Bank’s forecast to be very downbeat August 11, 2009 THREADNEEDLE STREET’S latest growth and inflation forecasts published today are widely expected to be downbeat about the prospects for the UK economy, pointing to a weak recovery and the potential for further expansion of quantitative easing (QE). In light of last week’s monetary policy decision and worse-than-expected second quarter GDP data, economists expect the Bank [...]
UK signs deal with Liechtenstein over tax data disclosure August 11, 2009 THE UK has signed a landmark deal with Liechtenstein to aid the recovery of tax revenues from British people with bank accounts in the tiny mountainous principality. HM Revenue and Customs reached an agreement with the Liechtenstein authorities to encourage 5,000 Britons to hand over data on an estimated £3bn stashed in secret accounts. UK [...]
Greenhill and Evercore bosses raise $300m by flogging company shares August 11, 2009 BOSSES at investment banks Greenhill and Evercore Partners have taken advantage of rocketing markets by selling off tranches of their company stock, raising $300m (£182m) in total. The top four staff at Greenhill have raised $142m and the top three staff at Evercore have raised $18.3m, according to filings. Goldman Sachs benefited after bookrunning both [...]
Gunning for the glorious grouse August 11, 2009 THE City can hardly be short of people who consider themselves pretty crack shots when it comes to hitting clay pigeons or scoring the odd pheasant on a hospitality jaunt to the countryside. But true game shooting aficionados will say that you really can’t claim expertise until you’ve mastered the art of downing the fastest [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS THE GOVERNMENT RIGHT TO CLAMP DOWN ON TAX HAVENS? August 11, 2009 RICARDO PINEIRO ESPIRITO SANTO“The people who have access to these accounts are very wealthy, and to allow them to evade taxes is not fair to those paying tax in the UK. Also, it’s a messy time for the government with the public debt, so they are trying to get their hands on all the funds [...]
Google to speed up search August 11, 2009 A post on the Google engineers blog has revealed that the internet search giant is developing technology which will “push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness” of searches. The post invites web developers to try the new service and send them their feedback. The technology, nicknamed “caffeine”, could be launched soon after [...]
UK has most distressed firms August 11, 2009 The UK currently has the highest percentage of financially distressed companies in western Europe because of its position as the leveraged buy-out capital over the past decade, a report from bankers at Close Brothers showed yesterday. This, combined with data from rating agencies that cast growing doubt on whether firms are able to repay debt, [...]
Deloitte urges scrap extension August 11, 2009 Deloitte yesterday urged the government to extend the scrappage scheme, a day after the business department said the incentive was half-way through. “The industry has been buoyed; however there is still a real danger that it could suffer another sudden downturn when the scheme ends,” it said.
JJB’S JONES IN BOARD ATTACK August 11, 2009 JJB Sports executive chairman Sir David Jones was left red-faced last night after emails in which he criticises nearly all his fellow directors were leaked. In an email exchange between Jones and former chief executive Chris Ronnie dated October 2008, Jones criticises five members of the board. Four of the men have now stepped down, [...]
Boardroom ban risk for Phoenix 4 August 11, 2009 THE Phoenix Four, the consortium which controlled carmaker MG Rover when it dramatically collapsed in 2005, could be banned from company boardrooms for life. Business secretary Lord Mandelson has asked lawyers to put together the evidence needed to ban John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards from serving as company directors in the [...]