LEGO BUILDS SALES August 17, 2009 LEGO, Europe’s biggest toymaker, yesterday said its pre-tax profits for the first half had jumped 60 per cent to 684m Danish knoner (£79.3m), thanks to sales of its Star Wars and Lego City range. Lego said its UK sales rose by 20 per cent during the period, despite a softer toy market, as parents turned [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS IT RIGHT FOR THE FSA TO INTERVENE ON THE SUBJECT OF BANKERS’ COMPENSATION? August 17, 2009 SIMON DUCKLIN TMF GROUP“With the tripartite regulatory structure there will always be a lot of finger-pointing over whose responsibility it is to regulate bankers’ pay. If you get different parties involved, things will fall between the cracks, though this issue should be on somebody’s desk.” ALEXANDRA EKPIKEN WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES“On the one hand the [...]
DARLING THREATENS LAW TO CURB CITY BONUSES August 16, 2009 CITY bankers are on a collision course with politicians over multi-million pound bonuses after chancellor Alistair Darling yesterday pledged to intervene to curb excessive pay and risk-taking in the Square Mile. The Treasury is ready to consider legal action on bonuses if they pose a “systemic risk” to the banking system, which Darling and many [...]
The $100m trader in the sights of pay tsar August 16, 2009 British-born Citigroup trader Andrew Hall is fighting to hold on to a $100m (£61m) payout as the US government’s “pay tsar” prepares to cut Wall Street bonuses. The Obama administration’s head of financial services compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, will this week begin to study the pay of the top 25 earners in US banks. One White [...]
Latest big bank to shut down hits US August 16, 2009 US BANK Colonial BancGroup, which has assets of $25bn (£15.1bn), became the largest American bank to fail so far this year when it was shut down by federal officials on Friday. On the same day, regulators also shut down two institutions in Arizona – one in Las Vegas and one in Pittsburgh – pushing the total [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 16, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphBAE WARNS OF CREDIT THREAT TO SUPPLIERSBAE systems has warned that its supply chain is at risk from suppliers failing to obtain adequate credit. The defence giant is supplied by tens of thousands of smaller manufacturers that are far more vulnerable to the funding squeeze than the company itself. BAE has a [...]
Novartis launches copy-cat case August 16, 2009 Novartis, the Swiss drugs giant, has launched legal action against its larger rival GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), claiming it is infringing one of its patents covering a technique used in the production of a number of its own vaccines. Last year, GSK lawyers attempted to get the Novartis patent revoked, claiming it should never have been granted, [...]
Pirates’ bounty hurts business August 16, 2009 The rising wave of piracy will force businesses to pay a rising “piracy tax” to maintain trading networks, according to insurer Lloyd’s of London. The cost will come as a further blow to ship-owners, who will have to protect themselves from ransoms which can be as high as £2m, and other costs including delays in [...]
Which? to raise outside finance August 16, 2009 Consumer lobbying group Which? is in talks to raise finance from outside sources for the first time in its history to help launch a range of own-brand products and services. Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith hopes to capitalise on what he called the group’s “trusted” brand image to encourage competition in markets. The business is [...]
Garmin makes bid for Raymarine August 16, 2009 Electronic boat equipment maker Raymarine has had a takeover approach from sat nav giant Garmin. Raymarine has been on the hunt for a rescue partner as it struggles against slumping profits and rising debts. The two firms dominate different parts of the navigation-systems markets but are different in size. Raymarine, which is based in Portsmouth, [...]