Balfour wins £600m contracts January 12, 2010 Balfour Beatty has won two capital programme contracts with United Utilities and Anglian Water worth £600m.
ITV in Chinese joint venture January 12, 2010 UK commercial broadcaster ITV has struck a three-year deal with Chinese state broadcaster Hunan Satellite Television to create joint programmes. The progammes will initially be shown in China, but may eventually be exported to the UK.
Cadbury tells Kraft it must up its offer January 12, 2010 CADBURY yesterday urged shareholders not to let US food group Kraft “steal your company,” and issued upbeat trading figures to back its case. The British chocolate maker, which has spent the last four months fighting off Kraft’s £10.8bn hostile cash and share bid, accused the US food giant of dramatically undervaluing the company. In a [...]
ECB demands access to banks’ books as City braces itself for regulatory wave January 12, 2010 THE European Central Bank is on a collision course with the Financial Services Authority as it demands access to sensitive information on large UK banks. The ECB, which has grown in confidence through its handling of the financial crisis, has reached for new powers to go through banks’ books in the same way as the [...]
Pension shortfalls shrink as equity market recovers January 12, 2010 THE deficits sustained by the UK’s 7,400 private final salary pension schemes have dramatically improved on the back of rising equity markets and bond yields. Their collective shortfall shrank 65 per cent from £93bn to £33bn in December, according to the government’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The figures mark significant progress from the £191bn gap [...]
Bankruptcy looms for Japan Airlines January 12, 2010 FEARS that Japan Airlines is heading for bankruptcy continued to grow yesterday, with shares tumbling by 45 per cent to a new all-time low despite an increased offer of investment from its Oneworld alliance partners. The airlines, led by American Airlines and including British Airways, have upped their offer of investment in the struggling carrier [...]
Non-bank finance for UK firms January 12, 2010 Work to increase options for UK businesses in need of non-bank finance is the subject of a discussion document released by the Treasury today. The document seeks views on the barriers to more diverse financing for firms with the intention to introduce proposals for reform later in the year.
Website posts £35m earnings January 12, 2010 Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, today confirmed that its 2009 results were in line with what was expected when it last updated in November. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization are expected to be around £36m. The group’s financial position is strong with no debt and cash balances of £54m.
Mobile phone giants’ merger January 12, 2010 France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom yesterday officially notified European Union regulators of their plan to combine their Orange and T-Mobile brands in the UK. They agreed in September to merge, potentially creating the country’s largest operator with about 43.2 per cent of subscriptions. The OFT is considering whether to make a request to review the [...]
US pay levy plan tabled January 12, 2010 US banks whose compensation plans encourage excessive risk-taking would have to pay more for deposit insurance under a proposal floated yesterday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC). The proposal is preliminary and was contentious even among the members of the FDIC board, which voted 3-2 to seek public comment on the proposal. The plan [...]