Guess which country escaped recession? July 26, 2009 ON closer inspection, a lot of the supposed “facts” we think we know about the credit crunch turn out to be nonsense. Take the widespread view that the recession is a global phenomenon, affecting every developed country. Yet Australia is a glaring exception: it has not only avoided the worst of the destruction but has [...]
Anglo unveils restructure July 26, 2009 ANGLO AMERICAN boss Cynthia Carroll is set to unveil a cost-cutting programme this week, which is expected to show that over 10,000 jobs have been slashed at the mining giant over the past six months. Most of the cuts have been at Anglo Platinum, its subsidiary, where capacity has been cut, and production costs have [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 26, 2009 THE SUNDAYThe Sunday TelegraphVIRGIN TRAINS EYES BID FOR EAST COAST FRANCHISESir Richard Branson, the Virgin tycoon, has indicated that his company is ready to make a bid for the East Coast Main Line rail franchise. The Government is to re-nationalise the London to Scotland route for at least 12 months from the end of 2009 [...]
VW looks at 4bn capital raising July 26, 2009 Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen (VW) is exploring the possibility of a capital raising of up to €4bn (£3.2bn) as part of a plan to buy Porsche. The Piech and Porsche families reconciled last week after intense feuding over a rescue of the luxury carmaker, by agreeing to integrate it into VW. The companies were not [...]
64 US banks seized this year July 26, 2009 Seven US banks were seized yesterday, including six owned by the same parent in Georgia, taking the number of failures in US banks to 64 so far this year. The six related banks were part of Security Bank, and had assets of around $2.8bn (£1.6bn), and deposits of $2.4bn. They had high exposure to real-estate [...]
Arab financier in fraud probe is found dead July 26, 2009 THE CHIEF executive of Kuwaiti investment group Al-Raya, in which Citigroup has a 10 per cent stake, has died in an apparent suicide three days after US regulator the SEC launched high-profile fraud charges against him. Hazem Khalid Al-Braikan, 37 years old, was found dead in bed with a gunshot wound to his head and a [...]
Ministers split over timing of VAT increase July 26, 2009 A CABINET rift has opened up over whether VAT should rise to its previous rate at the end of the year. Retail and hospitality executives, who have campaigned for months against the change, were buoyed last week when Harriet Harman said the planned rise from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent on January 1 [...]
Citi appoints trio in bid to revamp board July 26, 2009 CITIGROUP continued its management reshuffle at the weekend, appointing three new directors as part of efforts to demonstrate its commitment to change to appease US regulators and government. The bank appointed former New York state banking regulator Diana Taylor, Timothy Collins, chief executive of investment firm Ripplewood Holdings and Robert Joss, business professor at Stanford [...]
Fresh wave of job cuts at Shell July 26, 2009 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell is set to announce a set of job cuts this week, as new chief executive Peter Voser continues his wave of intense restructuring at the company. But reports that the number of job losses would be as high as 600 were yesterday dismissed. Voser is expected to give details of [...]
Economists say sorry to Queen July 26, 2009 ECONOMIC experts have written to the Queen, explaining why they did not predict the credit crunch. The letter, signed by Monetary Policy Committee member Tim Besley, blames the “failure of the collective imagination of many bright people” for not predicting the downturn. Last November the Queen asked why no one foresaw the slump. “We won’t [...]