and Italian banks July 15, 2010 Italian and British banks will come through European stress tests without needing to raise new capital, top officials said yesterday. “The tests on Italian banks will obviously present diverse results but I am confident that they will show that the capital resources of the single banks are adequate,” said Bank of Italy Governor and European [...]
GSK hit by a £1.57bn legal charge claim July 15, 2010 AGLAXOSMITHKLINE expects to record a legal charge of £1.57bn for the second quarter after settling the “substantial majority” of claims relating to its controversial diabetes pill Avandia. The move, designed to clear the decks of outstanding legal issues, will wipe out most of the drugmaker’s expected earnings for the three months to June but leaves [...]
Tullow Oil strikes black gold in Uganda July 15, 2010 BRITISH oil firm Tullow has struck a new deposit of black gold in western Uganda, the firm said yesterday. The FTSE 100 firm said exploration in the Butiaba region hit about 10 metres of net oil pay, after drilling to a depth of 587m. Tullow already has three licences to drill in the region, after [...]
Abertis bidders eye financing July 15, 2010 A consortium looking to acquire Spanish motorway operator Abertis in a leveraged buyout worth at least €25bn (£20.9bn) yesterday said it was considering several structures to finance its bid. It is also understood that the bidding group hopes to sell stakes held by Abertis in two highway operators, Italy’s Atlantia and Portugal’s Brisa, that could [...]