Vivendi books higher profits despite slump September 1, 2009 ENTERTAINMENT giant Vivendi yesterday said consumers were staying at home in the recession, boosting sales of its pay-TV packages and video games, and helping it to report expectation-beating profits for its second quarter. The Paris-listed firm, which makes smash hit video games such as Guitar Hero, also said its French telecoms business was performing well, [...]
Lloyds secures 1bn in loan guarantees September 1, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group has reached an agreement with the government to access £1bn of its working capital scheme. The bank, which has taken advantage of the scheme once already this year, will receive a government guarantee on half of the risk relating to a £2.2bn portfolio of short-term corporate loans. Lloyds and Royal Bank of [...]
FAIRTRADE BUCKS September 1, 2009 COFFEEconglomerate Starbucks has announced that from today all of its lattes and cappuccinos will now be verified as Fairtrade. This move is expected to increase the amount of Fairtrade Certified coffee sold in the UK and Ireland by 18 per cent this year. The switch to Fairtrade means Starbucks will contribute £2.5m to small farmers.
Avoid the orange look and follow the golden rules of fake tanning August 31, 2009 WHAT do sunbeds, mustard gas and chimney sweeping have in common? Well, as of last month, they are all listed as certain causes of cancer by the International Agency for Cancer Research, a branch of the World Health Organisation. This move followed the publication of a study which showed that the risk of skin cancer [...]
France to show no mercy in tax probe August 31, 2009 FRANCE will not offer an amnesty to 3,000 of its citizens suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to evade tax on around €3bn (£2.64bn) worth of assets, budget minister Eric Woerth said yesterday. Woerth revealed at the weekend that he had obtained the list of suspected tax evaders and warned that those on the list [...]
INVISIBLE LEH-MAN TO HIT BACK AT CRITICS August 31, 2009 NIGH on a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the tales are really starting to come out of the woodwork. I hear that “The Gorilla” wasn’t the only nickname the bank’s former boss Dick Fuld earned for himself during his tenure at the top – employees on the trading floor also called him [...]
Women: Use celebrity to get whatever you want August 31, 2009 ANDY WARHOL said that everyone would have their 15 minutes of fame. The rise of celebrity has been astounding as a phenomenon. The women’s movement, where moderate success has been won through policy and protest, has much to learn from it. The craze with which anybody can become famous has been fuelled by crowd-sourced talent [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK August 31, 2009 THE MORE ostentatious among you may baulk at the idea of a bill totalling under £1,000, but allow The Capitalist to present… a £986.12 cheese tasting session. Yep, this group of accountants popped into South Kensington cheese shop La Cave a Fromage last week for cheese and a couple of glasses of wine. Along with [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 31, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopersThe accountancy giant has appointed Nick Secrett to its pensions capital management team, which was launched at the end of last year and is headed up by partner Chris Massey. “Secrett has a wealth of capital markets expertise and will work with our clients to model and control their pension financing and investment risks,” said [...]
Toyota axes California plant August 31, 2009 Toyota is stopping production at its carmaking plant in California, leaving 4,500 workers likely to lose their jobs. New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, or NUMMI, was a joint venture in Fremont between Toyota and General Motors, but GM withdrew earlier this year as part of its bankruptcy agreement. Now Toyota has also decided to stop [...]