HIT forced to take $500m write-down April 18, 2010 HIT Entertainment, the child entertainment distribution company, has written off $500m (£325m) of its value. The write-down of goodwill means the value of a £489m investment by private equity owners Apax Partners has effectively dropped to zero. Hit Entertainment, owners of Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder and Barney the Dinosaur, recorded a pre-tax [...]
Report: regulation costs businesses up to £80bn a year April 18, 2010 BUSINESSES spend up to £80bn a year on regulation according to a recent report by the Institute of Directors (IoD), which has renewed calls for political parties to take the issue of over-regulation seriously. Today’s report suggests that directors at businesses are spending more than a month handling governmental red-tape and are spending an equivalent [...]
Greek bailout talks delayed by ash April 18, 2010 A MISSION of European officials and the International Monetary Fund to Greece has been delayed by the volcanic ash cloud and will arrive on April 21 if possible, Greece’s Finance Ministry said yesterday. Struggling under a huge budget shortfall and debt pile, Greece requested the talks with the European Union, the European Central Bank and [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 18, 2010 LLOYDS BANKING GROUP AlphaValue has moved a recommendation for Lloyds Banking Group from “add” to “sell” and say that short term valuation approaches are detrimental to the stock valuation due to Lloyd’s recovery profile. AlphaValue’s target price for Lloyds is currently 81p. NOBEL BIOCARE Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Equity Research has called Nobel Biocare’s stocks [...]
L’Occitane to list in Hong Kong April 18, 2010 Cosmetics retailer L’Occitane International plans to raise up to $708m (£460.9m) in a Hong Kong initial public offering, a source close to the deal said last night. L’Occitane, which manufactures products including almond and olive-based creams, would be the first French company to list in Hong Kong. The company was not immediately available for comment. [...]
Tories divided over how to take on Clegg April 18, 2010 AT an election rally in Swindon yesterday, David Cameron told supporters he would “accentuate the positive” this week. It was a clear rebuff to those Tories who think the party should turn its guns on Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. Some polls now show the third party in the lead, although yesterday’s YouGov poll for [...]
ELECTION2010 April 18, 2010 Tories in iconic buildings pledge The Conservatives yesterday said they would legislate to protect iconic buildings, ensuring they aren’t obscured by new sky-scraper developments. Shadow arts minister Ed Vaizey said: “These are buildings people treasure and are part of our identity. We hope that the scheme would provide a significant hurdle against intrusive developments.” Paxman [...]
Sellers brush off pre-election fears April 18, 2010 SELLERS have shaken off pre-election jitters to increase their average asking prices by 2.6 per cent in April, the monthly Rightmove property index will show today. This marks a sharp jump on the meagre 0.1 per cent increase seen in March and takes the average price of a UK home to £235,512. Property prices are [...]
Greece is not the only Eurozone trouble spot April 18, 2010 FOR ONCE Goldman Sachs has done the Greeks a favour. It’s probably not the favour that the bank was hoping to deliver but the SEC’s decision to charge the Wall Street giant with fraud has taken the spotlight off Athens. Sadly, this refocusing of the news cycle is unlikely to last long enough to provide [...]
CBI: Labour pension scheme flawed April 18, 2010 THE Government’s new workplace pension scheme could deter millions of savers because of its high and complicated charges, the CBI warns today. Businesses are worried that staff, and particularly the lower paid, will baulk at the proposed charging structure of the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest), which loads fees towards the earlier years after a [...]