Orange to axe 370 positions June 25, 2009 France Telecom-owned mobile firm Orange is reducing its headcount by 370, it said yesterday. A spokesman for the firm said 190 jobs from across the business would go immediately, with a further 180 under review, although it believes that at least 90 of these will be achieved through natural wastage.
SWINE FLU SCARE TAKES HOLD AT HEART OF THE FINANCIAL WORLD June 25, 2009 MORE anxiety down at City accountancy firm Ernst & Young, where the dreaded swine flu has taken down a senior accountant and thrown concerned workers into panic. The Capitalist revealed yesterday that one individual from the firm’s More London Place office has been diagnosed with swine flu, while his team and clients are awaiting results [...]
O’Brien stalls INM debt talks June 25, 2009 INDEPENDENT News and Media’s (INM) second largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien, has told the company’s board he will not support a proposal to refinance its €200m (£170m) bond which was due for payment today. Sources close to O’Brien said the Irish businessman is still fully behind the publisher, which owns The Independent and The Independent on [...]
Bank of America exceeds $33.9bn capital cushion June 25, 2009 Bank of America yesterday said it has built more than the $33.9bn (£20.7bn) capital cushion demanded by federal regulators. The bank said it exceeded the buffer by conducting an exchange offer under which it expects to issue 200m shares. In total, it has completed exchanges of $14.7bn in preferred stock for common equity, adding to [...]
DSG warns of further tough times ahead June 25, 2009 DSG INTERNATIONAL, the owner of electrical goods chains Dixons, Currys and PC World, yesterday posted its second annual loss and warned the economic gloom shows no sign of easing over the coming year. DSG chief executive John Browett said current internal forecasts at the firm assume there will be no upturn in the UK economy [...]
Iata: airline traffic has bottomed June 25, 2009 DEMAND for air travel seemed to hit a floor last month, industry body the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said yesterday, while still reporting a decline in air traffic from the previous year. Passenger demand slumped 9.3 per cent year-on-year in May, while freight demand dropped 17.4 per cent, a relative improvement compared to the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 25, 2009 DLA Piper The law firm has elected Janet Legrand, an 18-year veteran of the firm, as senior partner. Legrand succeeds Peter Wayte, who retires at the end of June. She joined the firm in 1991 and specialises in commercial litigation. Her most recent high-profile cases include completing successful anti-corruption proceedings on behalf of the government [...]
Stalemate for mining giants Xstrata and Anglo American June 25, 2009 A TIE-UP between Xtrata and Anglo American “remains unattractive for Anglo shareholders,” sources familiar with the talks said yesterday, a day after Xstrata published details of the merger in a bid to convince shareholders of the merits of the deal. “The Anglo board has firmly rebuffed Xstrata’s proposal,” one industry expert added. Xstrata upped the [...]
HAPPY RETURN FOR BIRTHDAYS June 25, 2009 CLINTON Cards, the greeting card chain, has bought up 196 Birthdays stores a month after it put the business into administration. Under the terms of the deal, which will save around 1,450 jobs, Clintons will discharge £3.25m of the debt owed to it by Birthdays. It will pay a further £0.25m in cash to administrator [...]
Record start at StanChart June 25, 2009 STANDARD Chartered has enjoyed record income and pre-tax operating profit so far this year, the bank said yesterday in a trading update, as it announced it had cut 2,500 jobs. The bank, which focuses on emerging markets, said income growth had been boosted by a strong performance in wholesale banking, although income in consumer banking [...]