US in green boost for Ford and Nissan June 23, 2009 FORD, Nissan and start-up company Tesla will reap the benefits of a $25bn (£15bn) loan programme from the Obama administration, designed to help them overhaul their US factories and make more eco-friendly cars, it emerged yesterday. The news came as Nissan unveiled plans to mass-produce electric vehicles at its Tennessee plant. Chief executive Carlos Ghosn [...]
LIVERPOOL WALK ON June 23, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland yesterday confirmed it is close to reaching a refinancing deal with Liverpool over the football club’s debt. The club’s co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, took out a £350m loan from RBS when they took over the club in 2007. The loan was due to be repaid by 24 July.
RBSrisk director nets share deal June 23, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland admitted yesterday that its new head of risk Nathan Bostock will get a share bonus unrelated to group performance. Bostock, who was appointed as head of restructuring and risk earlier this year, was awarded 1.18m shares, worth £463,000 at the time he joined the bank. RBS said Bostock was being given [...]
Mandelson wins costs from MAG June 23, 2009 Business secretary Lord Mandelson has succeeded in a bid to reclaim legal costs from the Merger Action Group (MAG), which launched an unsuccessful legal bid to prevent the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) awarded the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), £35,000 in costs, but rejected a [...]
Regulation gurus speak to City June 23, 2009 EU regulation guru Jacques de Larosiere will join Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Adair Turner and Conservative Sir James Sassoon to speak at the Business for New Europe (BNE) conference. The trio, who have each produced recommendations on the future of regulation, will address an audience of business leaders at JP Morgan’s Victoria Embankment headquarters.
Brown expels Iranian diplomats June 23, 2009 Prime Minister Gordon Brown expelled two Iranian diplomats from the UK yesterday, after Iran forced two British diplomats to leave. President Obama broke his silence, criticising Iran and denouncing the regime’s “threats, beatings and imprisonments”.
Aldi and Lidl’s growth rate falling behind June 23, 2009 DISCOUNTERS like Aldi and Lidl are now growing less quickly than British stalwarts such as J Sainsbury and Morrisons in a sign that the traditional supermarkets’ fight-back is succeeding, a survey showed yesterday. Britain’s grocery market grew by a recession-beating 6.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 14 June compared to the same period [...]
US authorities vow to pursue tax evasion probe of UBS June 23, 2009 THE US Justice Department yesterday slapped down any suggestion that it could drop its legal case against UBS, which aims to force the Swiss bank to hand over details of 52,000 US citizens suspected of using the bank to evade tax. “While the department is always willing to consider settlement in any case, the suggestion [...]
CITY VIEWS: how well are the supermarkets coping with the recession? June 23, 2009 ORRAINE NAYLER ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND“I don’t really go to big supermarkets and prefer to shop in my local stores. But I think the budget supermarkets are benefiting from the downturn – the stigma attached to Aldi and Lidl is probably disappearing and people are looking beyond packaging to non-branded goods if they are cheaper.” [...]
ALL HAIL THE CITY’S HUNKIEST GENTS June 22, 2009 1. JOSHUA RAYMOND CITY INDEXIt was a tough job, picking just one of the City’s most strapping gentlemen to grace the top spot, but someone had to do it – and City A.M.’s discerning judging panel were unanimous in their vote for the lovely Joshua Raymond, market strategist at spreadbetter City Index. Joshua started breaking [...]