After the Nvidelity comes the Huangover. Jensen Huang joins long list who confused boardroom and bedroom
Housing market dips on stamp duty return March 4, 2010 THE housing market recovery hit a stumbling block in February as poor weather, more properties being put up for sale and the end of the stamp duty holiday took their toll. House prices dropped 1.5 per cent last month, taking the value of the average home down to £166,587, according to the latest data from [...]
Petrofac plans London IPO March 4, 2010 Oil services group Petrofac is planning to float its North Sea oil assets in a new venture with Swedish partner Lundin Petroleum. The FTSE 100 heavyweight will spin off its exploration and production division, Petrofac Energy Developments and combine it with the UK Continental Shelf assets of Lundin in a new company called EnQuest. This [...]
VT pulls out of chase for Mouchel March 4, 2010 SUPPORT services firm VT Group has announced that it will not be making a takeover bid for infrastructure firm Mouchel. VT had made an approach to the company about a takeover last month. However, no formal negotiations were held. Meanwhile VT has been trying to stave off a takeover boid for its own business from [...]
Aviva profit up despite weather claims March 4, 2010 INSURER Aviva reported a three per cent increase in 2009 profit, with cost cutting helping to offset a rise in weather-related claims. The company’s operating profit of £3.48bn was up from £3.37bn the previous year, its annual results showed. Analysts had pencilled in a profit fall to £3.01bn.
City cheers as economy rebounds March 3, 2010 RELIEF trickled through global markets yesterday as a series of polls showed the strongest growth in the services sector since the financial crisis began, fuelling hopes of recovery. Shares rose on both sides of the Atlantic after the UK service purchasing managers survey surprised analysts by jumping 3.9 points to 58.4 for February – its [...]
BA trains 1,000 staff to replace its cabin crew March 3, 2010 BRITISH Airways (BA) will have up to 1,000 staff members fully trained and ready to serve as cabin crew by next week should talks with aircrew to avoid a strike collapse. The commercial airline said up to 6,000 staff members, including pilots, had originally volunteered to work on flights but a smaller number had already [...]
Greece could seek IMF aid March 3, 2010 GREEK Prime Minister George Papandreou warned yesterday he would turn to the International Monetary Fund for support should the EU not provide the financial assistance he wants. The threat came in the wake of fresh spending cuts – the country’s toughest in decades. The newest line of measures are expected to raise €4.8bn (£4.3bn) after [...]
Why we need to balance the books March 3, 2010 IT is often forgotten that Britain has defaulted on its national debt in the past. The Great Conversion of 1932, after another economic and financial crisis, was a humiliating moment for what was then the British Empire. After much negotiating, the UK’s costly five per cent first world war bonds were turned into new, cheaper [...]
Mandelson slams Volcker March 3, 2010 BUSINESS secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday dismissed US President Barack Obama’s plan to separate retail banking from riskier trading as “too difficult” to implement. Suggesting a Labour government would not follow Obama’s so-called Volcker rule, Mandelson called for global coordination on regulation. He said: “Trying to apply sweeping rules about the structure, content and range of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES POLICE SHUT DOWN MARIPOSA HACKER RING Police, private security experts and internet service providers said yesterday they had shut down the Mariposa botnet, one of the largest networks of hacked personal computers discovered. It had siphoned off financial and other information from inside half of the largest 1,000 US companies. Computers using about [...]