US trade gap widening September 10, 2009 THE US trade deficit increased the most in more than 10 years in July as rebounding consumer demand led to a record increase in imports, a government report showed yesterday. The trade gap expanded 16.3 per cent in July to $32bn (£19.2bn), the biggest month-to-month increase since February 1999. Imports leapt a record 4.7 per [...]
As the runt of the mobile litter, 3 will not survive September 10, 2009 AND then there were three. Or at least there will be, because Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 will find it extremely tough to survive following the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK. That would leave what analysts are dubbing “T-Orange”, with a 37 per cent share of mobile revenues in the UK, O2 with 27 [...]
Daniel Stewart offloads stake to Middle East investor Prime Group September 10, 2009 STOCKBROKER Daniel Stewart has agreed a deal to sell a 26 per cent stake in the business to Middle Eastern investment bank Prime Group, raising £2.3m and allowing the group access to the Gulf and North African markets. Daniel Stewart said it had conditionally placed 110m new ordinary shares at 2.1p per share with Prime [...]
GENERAL MOTORS SELLS VAUXHALL September 10, 2009 CAR giant General Motors (GM) yesterday revealed it is selling a 55 per cent stake in Vauxhall and Opel to Canadian car parts maker Magna International. The announcement ends a long bidding war for its European arm between Magna, which is backed by Russian bank Sberbank, and Belgian group RHJ International and Beijing Automotive. The [...]
Authorities start sport retail probe September 10, 2009 SPORT retailers JJB Sports and Sports Direct are at the centre of a double-pronged probe into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour that could see the companies and their directors landed with heavy fines and even jail time. Separate investigations are being conducted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which [...]
Britain needs very large spending cuts September 10, 2009 GENERAL Motors’ sensible sale of its Opel/Vauxhall division to Magna, the Canadian firm, has already prompted fresh demands for more handouts to ensure car production remains in the UK. The Germans, after all, have pledged cash to save Opel jobs; so we should do the same with Vauxhall before it is too late – or [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 10, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES DELANCEY EYES CINEMASDelancey, the property fund backed by George Soros, is in exclusive talks to buy the UK property assets of National Amusements, the cinema chain owned by Sumner Redstone, the US media magnate. This is expected to be the first big acquisition for the fund. MYER’S A$3BN IPO SET TO BE AUSTRALIA’S [...]
Jarvis gets bid approach September 10, 2009 JARVIS, the rail maintenance group, saw its shares jump to their highest level in over a year yesterday, after saying it had received a tentative approach from a potential buyer. Shares in the group rose as high as 27.23p, having mostly limped along at below 20p since a profits warning was issued by the board [...]
Hedgies launch Ucits funds September 10, 2009 Planned new European Union regulation has spurred some of London’s biggest hedge funds on to launch funds onshore. Fund manager Cheyne Capital, which looks after $6bn (£3.6bn) is the latest big name to roll out an “Ucits III fund”, while Man Group, Europe’s biggest hedge fund, is poised to launch a similar operation on Monday. [...]
Google offers rivals book access September 10, 2009 Search engine giant Google has offered rivals access to its huge digital book database, in its latest bid to counter opposition, after a landmark legal settlement with the publishing world. But critics immediately slammed the offer, saying it wouldn’t dent Google’s growing grip on the digital books business. The offer comes ahead of a preliminary [...]