USconsumers cut borrowing as unemployment starts to bite September 8, 2009 US consumers slashed their borrowings by a record $21.6bn (£13bn) in July, the Federal Reserve said last night. Total US consumer credit fell at a 10.4 per cent annual rate to $2.47 trillion, suggesting that households were shying away from credit amid rising unemployment. Analysts were expecting a much smaller $4bn decline in July after [...]
T-Mobile and Orange plan tie-up in UK September 8, 2009 DEUTSCHE Telekom and France Telecom yesterday confirmed that they plan to merge their UK operations in a venture that will grab the top spot in the UK mobile market. The operators said they were in exclusive negotiations over the 50:50 merger between German-owned T-Mobile UK and France Telecom’s Orange UK business, and that they hope [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT DOES THE T-MOBILE / ORANGE TIE-UP MEAN FOR COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE INDUSTRY? September 8, 2009 OLIVER THOMAS INSURANCE RISK PARTNERS “The merger doesn’t really worry me. There are still a number of service providers, and they all need to work together, so it is not like we are going to see a monopoly as such, like we had with BT. If there was more consolidation and less choice, then yes, [...]
FSA fines Barclays over data September 8, 2009 BARCLAYS has been fined £2.45m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to provide the regulator with accurate reports of its transactions and for weaknesses in its systems and controls. The City watchdog said it had stumbled across “discrepancies” in Barclays’ data while probing an incident of suspected market abuse by a third party. [...]
Burberry to hit the large caps as Reuters de-lists September 8, 2009 LUXURY goods group Burberry will replace Thomson Reuters on the FTSE 100 index tomorrow, after the news and financial data group de-lists from the London Stock Exchange. Thomson Reuters is delisting from the FTSE 100 as it wants to simplify its capital structure and eliminate the persistent discount at which the London shares have traded [...]
Greene King sales rise but outlook mixed September 8, 2009 GREENE King, Britain’s fourth-biggest pubs company, yesterday said strong appetite for pub food had pushed sales up sharply in the first four months of its financial year, lifting its shares. The company, which has about 2,400 pubs in England and Scotland, said like-for-like sales at managed pubs in England grew by 4.6 per cent in [...]
Whitbread to move up to the FTSE 100 index September 8, 2009 PROPERTY firm Segro, pest-controller Rentokil and leisure group Whitbread are all set to move up to the FTSE 100 following the index’s quarterly reshuffle. Based on last night’s closing prices the mid-cap players will be promoted to replace F&C Investment Trust, water and sewerage group Pennon and engineer Balfour Beatty, which will all be demoted [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs September 8, 2009 LazardThe financial advisory and asset management group has appointed Charles Foreman as a managing director in the UK capital markets advisory and M&A team. Foreman, 47, joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was a managing director in the UK coverage team. His recent assignments include advising the government on stabilising the UK banking system in [...]
TOP THINK-TANK: RECESSION OVER September 8, 2009 BRITAIN’S economy has finally started to grow again, according to data published yesterday by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), one of the UK’s most respected forecasters. The NIESR figures showed that GDP rose by an estimated 0.2 per cent in the three months to August, the first time it has risen [...]
Dresdner staff launch bonus fight September 8, 2009 FORMER employees of Dresdner Bank have launched a sensational legal bid for €33m (£29m) in bonuses they claim were guaranteed by the bank but never paid. The group of 72 staff say they were entitled to a share of a €400m “retention pool” created in response to the Financial Services Authority’s concern that hiving off [...]