LDV sold to chinese car firm October 15, 2009 LDV, the Birmingham van maker, has been sold by administrators to a Chinese engineering firm Eco Concept for an undisclosed sum. Eco Concept is led by Dr Qu Li, the Chinese consultant who worked for the Phoenix Four during their ownership of MG Rover. LDV was backed by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska but collapsed into [...]
Tory MP to quit over expenses October 15, 2009 The Conservative MP David Wilshire, who is facing claims he used expenses to pay his own company, said he will stand down at the general election. Wilshire, who represents Spelthorne in Surrey, referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner after reports he directed £100,000 of public money to a company he owned. His decision followed [...]
BA unions say strikes ‘inevitable’ October 15, 2009 British Airways cabin crew union Unite warned last night that strike action is “inevitable” unless a compromise can be reached at talks to be held on Monday.
Google and IBM surpass expectations October 15, 2009 US technology companies were upbeat last night, with Google declaring that the worst of the recession is over and IBM raising its full-year outlook. Google, the world’s number one search engine, said that its net income rose by 27 per cent in the third quarter to $1.64bn (£1bn), or $5.13 a share, compared with $1.29bn, [...]
Ken Lewis will not be paid this year October 15, 2009 Outgoing Bank of America chief executive Kenneth Lewis will get no pay or benefits for his last year of work at the company. Lewis, chief executive of Bank of America (BOA) for nearly a decade, was scheduled to receive $1.5m (£1m) in base pay this year, but no bonus or other payments, said company spokesman [...]
Worker rights rules delayed October 15, 2009 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday pledged to delay European Union (EU)rules that would give agency workers the same rights as full-time employees. Business minister Pat McFadden said the UK will bring in the new laws in the coming months, but they will not be enforced until October 2011, giving recession-hit businesses a break before they have to [...]
Ex-FSA boss warns on slump October 15, 2009 The former head of the FSA Sir Howard Davies warned of “dramatic risks” ahead for the economy in the UK, which he says has failed to grasp the gravity of the financial crisis. Now director of the London School of Economics, Davies said that “the next six months are going to be incredibly delicate in [...]
Goldman UK staff to enjoy huge payouts October 15, 2009 THE London operations of Goldman Sachs, based in the Daily Telegraph’s and the DailyExpress’s old Fleet Street office, have been key to the bank’s success and some of its City players stand to net massive pay packages as a result. The bank has set aside $16.7bn (£10.3bn) for compensation in the first nine months of [...]
Equitable Life victims win court battle October 15, 2009 Hundreds of thousands more Equitable Life policyholders are now likely to receive compensation after the High Court yesterday found against the Treasury in a decade-long battle over payouts. Two High Court judges condemned the government’s decision to ignore findings made by the Parliamentary Obmudsman last year that there had been regulatory failures and “injustice and [...]
Office of Fair Trading to launch probe into how the web uses customer data October 15, 2009 The Office of Fair Trading said yesterday it had launched a probe into strategies used by online retailers, including those designed to track users’ online behaviours. The watchdog said it was targeting “behavioural advertising and customised pricing, where prices are individually tailored using information collected about a consumer’s internet use”. It said the first study [...]