WEE WILLIE BRUSHES UP ON BA’S PR STRATEGY April 19, 2010 THAT pesky cloud of Icelandic volcanic ash may have caused havoc among passengers and crippling losses to airlines, but at least there has been a silver lining for one man. “Wee” Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, has suffered something of a PR nightmare over the past year amid strikes and crisis-hit revenues, [...]
Pace set for World Cup sales boost April 19, 2010 PACE, the set-top box maker, is expecting a World Cup sales boost as operators role out high-definition TV ahead of the summer football tournament. The UK-based company said sales in the first half of the year will outpeform the second six months as millions tune into the World Cup. However trading for the overall year [...]
Cisco snaps up Tandberg in £2.2bn swoop April 19, 2010 Cisco became the biggest maker of videoconferencing equipment yesterday as its $3.3bn (£2.2bn) acquisition of Tandberg, announced last October, closed. It is already the world’s biggest network equipment maker. The IT networking giant confirmed it has completed a voluntary offer for Tandberg, giving it control of 91 per cent of the company. It began a [...]
WILL THE WORLD CUP ENABLE PACE TO BEAT EXPECTATIONS IN 2010? April 19, 2010 JONATHAN IMLAH | ALTIUM “Pace’s quarter one management statement confirms that trading has continued in line with expectations against a backdrop of robust demand for the company’s products. With regard to margin outlook, the statement confirms that gross margins are expected to increase.” IAN ROBERTSON | SEYMOUR PIERCE “ High definition and 3D are seasonal [...]
Toyota to pay $16m US fine over failures April 19, 2010 Toyota yesterday agreed to pay a record $16.4m (£11bn) fine to US safety regulators to settle a complaint that the company delayed a recall over defective accelerator pedals, but denied violating US regulations. Toyota said it had made a “good faith” effort to handle safety problems but decided to pay the penalty — the maximum [...]
Mortgage lending increases April 19, 2010 TOTAL mortgage lending surged 24 per cent in March on the previous month and is three per cent higher than in the same period of 2009, the latest figures from the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed yesterday. This puts gross mortgage lending at £11.5bn last month and the CML said that the increase in [...]
Deloitte surprised by lack of administrations in 2010 April 19, 2010 AGGRESSIVE cost cutting and improved cash management by firms last year has seen the number of businesses falling into administration in 2010 drop. Research by the business advisory firm showed that 555 administrations were recorded in quarter one 2010, a significant improvement on the 1,028 companies in the same period last year. Deloitte said it [...]
Alliance Trust to launch bond fund as assets grow April 19, 2010 Investment firm Alliance Trust will launch its first fixed income product later this year and diversify equity exposure towards Asia while western growth appears fragile, its chief executive said yesterday. Katherine Garrett-Cox said the FTSE 100 company will capitalise on investors’ appetite for income products by launching a mainly UK-focused corporate bond fund in the [...]
Irish Nationwide losses rise tenfold April 19, 2010 IRISH Nationwide Building Society (INBS) yesterday said its loss widened tenfold in 2009 due to a jump in bad loan provisions and it was unlikely to agree soon with EBS Building Society on a merger. INBS and nationalised Anglo Irish Bank have become the two lenders with proportionally the biggest exposures to Ireland’s property market [...]
Soros: we must help Greece April 19, 2010 Greece needs help to beat its crisis and there is a risk it will fall into a “death circle” of recession and falling budget revenue if its borrowing costs stay high, financier George Soros said yesterday. He said the spike in Greek bond spreads – the premium investors pay to buy Greek debt instead of [...]