B&B, Rock on cusp of bad bank merger January 24, 2010 PART-nationalised lender Bradford & Bingley is on the brink of receiving the go-ahead from the European Commission for its package of UK state aid, in a move that will pave the way for a merger of its toxic mortgage book with Northern Rock’s bad bank. A marriage of Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock’s bad [...]
House price rises expected as level of confidence soars January 24, 2010 CONFIDENCE in the UK housing market has jumped more than five-fold in the last year. The number of people expecting house prices to increase over the next 12 months has risen from 10 per cent at the start of 2009 to 53 per cent. The British public expect only a modest rise, according to Rightmove, [...]
Labour accused over insolvencies January 24, 2010 THE TORIES yesterday accused the government of causing over half of the insolvencies since the start of the recession. The government handed out 3,500 winding-up orders in 2008-09, the Tory party said, citing figures from the Insolvency Service. That amounts to around 60 per cent of 6,000 businesses that were made insolvent. Most of the [...]
Lords want BBC partly privatised January 24, 2010 THE BBC should part-privatise its commercial arm to expand distribution of UK television programmes, a parliamentary committee will propose today. The all-party House of Lords communications select committee said the BBC should create a public-private company from BBC Worldwide, allowing production firms to create jobs and extra profits to plough back into programmes. The committee will demand a [...]
The Pru will concentrate on the new January 24, 2010 PRUDENTIAL will curb its ambitions in India and China to concentrate on emerging Asian markets. Chief executive Tidjane Thiam said the firm was limited in those countries by rules on foreign ownership of financial institutions. Instead it will focus investment in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Thiam says investment in these economies increased the firm’s profits [...]
SDI enjoys sales boost but takes hit on forex and integration costs January 24, 2010 SCIENTIFIC Digital Imaging (SDI), the AIM-listed maker of high-end optical equipment, saw a seven per cent sales rise in the six months to October. Revenues reached £3.4m as orders remained strong thanks to the long-term funding enjoyed by SDI’s customers, typically life sciences laboratories. However, operating profit fell from £270,000 in the second half of [...]
London has world’s prime offices January 24, 2010 London’s West End is once again the most expensive location in the world to occupy office space in, according to DTZ’s latest Global Occupancy Costs survey. Ranked fifth in last year’s survey, London’s West End has taken the number one spot, displacing Tokyo. It also jumps above Paris, Dubai and Hong Kong, which were ranked [...]
INVESTMENT BANK WANNABE LAYS HIS SOUL BARE AT GOLDMAN ALTAR January 24, 2010 DEPLETED bonus pool or not, it appears university graduates are still tripping over themselves to land a coveted internship position at Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. In swoops an email doing the rounds in the City, alerting The Capitalist to a copy of a Goldman internship application form recently sent by an aspiring master of [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK January 24, 2010 OFF to Vivat Bacchus’ champagne bar on Friday for a stylish private shindig where our diners munched their way through seven themed platters, including a selection of South African delicacies such as ostrich carpaccio and biltong, before picking at the restaurant’s finest British and French cheeses. Washing all that down were wines from the South [...]
Barclays will defer rewards January 24, 2010 SENIOR Barclays figures including chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond will have their bonuses deferred over three years. In a move to pre-empt public outcry over bumper payouts, Barclays’ 11-strong executive committee and other top staff will take their bonuses mostly in shares, up to 100 per cent of which will be staggered [...]