ECB to spend €1bn on new HQ December 17, 2009 The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday gave itself the go-ahead to build a new €1bn (£890m), 48-storey HQ, giving it a permanent home for the first time and drawing a line under years of delays and setbacks. The proposed design in Frankfurt’s rundown east end has two twisted interlocking towers built round the city’s former [...]
Toronto Dominion fined £7m for scrutiny failure December 17, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday fined Canada’s Toronto Dominion Bank £7m, the regulator’s fourth-biggest penalty ever, for failing to scrutinise the prices used by its traders. The FSA, which has handed out a record £27.8m in penalties for fraud, market abuse and inadequate controls this year, said the fine reflected Toronto Dominion’s failure to [...]
Perkins sees a boost in its DIY branch December 17, 2009 RETAIL group Travis Perkins gave a glimmer of hope to retailers yesterday, as it reported a steady improvement in its DIY arm Wickes. Perkins, which also owns chains Tile Giant and Toolstation, added that it was seeing positive moods in the builders’ merchant market. The group said earnings for the full year would be towards [...]
Expansion curtailed as profits slump at restaurant group Clapham House December 17, 2009 THE company behind restaurants Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek has suffered a 13 per cent slump in profits – scuppering any major expansion plans next year. Clapham House Group – whose Tootsies chain closed in October – said trading conditions remained “pretty challenging”. However, the firm claimed there were signs that things were [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 17, 2009 FedEx puts out negative forecast FedEx forecast third-quarter profit below analysts’ expectations yesterday, casting doubt on the sustainability of its holiday volume surge, and sending the package delivery giant’s shares down 4.5 per cent. The company, an economic bellwether, said it shipped 14.1m packages on Monday, its busiest day of the year, which was a [...]
JJB cautious on Christmas as sales drop December 17, 2009 JJB Sports has reported a 52 per cent plunge in sales in the 20 weeks to 13 December, with the Christmas season failing to reverse its fortunes. The struggling sports retailer has been trying to stage a fight back after it came close to going into administration earlier in the year. But the latest gloomy [...]
Time for City to dig in and prepare for 2010 battles December 17, 2009 AS the year draws to a close thoughts are inevitably turning to the City’s prospects in 2010, a year which will feature economic uncertainty, new legislation and taxes and a general election which could return the nightmare scenario of a hung parliament. For the Square Mile the key battle lines are being drawn as the [...]
Coke hikes view on 2009 profits December 17, 2009 COCA-COLA Enterprises raised its profit outlook for 2009 and said earnings should rise in a high single-digit percentage rate in 2010 as it works on drawing consumers to its drinks. The largest bottler of Coca-Cola beverages said it planned to start repurchasing shares during the first quarter of 2010 and should buy back about $600m [...]
Carphone signs Monitise deal December 17, 2009 CARPHONE Warehouse said it has signed a deal with Monitise to bring mobile banking to the UK. With £15.8m in funding raised, mobile money firm Monitise is planning to set up a network to extend banking and payments via mobile phones to retail customers. The first services are expected to be available to customers in [...]
NAB prepares to kick start consolidation December 17, 2009 NATIONAL Australian Bank (NAB) chief executive Cameron Clyne yesterday admitted it has received approaches about using its Clydesdale and Yorkshire operations to lead a banking consolidation drive in Britain. Speaking to shareholders at the institution’s annual meeting Clyne said: “We have been approached by a number of players in the UK market to see how we [...]