Osborne in expenses probe July 2, 2009 SHADOW chancellor George Osborne is facing an expenses probe by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner following a complaint by the Labour Party chairman for his constituency. Laurie Burton, Labour chair in Osborne’s Tatton constituency, alleges that between 2001 and 2003, Osborne claimed a second home allowance on his main home, a practice known as “flipping”. Burton [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES M&B SEEKS TO FEND OFF INVESTOR REBELLIONMitchells & Butlers is prepared to head off a potential rebellion by offering its two largest shareholders board representation. Drummond Hall, M&B chairman, is understood to be in talks with Joe Lewis, the Bahamas-based billionaire, and Elpida, the investment vehicle for Irish horseracing tycoons JP McManus and [...]
New rules for US bank buyouts July 2, 2009 Private equity houses hoping to invest in troubled banks will be governed by strict rules under new guidelines proposed by US bank regulators yesterday. Private equity firms will have to maintain higher-than-usual capital levels and provide assurances that a healthier institution could provide support for the weaker bank if it runs into difficulty.
Swine flu to hit 100,000 a day July 2, 2009 Swine flu cases could reach more than 100,000 a day in the UK by the end of August, health secretary Andy Burnham warned yesterday. Burnham said the country had moved beyond containment and had now entered the “treatment” phase of the H1N1 virus.
F&C enters acquisition arena July 2, 2009 F&C Asset Management will today become an independent listed fund manager, as Friends Provident doles out its 52 per cent stake to shareholders. The fund manager will now join fellow acquisition-hungry listed funds such as Henderson and Aberdeen, which was itself linked with a bid for F&C earlier in the year.
Pre-nup ruling will shake up divorce law July 2, 2009 THE DAYS of lucrative divorce settlements in the UK could be drawing to a close, after a London appeal court ruled yesterday that a pre-nuptial agreement between a wealthy German heiress and her husband was legally binding. Lord Justice Mathew Thorpe handed down a landmark ruling which determined that a contract between heiress Katrin Radmacher [...]
Chris Hohn’s TCI reveals a 73 per cent jump in profits July 2, 2009 THE activist hedge fund firm TCI, which is run by Chris Hohn, has seen profits surge 73 per cent, according to accounts published yesterday. The Children’s Investment Fund Management (UK) LLP reported profit available for sharing among members of £555.8m for the year to end-August 2008, up from 320.8m a year before. The firm paid [...]
US job losses jump in June July 2, 2009 US UNEMPLOYMENT jumped by more than expected in June, taking the jobless rate of the world’s largest economy to 9.5 per cent, the highest in more than a quarter of a century. Non-farm payroll data, released yesterday, showed that US employers cut 467,000 jobs last month, significantly more than the 363,000 estimated, breaking four months [...]
PVM Oil Futures’ rogue trader costs company around 10m July 2, 2009 A ROGUE trader has left a London-based oil brokerage with losses of almost $10m (£6m) following a series of unauthorised trades two days ago which are thought to have caused a spike in global crude prices. PVM Oil Futures issued a statement yesterday after talk of irregular trading swept through London and Asian oil markets [...]
Eurozone jobless soars to 15m as ECB keeps interest rates on hold July 2, 2009 THE European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates on hold at one per cent yesterday, where they are expected to stay well into next year, especially in the light of Eurozone unemployment hitting a 10-year high of 9.5 per cent in May. ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said: “We had not envisaged any new, other measure [...]