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 [...]
RBS Sempra deal may close in New Year December 17, 2009 THE sale of RBS Sempra, the commodities business owned by the beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland, could be completed as early as January, sources said yesterday. Four players – thought to be Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – have entered the closing stage of bidding. Although Deutsche Bank was reported to [...]
YO! Sushi owner raises its turnover December 17, 2009 Quilvest, the private equity firm behind the buyout of Japanese restaurant company YO! Sushi, more than doubled its turnover last year. The UK arm of Quilvest, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, generated revenues of £1.2m – up from £503,000 in 2007. However, accounts filed at Companies House show Quilvest UK turned a profit of just [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 Watford offered lifeline Watford Leisure, the owner of Championship football club Watford, was yesterday offered an eleventh hour financial lifeline that may save it from administration. Fordwat, an investment vehicle of wealthy Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, has proposed to underwrite a £7.5m rights issue. This would allow Watford to pay off its £4.9m loan to [...]
Commercial property puts banks at risk December 17, 2009 OVER-EXPOSURE to the commercial property sector could pose a serious risk to British banks, which will need to shore up their balance sheets substantially over the coming years, the Bank of England will warn in its biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR). Commercial property has been seen as one of the most toxic sectors and outstanding [...]
Withdrawal of policy support could spark market volatility and disruption December 17, 2009 WEANING the UK economy and the banking sector off policy support risks heightened volatility across asset classes and abrupt portfolio adjustments, according to the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report (FSR), published today. In the biannual report, the Bank claims “the enormous scale of public sector intervention means that any withdrawal of support could have [...]
Slow start for Christmas sales season December 17, 2009 The Christmas shopping season has got off to a slow start, with retailers reporting a fall in sales volumes in November, dampening hopes of a bumper festive period on the high street. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales volumes unexpectedly fell by 0.3 per cent in November. Department stores [...]