GM close to Hummer sale June 2, 2009 GENERAL Motors, the mammoth US automaker undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, was last night on the verge of selling its Hummer brand to a Chinese machinery firm for between $150m (£90m) and $250m. Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery will buy the company and continue to make the outsized sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in the US for what [...]
Setanta’s non-payment has its rights-holders fretting June 2, 2009 THE Scottish football authorities were yesterday fearing the worst after Setanta, the struggling pay telelvision company, missed a £3m payment and gave no indication when it might be forthcoming. The missed payment has sent shockwaves through the Scottish football establishment which recently signed a lucrative four-year deal with Setanta worth £125m. Last night the chairmen [...]
LDV back in administration as white knight Weststar decides to turn tail June 2, 2009 VANMAKER LDV, backed by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, is back in administration, after white knight Weststar rode out of town yesterday. The Malaysian company agreed last month to buy LDV, which employs 850 people in the UK, after it halted production due to a collapse in demand for vehicles. Weststar was the only bidder to [...]
Ryanair falls to first ever annual loss June 2, 2009 BUDGET airline Ryanair reported its first ever annual loss yesterday, blaming high fuel costs and massive writedowns on the value of its stake in Irish rival Aer Lingus. The no-frills airline said its losses for the year to 31 March 2009 were €180.4m (£155m), down from a profit of €481m the previous year. The company [...]
The long summer break may be making a big comeback June 2, 2009 YESJEREMY HAZLEHURST FIRST, a simple fact: there is more to life than work. Really, that’s all you need to know. It follows that, if you can, you ought to take as long as possible eating pasties, hang-gliding, sunbathing or just drinking, whatever is your preferred non-work activity. It is all too easy to convince yourself [...]
WHERE DID RYANAIR GO WRONG ? June 2, 2009 RICHARD J HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWNThere is some disappointment around the numbers, which have come in rather below market estimates. In terms of the figures, the Aer Lingus stake has proved to be something of an albatross around the company’s neck. It also had difficulty in hedging oil correctly over a turbulent period. DOUGLAS MCNEILL BLUE [...]
VEXED IN THE CITY SOLVING YOUR RECESSION PROBLEMS June 2, 2009 DEAR VEXED: A recent study said that attractive people go further at work. I’m working myself to the bone to hang in there but I have to be frank: I’m no looker. I’m overweight and haven’t been blessed with the best of faces – bit of a chinless wonder to be honest. What can I [...]
Profits sizzle at B&Q as barbecue sales rocket June 2, 2009 WARM barbecue weather boosted sales at DIY chain B&Q in the first quarter, helping parent group Kingfisher report a 40 per cent jump in profits yesterday. The retailer said that profits in the 13 weeks to May 2 were £128m, smashing analyst expectations, which were around £34m lower. Chief executive Ian Cheshire said the group [...]
Ex-Vodafone boss paid to return home June 2, 2009 VODAFONE’S former chief executive Arun Sarin was paid £500,000 to return to his native US when he left the company, according to the company’s annual report. In total, the former boss – who left Vodafone in July 2008 but remained as a consultant until February – picked up a payout of £8.1m in his final [...]
Investors rap Tomkins on pay June 2, 2009 ENGINEERING firm Tomkins was last night left reeling after nearly 40 per cent of investors voted against the firm’s annual remuneration report. Just 61 per cent of shareholders approved the remuneration policy, according to figures released yesterday, with many understood to have been outraged by the company’s rewards system. Chief executive Jim Nicol was handed [...]