Big six energy bosses called before MPs October 22, 2013 The chief executives of the big six energy firms have been called before the energy select committee on 29 October. Sir Robert Smith MP said in a statement that "the committee has today decided to call in the energy bosses in the context of the latest wave of price increases". MPs will grill bosses over [...]
Euro is “too German” says French industry minister October 22, 2013 Frustration over the current state of the Euro was given a voice on Tuesday, in the form of French industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg. In an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, Montebourg said: The euro is too expensive, too strong and a little too German. It should be a little more Italian, French, and simply [...]
New sites to see Cineworld trump UK cinema market October 22, 2013 Cineworld plans to open up 25 new cinemas over the next four years, the group has said to Reuters. The British company is seeking to get the edge in the cinema market – the planned cinemas would topple market dominator Odeon. It currently has 101 sites, compared with competitor Odeon's 112 sites, and Vue's 80. [...]
EU launches second investigation involving Holcim deals October 22, 2013 The European Commission has launched an investigation into the planned acquisition of Cemex West by Swiss cement giant Holcim. The Commission is concerned that the deal may reduce competition in Germany and Belgium, where Cemex West is a competitor to Holcim. The Commission has until 10 March to make a decision. The planned transaction involved [...]
French GDF Suez jumps on UK shale bandwagon October 22, 2013 GDF Suez E&P UK (GDF) – the UK arm of French energy giant GDF Suez – has become the second utility firm to buy into British shale gas after buying a 25 per cent interest in UK onshore projects. (Release) GDF will work with Dart Energy on 13 of its UK licenses, the latter said [...]
Ex-Co-op boss says bank crisis a “tragedy” and that governance structure must change October 22, 2013 Ex-Co-operative chief executive Peter Marks has said that the Co-op Bank has been a "tragedy" while grilled by the Treasury Select Committee (TSC). Marks told the committee that he wasn't on the bank's board and that he could not have changed its governance, pointing to the very different structure of a private limited company versus [...]
Nokia unveils hosts of new tablets and phablets on Windows tech October 22, 2013 Nokia has unveiled the world's first Windows tablet and host of phablet products at an event in Abu Dhabi. The Lumia 2520 is the only Windows RT tablet made by a manufacturer other than Microsoft. In September US computing giant Microsoft agreed a €5.33bn (£4.52bn) deal to purchase Nokia's mobile devices arm. The operating system [...]
Ofgem clamps down on fixed term energy deals October 22, 2013 New Ofgem rules came into force today which stop energy firms from raising prices on fixed-term contracts. Companies are also banned from automatically rolling customers onto new fixed-term deals when their current one comes to an end. The regulations are the latest stage of Ofgem's reforms to "reset the energy market", making "a positive difference [...]
Government deficit falls faster than anticipated in September but spending is still on the rise October 22, 2013 The government's budget deficit has (by one measure) come in lower than expected in September. At £11.1bn, that's shy of the £11.3bn that analysts had anticipated, and a fall from £12.1bn in the month before. In that period government revenues rose by seven per cent, with spending up 2.5 per cent. The privatisation of Royal [...]
Scottish Power to pay out £8.5m to customers misled by badly trained staff October 22, 2013 Scottish Power has agreed to pay consumers £8.5m following an Ofgem investigation into the energy company's selling practices. The regulator said that Scottish Power had breached its marketing licence conditions, with customers being misled during doorstep and telephone sales approaches because of failure to "adequately train and monitor" staff. The breach took place between 2009 [...]