Mobile tie-up December 17, 2009 THE proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile could curb competition and hurt consumers, regulator Ofcom has warned. Ofcom said it was satisfied that consumers were well served thanks to competition between the country’s five mobile carriers, but this situation could change if the merger were to go ahead. The regulator has no direct authority to [...]
It will be easy to lose money this year December 17, 2009 ONE of the great paradoxes of 2009 was that economic meltdown went hand in hand with strong gains for many investors. After a disastrous few months when everybody was pricing in the end of civilisation, stock markets bounced back, house prices started to rise again and many traders made vast returns. As I wrote yesterday, [...]
Tube Lines in £1.5bn hole December 17, 2009 TUBE Lines chairman David Begg said last night he was frustrated his chief executive Dean Finch is leaving the underground maintenence firm to join transport group National Express. Begg said: “We tried to keep hold of him but National Express made him an offer we couldn’t compete with.” Finch only joined Tube Lines, which maintains [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 17, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES STRICKEN SCOTTISH AIRLINE’S £30M IN QUESTION Administrators of Globespan, the collapsed Scottish airline that has left thousands of passengers stranded abroad, were investigating last night why £30m of its funds were being held by E-Clear, the company that handles its credit card transactions. Bruce Cartwright, of PwC, said he understood that about half [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 BlackBerry’s profits surge Research In Motion (RIM) posted a big jump in profit and issued an even stronger outlook yesterday, as sturdy demand from holiday shoppers helped the BlackBerry maker fend off the competition. For its third quarter, ended 28 November, RIM said profit rose to $628.4m , or $1.10 a share, from $396.3m, or [...]
Business fund in doubt as banks pull out December 17, 2009 THE government’s proposed fund to stimulate lending to businesses was in trouble last night after it emerged a number of major banks may refuse to contribute amid a row over bankers’ bonuses. Standard Chartered has already turned down ministers’ requests to provide at least £25m to support the launch of the National Investment Corporation (NIC) [...]
Ireland beats the UK to pull out of the recession December 17, 2009 IRELAND’s troubled economy recorded 0.3 per cent growth in the third quarter, pulling out of recession ahead of the UK despite a savage contraction over the previous year. The former Celtic tiger economy beat market expectations of a 0.1 per cent rise for the three months to September. However, analysts were cautious, pointing out that [...]
LEBEDEV TARGETS INDIE December 17, 2009 ALEXANDER Lebedev, the former KGB agent who owns the Evening Standard, is back in talks with Independent News & Media, the group that owns the Independent and Independent on Sunday titles. The Indie titles and the Standard are all located at DMGT’s offices in High Street Kensington.
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 EADS cleared of insider trading Defence and aerospace giant EADS was cleared of insider trading last night along with current and former executives. The probe was triggered after EADS suffered a 26 per cent fall in its share price in June 2006 after announcing worsening delays in deliveries of its A380 superjumbo. France’s AMF regulator [...]
BoA finally names insider for its top job December 17, 2009 BANK of America (BoA) has promoted Brian Moynihan as its new chief executive to be given the task of nursing the stricken lender back to health. The appointment of Moynihan – who heads the bank’s retail division – follows the retirement of Kenneth Lewis. His promotion comes after the bank posted two quarterly losses in [...]