BROKER WILLS & CO OPENS FIRE ON FSA’S REGULATORY CRACKDOWN January 18, 2010 WHEREAS most City firms are content to whinge ineffectually about the Financial Services Authority’s new heavy-handed approach to regulation, it seems that others are starting to put their money where their mouth is. Rumours have been busy swirling in the Square Mile over the regulatory status of private client stockbroker Wills & Co, which can [...]
Nightmare of Greek figures January 18, 2010 THE head of Europe’s statistics agency has had “sleepless nights” over Greek economic data and statistics for 2007 and 2008 debt and budget deficits are still not reliable, Eurostat’s director-general said yesterday. Speaking on Greek television, Walter Radermacher said he could not validate Greek figures, adding parts of Greece’s public sector, such as hospitals, were [...]
A sad day as Cadbury bites the dust January 18, 2010 IT is a great shame that Cadbury’s management has succumbed so easily to Kraft’s advances. Ever since I can remember, the British confectioner had been stalked by predators; yet for years it defied the doubters and refused to go the way of that other Quaker giant, Rowntree, snapped up by Nestle in 1988. Under the [...]
UK gives £20m to Haiti January 18, 2010 BRITAIN tripled its aid commitment to Haiti to £20m yesterday as rescue teams struggled to help remaining survivors of last week’s devastating earthquake. The humanitarian funds will go towards providing food and shelter to tens of thousands of people left without basic provisions after the disaster left capital Port-au-Prince in ruins. The EU pledged more [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BUYOUTS AT 25-YEAR LOW DUE TO LACK OF CREDIT The number of private equity deals in the UK hit a 25-year low last year, as the credit crisis cut off the supply of cheap debt and dissuaded business owners from selling out. There were 117 private equity deals in 2009, fewer than half [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF January 18, 2010 Goldman recommends equities Investment banking supremo Goldman Sachs has advised clients to pile into equities. At its annual strategy conference, the bank said the world was on the brink of a major bull run as corporate profits are poised to jump sharply higher. Goldman said markets were in transition from a “hope phase” to a [...]
BA asks staff to retrain as cabin crew January 18, 2010 BRITISH Airways (BA) has vowed to train thousands of baggage handlers and call centre workers as flight stewards in a bid to break a March strike. Chief executive Willie Walsh last night squared up to Unite, the cabin crew union, by sending a letter to 38,000 BA employees asking them to volunteer and cross picket [...]
International Power’s merger talks with GDF run out of gas January 18, 2010 A MERGER between UK energy firm International Power and France’s state-controlled power giant GDF Suez collapsed last night after the two failed to strike a deal. International Power saw an early surge in share price – up eight per cent yesterday morning – reversed as it ended the day as the FTSE 100’s biggest faller, [...]
APPLE PLANS E-BOOK VENTURE January 18, 2010 PUBLISHER HarperCollins is said to be in talks with Apple over making electronic books available on its new tablet device – dubbed the iSlate – which is set to be launched by Steve Jobs on 27 January. News Corp’s HarperCollins is expected to set the price of the e-books, with Apple taking a percentage of [...]
PM is warned on UK rating January 18, 2010 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown suffered a fresh blow yesterday as one of the country’s largest investors warned the UK’s triple-A credit rating was “extremely vulnerable”. Standard Life said Britain’s ballooning budget deficit and the government’s unwillingness to take tough spending decisions created a “highly toxic” mix that could lead to its sovereign debt rating being [...]