GM CUTS LUTON JOBS November 26, 2009 GENERAL MOTORS (GM) is slashing 354 jobs at its Vauxhall plant in Luton, the car giant said yesterday, in the latest stage of its restructuring since emerging from bankruptcy. Vauxhall employs 5,000 people in the UK at the Luton and Ellesmere Port plants. The Ellesmere plant that makes the Astra will see production increase, meaning [...]
GIP gets EU approval for Gatwick November 26, 2009 Private equity fund Global Infrastructure Partners, controlled by Credit Suisse and General Electric, won permission from the European Commission yesterday to buy London’s Gatwick Airport. Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial, under pressure to reduce its dominance of UK airports, has agreed to sell Gatwick for a smaller-than-expected £1.51bn. The Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation European [...]
EasyJet boss sees blue skies November 26, 2009 The chief executive of low-cost airline EasyJet believes the worst of the recession is over for the airline industry, but warned recovery would be slow. “I think the worst is over but I don’t see any improvement either and expect demand to be stable for the next nine months at least,” chief executive Andy Harrison [...]
Porsche set to be fined by Magna November 26, 2009 Canada’s Magna International wants at least €400m (£289m) in compensation from sports car maker Porsche for cancelling a contract, it is understood. The compensation was for development work already done by Magna, which was due to assemble Porsche's Boxster and Cayman models from 2012 in its Austrian factory. But Porsche wants to cancel the deal.
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 26, 2009 PZ CussonsThe personal care firm has appointed Richard Harvey, the former chief executive of insurance giant Aviva, as its new chairman-elect. Harvey became group chief executive of Norwich Union in 1998 and took up his role at Aviva after the merger of Norwich Union with CGU, initiating the re-branding of the group under the Aviva [...]
Rush on US Mint of Eagle coins November 26, 2009 The US government has suspended sales of the world’s most popular bullion coin because of the rush by retail investors into gold. The shortage of the US Mint of Eagle coin is the latest sign of investors seeking a safe haven into bullion as the value of the US dollar remains uncertain.
DUBAI DEBT WORRIES ROCK WORLD MARKETS November 26, 2009 DEEPENING fears about Dubai’s debt problems shook European stock markets yesterday, with the FTSE 100 index suffering its worst one-day loss since March. The FTSE fell by 3.2 per cent, losing more than 170 points to 5,194.13, while leading indices in France and Germany were also down sharply. Wall Street was closed for Thanksgiving. Banking [...]
Water firms cheer ruling November 26, 2009 WATER companies breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, as industry regulator Ofwat’s price ruling proved less aggressive than anticipated. In its long awaited report on pricing structure at the utilities, the regulator said bills in England and Wales would increase by an average of 0.5 per cent a year between April 2010 and March 2015. [...]
What the Dubai debt fears really mean November 26, 2009 So Dubai has become the latest country to be engulfed in a sovereign debt crisis. It won’t be the last, with mounting fears about the creditworthiness of Greece and others. The markets are panicking, for many reasons: first, they had got dangerously used to the bailout culture; second, because it suggests that the recovery in [...]
Anglo Irish chases ex-CEO November 26, 2009 STATE-OWNED Anglo Irish Bank has launched legal action against the bank’s former chief executive David Drumm in an attempt to recover unpaid loans of €8m (£7.2m). A separate action seeks to overturn the transfer of a Dublin property into his wife’s name. The transfer of ownership of the home on a luxury estate means that [...]