Shoppers keep clicking to boost online revenues June 1, 2009 ONLINE spending continues to be a star performer in the recession, despite the downturn battering the high street, according to a report out today by Verdict Research. Online retail purchases are set to rise in 2009 by 13.3 per cent to £20.9bn. In a stark contrast, overall retail growth is expected to contract by 0.6 [...]
PINEWOOD TAKES ON HOLLYWOOD June 1, 2009 PINEWOOD Studios, where the Dark Knight and Quantum of Solace films were made, yesterday submitted its final planning application to double in size, in a bid to rival Hollywood and cheaper rivals elsewhere. It plans to invest £200m to develop permanent state of the art film facilities – including a Parisian square and a Venice [...]
FSA FACES FURY OVER ITS BONUSES May 31, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) is headed for a showdown with MPs after awarding staff a 40 per cent bonus increase despite admitting to having failed in its regulatory duties in the run-up to the banking crisis. The City regulator doled out staff bonuses last month worth £19.7m, it emerged yesterday, prompting questions from politicians [...]
GM to go bankrupt today May 31, 2009 OVER 50 per cent of General Motors’ (GM) bondholders agreed to a crucial debt-for-equity swap last night, as the moribund carmaker gears up to file for bankruptcy today. Bondholders cast their votes and agreed to the swap, which gives them up to 25 per cent ownership of a restructured GM in exchange for $27bn in [...]
Why the public rejects car firm bailouts May 31, 2009 WE are almost there. Barring a last minute hiccup, General Motors (GM) will enter into bankruptcy today. Like Chrysler, it will be using section 363 of the US code, which ought to allow it to reemerge in a few months having shed assets, liabilities and shareholders, and with the government owning the bulk of the [...]
Q & A : GENERAL MOTORS May 31, 2009 Q.HOW HAS THIS GIANT OF AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES GONE TO THE WALL?A.General Motors (GM) was once the world’s largest company and has for years been seen as a bellwether of the US economy. But, like that other big Detroit car maker Chrysler, it has lost market share in the face of competition from US-based Japanese-owned [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2009 THE SUNDAYSTHE SUNDAY TIMES SKY SAYS NO TO SETANTASports organisations including the Scottish Premier League may be forced to stomach deeper-than-expected cuts to their TV income after shareholders in Setanta failed to stump up enough cash to keep the broadcaster alive. Setanta’s financial position was so parlous this weekend that it asked arch-rival BSkyB for [...]
RBS severs ties with brokers May 31, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has dismissed its corporate brokers Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, thereby distancing itself from the two key advisors of the Sir Fred Goodwin era. RBS has appointed Hoare Govett, the advisor owned by RBS’s ABN Amro unit, according to reports. Merrill Lynch was the advisor to RBS on the takeover [...]
LCH.Clearnet bid talks continue May 31, 2009 LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s largest clearing house, will commence talks today with the consortium which has put forward a £727m bid for the business. The 13-strong consortium – made up of 11 banks, inter-dealer broker ICAP and existing shareholder the London Metal Exchange – outbid US clearer Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation earlier this year. But the [...]
Labour faces disaster as voting looms May 31, 2009 THE LABOUR party’s European election hopes suffered another blow yesterday, as an opinion poll showed it lagging behind both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years. According to the ICM poll, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s party is set to suffer a significant defeat in the European elections on Thursday [...]