Two Greek banks plan to shift toxic loans into new institutions October 3, 2013 TWO OF Greece’s largest banks, Piraeus and the National Bank of Greece (NBG) plan to set up bad banks, separating loans that are no longer functional from the working side of the institutions. Anthimos Thomopoulos, the deputy CEO of Piraeus Bank voiced concerns about the number of non-performing loans still shadowing the Greek economy in [...]
China services see best growth since summer’s credit crunch October 3, 2013 CHINA’S services hit a six-month high in September, according to an official index of the sector’s purchasing managers released by the government yesterday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for services hit 55.4, up from 53.9. Any score over 50 signals that the sector is growing. Paired with the country’s manufacturing PMI, which was released earlier [...]
Sports Direct chiefs take home £13m in share bonus winnings October 3, 2013 SPORTS Direct shares lost their shine yesterday after two senior bosses opted to cash in on £13m worth of shares. Chief executive Dave Forsey and finance director Bob Mellors both exercised 2010 bonus scheme options to acquire 1m shares each before immediately selling 950,000 each at 680p a share. The two directors, who earn a [...]
Toshiba boss is keen on British nuclear project October 3, 2013 TOSHIBA is keen to take a majority stake in UK nuclear consortium NuGen, its chief executive said yesterday, as firms and ministers try to get Britain’s atomic power plan moving. Hisao Tanaka told Reuters yesterday that Toshiba, which owns Westinghouse, will decide this year whether to bid for Iberdrola’s 50 per cent stake in NuGen, [...]
Amazon to launch TV box for Xmas October 3, 2013 Amazon.com, which entered the gadget-making business with the Kindle e-reader, intends to sell a set-top box that can stream internet content to televisions in time for the holidays, the Wall Street Journal reported last night. The internet retailer has approached media software developers as well as cable television providers in recent weeks, hoping to secure [...]
Great Portland hires new broker October 3, 2013 West End-focused property developer Great Portland Estates announced yesterday it has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch as joint corporate broker with immediate effect, working alongside the firm’s longstanding broker JP Morgan Cazenove. The company declined to comment further on the appointment.
Portugal judged to be on track October 3, 2013 Portugal’s international lenders approved the country’s performance under a bailout in their latest review yesterday, but rejected government requests to ease fiscal goals. The European Union and International Monetary Fund said Lisbon was moving to meet the lending programme’s goals and that there were early signs of recovery after the worst economic downturn since the [...]
Adobe Systems victim of cyber attack October 3, 2013 Adobe Systems said last night it was the victim of sophisticated cyber attacks on its networks by hackers who accessed data belonging to millions of customers along with the source code to some of its popular software titles. Chief security officer Brad Arkin said he believes the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords [...]
BP rebounds as US court limits claims payouts October 3, 2013 FTSE 100-listed oil major BP’s shares got a boost yesterday, after a US court tightened the standards in assessing claims relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The appeals court in New Orleans ruled that a narrower injunction should be issued, to allow recoveries by claimants with “actual injury” from the spill, and not [...]
Crystal Palace set to sparkle again October 3, 2013 THE ORIGINAL Crystal Palace is set to be bought back to life in a £500m investment aimed at revitalising the area in south London as a major tourist attraction. Chinese developer ZhongRong group yesterday unveiled the ambitious plans which involve rebuilding the palace on the site of the original Victorian building, which burned down in [...]