Branson pledges to give away half his worth February 19, 2013 SIR Richard Branson yesterday pledged to give away half his fortune to good causes. The British entrepreneur and his wife Joan were one of 12 new signatories to Bill and Melinda Gates’ Giving Pledge Initiative. They join a list that includes Mark Zuckerberg, David Rockefeller and Warren Buffett. Yesterday saw the first billionaires from outside [...]
More than half of UK consumer spend made in supermarkets February 19, 2013 SUPERMARKETS’ slice of consumer spending has dramatically increased during the last decade as consumers spend less on the high street. Around 58p in every pound spent in the retail sector goes to supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, up from 46p a decade ago, according to data from the Payments Council, the payments services watchdog. [...]
US industrial output caught in traffic jam February 19, 2013 US MANUFACTURING output started 2013 with a fall, according to data out yesterday, driven by weakness in car production. Factory production dropped 0.4 per cent in January, Federal Reserve data showed, pushed by the 3.2 per cent crash in car output. The fact that the decline was coming mainly from one sector, combined with upward [...]
Retailers urge Osborne to cut business costs February 19, 2013 THE COST of running a retail business has soared far beyond the increase in sales over the past six years, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned today, as it urged the chancellor to slash red tape and support consumer spending. Retailers’ total operating costs have increased by 21 per cent – a huge £20bn [...]
Xstrata £3.8bn Filipino project gets environmental go ahead February 19, 2013 XSTRATA’S $5.9bn (£3.8bn) mining project in the Philippines has been given the green light by the local environment department, removing a key hurdle delaying work on the copper-gold mine. The Tampakan project has been held up by a 2010 ban on open-pit mining imposed by the provincial government of South Cotabato because of its harmful [...]
RBS considers hybrid selloff February 19, 2013 STATE-BACKED bank RBS is considering selling off a stake in the 316 branches it is being forced to offload, ahead of a larger share listing or sale, it emerged yesterday. Such a move could drum up investor interest in the unit, dubbed Project Rainbow, by showing buyers are prepared to buy into the unit. The [...]
OECD falls into contraction on Eurozone woe February 19, 2013 FALLING output across the Eurozone pulled the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of major economies into decline in the fourth quarter of 2012, the organisation said yesterday. The total output from OECD countries fell 0.2 per cent in the final three months of last year, dragged down by a 0.6 per cent [...]
Novartis scraps £50m payoff for chairman February 19, 2013 SWISS drug firm Novartis yesterday dropped plans to pay its outgoing chairman SFr72m (£50.6m) to stop him going to work for rivals. Daniel Vasella’s golden handcuffs deal was announced on Friday but abandoned after a very negative reaction from shareholders. Executive pay has come under intense scrutiny in the country ahead of next month’s referendum [...]
Lloyds fined for failing to make PPI redress payouts on time February 19, 2013 LLOYDS was yesterday fined £4.3m for failing to compensate 140,000 payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling victims promptly, adding to the £5bn already set aside to cover the scandal. Thousands of those customers had to wait as long as six months for compensation, when it should have taken 28 days, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said. [...]
Drax gears up to total biomass conversion as annual profit falls February 19, 2013 ANNUAL profits dipped at coal fired power producer Drax, as it ramped up its transformation into a biomass-fuelled business. Drax, which runs a coal-fired power station in Yorkshire, said yesterday that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation over the full year fell to £298m from £334m in 2011, although this was in line with [...]