MPs slam railway franchise structure July 27, 2009 THE Transport Select Committee branded the railway franchise system “a mess” yesterday, calling for massive reforms on the lines, and for the nationalisation of the troubled East Coast mainline. The cross-party group of MPs said it wants the East Coast mainline – which is set to taken away from operator National Express later this year [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE EAST COAST MAINLINE BE KEPT IN PUBLIC OR PRIVATE HANDS? July 27, 2009 PHIL LONG ASPEN INSURANCE“Rail franchises are better off in public hands in the long run. The focus is on profit when private companies run them, and not on customer service. The private sector just cherry picks the best lines to suit them, and it’s all too easy to dispose of them when they aren’t profitable.” [...]
Banco Popular bad loans to ease off July 27, 2009 Banco Popular saw first-half net profit decline by nearly 35 per cent to €442.6m (£382m) yesterday, but offered an optimistic assessment of bad loans growth. Chief financial officer Jacobo Gonzalez-Robatto said the bank did not expect non-performing loans to exceed between five and five per cent in 2009, after new bad loans fell by 41 [...]
We are all slowly becoming individual capitalists July 27, 2009 DR JONATHAN M Scott and Matthew Sinclair of the Taxpayers’ Alliance this week publish “Tax and entrepreneurship – How the tax system impedes the creation of new firms and decreases employment”. Growing up in the household of an entrepreneur, and through my 12 years in the UK working with some of the best entrepreneurs of [...]
Thales hit by plane delays July 27, 2009 DEFENCE group Thales swung into the red for the first half of 2009, the company said yesterday, blaming writedowns and aerospace industry weakness for its losses. First-half operating profit slumped to €68m. The deeper-than-expected 82 per cent slide in profits reported by new boss Luc Vigneron came after Thales reported a fresh €102m (£87m) loss, [...]
TNT profits slip as cost-savings targets are hiked July 27, 2009 TNT yesterday reported a 45 per cent fall in quarterly core profit, its fourth consecutive year-on-year decline, and the Dutch mail company boosted its cost savings target to cope with weaker demand for delivery services. Europe’s second-largest mail and express delivery company after Deutsche Post also decided to issue an interim dividend of €0.18 per [...]
GRID POWERS ON July 27, 2009 NATIONAL GRID, which runs the UK’s network of electricty pylons, yesterday said it expected a strong performance this year, and its £3.4bn investment programme for the current year remained on target. The company forecast improved profit in its electricity distribution and generation business.
Commerzbank offloads Swiss private bank to LGT, avoiding row with Berlin July 27, 2009 GERMANY’S Commerzbank has reached a deal to sell the Swiss private banking arm of Dresdner Bank to Liechtenstein’s LGT Group, the bank that was embroiled in a tax evasion probe last year. The transaction, at an undisclosed price, will double LGT’s assets under management in Switzerland to just under Sfr20bn (£11.4bn), bringing total assets to [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 27, 2009 SANTANDERKBW maintains an “outperform” rating on Santander, predicting “resilient” second-quarter net profit of ?2,373bn (£2bn), down six per cent year-on-year. The broker recently increased its EPS prediction based on lower provisions in Spain, as well as improving operating profits and favourable currency moves at Abbey and in Brazil. BPEvo Securities takes a “Buy” rating on [...]
Apple to launch tablet computer July 27, 2009 Apple is set to unveil a portable tablet-sized computer that can surf the web and may also serve as an electronic book reader in time for the Christmas shopping season. The device will be able to connect to the internet and, like the iPod Touch, will have the ability to play movies. But it will [...]