Spyker Cars tables renewed offer for GM’s Saab marque December 21, 2009 Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars yesterday submitted a new offer to fast-track a buyout of Saab from General Motors, two days after last-ditch talks to rescue the Swedish manufacturer collapsed. GM said on Friday it would start shutting down the loss-making firm after talks with Spyker ended. The move to abandon the 60-year-old Swedish auto [...]
Christmas party spending cut as companies play Scrooge December 21, 2009 Businesses are spending nearly a third less on Christmas parties this year than they did in 2008, according to research due to be published today. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that employers will spend about £600m on Christmas parties for their staff this year, down from close to £1bn in 2007 [...]
CHUNNEL CRIPPLED BY COLD December 20, 2009 EUROSTAR services are today suspended again after this weekend’s travel chaos on the cross-channel route. Winter weather wreaked havoc on the line on Saturday, with condensation blamed for electrical faults. Chief executive Richard Brown, facing calls to resign, said the company had not been adequately prepared for such cold weather.
Irish banks close to freedom December 20, 2009 Irish banks that receive state capital will be strong enough to sell their possible majority government stakes to foreign investors in a year or two, the governor of the central bank said yesterday. Dublin – which already has indirect 25 per cent stakes in each of the top two lenders Allied Irish Banks and Bank [...]
Maaden and Alcoa in $10.8bn JV December 20, 2009 State-run Saudi Arabian Mining Company and US aluminium giant Alcoa agreed yesterday to build a $10.8bn (£6.7bn) aluminium complex in the world’s top oil exporter, targeting the Middle East from 2013. Under the deal, the companies form a joint venture to set up a 1.8m tonne-per-year refinery and a bauxite mine with an annual capacity [...]
Avatar rakes in $73m in the US December 20, 2009 Titanic director James Cameron’s Avatar, the 3D film hyped as a giant leap in cinematic prowess, earned an estimated $73m (£45m) during its first weekend at the North American box office, distributor 20th Century Fox said yesterday. The opening for the costly sci-fi film fell short of industry forecasts in the $85m range. But News [...]
Copenhagen meeting ends on flat note December 20, 2009 British businesses have slammed the Copenhagen climate summit as a “missed opportunity” as fears grow that London’s leading position in the carbon trading market is under threat. CBI director-general Richard Lambert said the climate-change meeting was “a disappointing conclusion” to two years of negotiations. “Business needs a clearer sense of direction if it is to [...]
Apollo enters the running for Gala Coral with £250m offer December 20, 2009 A LAST-MINUTE attempt by US private equity firm Apollo to muscle into the rescue of ailing bookmaker and bingo group Gala Coral is likely to be rebuffed, sources said yesterday. Apollo has submitted a proposal to the board which would see it pump in £250m in exchange for 50 per cent of the company’s equity. [...]
Google avoids UK tax by routing £1.6bn revenue through Dublin December 20, 2009 GOOGLE, the internet search giant, avoided UK tax of around £450m last year by diverting its substantial advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary. The Californian technology company used a legal arrangement to route £1.6bn UK advertising revenues via Dublin. Google paid £141,500 in UK tax for the 12 months, which constituted [...]
Shell to sell Nigeria fields December 20, 2009 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell could sidestep tougher restrictions on foreign companies in Nigeria and constant violence against its workers by selling its onshore assets in the turbulent African country in deals that would deliver the company an estimated £3bn. Shell yesterday declined to comment on reports that it had already put some of its [...]