Business as usual in City as Britain grinds to halt January 6, 2010 FREEZING weather, heavy snow and iced-up roads may have given many Londoners the perfect excuse to avoid work yesterday but thankfully the City of London continued to function as normal with the minimum of disruptions. Insurer RSA yesterday estimated that a single day of severe weather could cost the London economy more than £145m as [...]
CITY VIEWS: HOW DID THE SNOW AFFECT CITY WORKERS YESTERDAY? January 6, 2010 DAVID WEATHERLEY | SMBC GROUP “About half of my office are working from home today. The company is well set up for it after the swine flu scare so we can stay productive even if a lot of people get stranded and can’t make it in. It isn’t anything to get worked up about – [...]
DP World looks to London for listing January 6, 2010 PORT operator DP World is looking to list on the London Stock Exchange after failing to drum up sufficient investor interest on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse. The Dubai-based group, which is more than three-quarters owned by the crisis-hit conglomerate Dubai World, said it was disappointed with the market valuation of the company and will now [...]
Linklaters loses top M&A spot as law industry struggles January 6, 2010 LAW firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom overtook UK rival Linklaters LLP to advise on the highest value of global mergers and acquisitions last year. London-based Linklaters LLP fell from first to fifth, according to data collected by Bloomberg. All of the top five firms advising on mergers and acquisitions worked on fewer deals [...]
Japan Airlines stock dips as pressure builds for bankruptcy restructuring January 6, 2010 SHARES of Japan Airlines fell nearly seven per cent yesterday after a newspaper said the carrier’s main creditor and the finance ministry supported bankruptcy as a way to restructure the heavily indebted airline. The report in the Nikkei business daily added to growing speculation that JAL, Asia’s largest carrier by revenues, was headed for bankruptcy [...]
China beats Germany for exports January 6, 2010 China took over the mantle of the world’s top merchandise exporter from Germany in 2009, according to Global Trade Information Services. Exports from China exceeded those from Germany every month since April last year, with products worth $958bn (£600bn) shipped in the first 10 months of 2009 compared with Germany’s $918bn. The news is likely [...]
Stanford asks for review of bail January 6, 2010 Allen Stanford’s lawyers yesterday asked an appeals court for the second time to review a judge’s decision denying the accused swindler bail. Stanford, 59, was first deemed a flight risk and denied bail by US district judge David Hittner in June last year. Stanford is in a federal detention centre in Houston awaiting his trial [...]
Galleon man faces more charges January 6, 2010 Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon hedge fund, faces further charges in relation to insider trading. Prosecutors said they had uncovered evidence that he reaped $19m more than the $17m originally believed in illicit profits. They also accused him of making cash payments for inside information as early as 2004, rather than 2007. The move [...]
Sheikh owner wipes slate clean at City January 6, 2010 MANCHESTER City have recorded a net loss of £92.6m in the first year since the arrival of new owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan – but the billionaire has written off the debt. The club’s financial results for the 12 months ending 31 May, 2009 show the high price the club is paying in its [...]
Travelodge to open 26 new hotels this year January 6, 2010 TRAVELODGE will be opening 26 new hotels this year, adding 2,000 new rooms to their portfolio. Total investment in the projects will top £115m and includes new hotels in Edinburgh, London, Aberdeen, and Chichester. The new hotels will take Travelodge’s total UK properties to over 400, with in excess of 30,000 rooms. The building program [...]