RBS sells non-core asset to GE March 29, 2010 THE Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday sold its German invoice financing business to GE Capital, as it continues to offload non-core businesses. It said it would sell RBS Factoring GmbH, which provides loans secured against company invoices, to the American conglomerate but did not disclose the price or terms of the deal. Analysts said the [...]
Ericsson secures £1bn china deal March 29, 2010 Ericsson secured deals with Chinese operators totalling $1.8bn (£1.2bn), easing concerns the Swedish group would be badly stung by capital spending cuts by mobile firms in the world’s third biggest economy. Ericsson, the world’s biggest mobile network gear maker, signed a $1bn deal with China Mobile the worl’’s largest mobile carrier – and an $800 [...]
Jupiter star ploughs into cash March 29, 2010 Fund firm Jupiter’s high-profile investor in financial stocks, Philip Gibbs, has put more than half his fund into cash as uncertainty around the election and western government debt hamper visibility. Gibbs, who made his name when a heavy cash position helped his financials fund turn a profit during the credit crisis, had 52 per cent [...]
BANK’S MERV GIVES HIS DARLING CHANCELLOR THE COLD SHOULDER March 29, 2010 MERVYN King, the seasoned governor of the Bank of England, may have been in the City for longer than he (and many of his contemporaries) would care to remember, but it appears he’s still got a lot to learn in the art of PR. It was off to a fundraising and networking party at the [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK March 29, 2010 A GROUP of eight City suits headed for a boozy lunch last week at Hi Sushi’s Gresham Street branch, to celebrate a retirement with oodles of champagne. The diners chowed down on the Laurent Perrier tasting menu, including salmon carpaccio, seabass sashimi, tempura rolls with caviar, chicken teriyaki, with plenty of extra Laurent Perrier on [...]
Unite to give BA staff cash March 29, 2010 THE UNITE union has pledged to raise £700,000 to pay striking British Airways (BA) cabin crew, in a move designed to show it has the stomach for more walkouts. It will impose a two per cent levy on each of the local Unite branches in the next quarter, and will use the cash to pay striking [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT A SPRING OF STRIKES? March 29, 2010 ROSS D’AURIGNY | AURIGNY COMMODITIES “I think its become inevitable that we will see a spring of strikes and rail workers are next. The strikers have lost all semblance of reality about what it all started over. The trade unions don’t realise they are costing Gordon Brown the election. We are in for a torrid [...]
Inflation higher than predicted March 29, 2010 Inflation has fallen less in response to slack in the economy than central banks’ theoretical models would have predicted, Bank of England chief economist Spencer Dale said yesterday. Dale said that inflation dynamics in economies where inflation expectations were anchored around a central bank target were not very well understood, posing challenges for monetary policymakers.
US consumer spending slows March 29, 2010 US consumer spending rose in February at its slowest pace since last September, providing further evidence of a fragile economic recovery. Consumer spending rose 0.3 per cent, following revised growth of 0.4 per cent in January, the US Commerce Department said.
Carphone Warehouse splits in two March 29, 2010 TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse (CPW), the electronics retailer, both saw a positive reaction to their first day operating as separate entities. Carphone Warehouse added 7.3 per cent after it spun off its TalkTalk broadband supplier. Its shares began trading at 144p and closed at 155p. TalkTalk added 4.4 per cent on its maiden day trading, [...]