West Coast rail fiasco to cost £50m February 26, 2013 TAXPAYERS have been landed with a bill of “£50m at the very least” for the West Coast rail fiasco, according to MPs. The final cost to the taxpayer of the botched West Coast Main Line franchise award could be “very much larger”, a Public Accounts Committee report warned this morning. The Department for Transport [...]
CRH chief to retire February 26, 2013 BUILDING materials group CRH said this morning that its chief executive is to retire, as full-year operating profit fell three per cent. Myles Lee will retire from the FTSE firm at the end of this year, following a five-year tenure. Operating profit came in at €845m (£728m) for the full year, down from €871m [...]
Trading in Credit Suisse and UBS halted February 26, 2013 Trading in Credit Suisse and UBS was halted for 15 minutes as markets continue to panic. Shares in Italian banks halted before they've even opened. — Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) February 26, 2013 Seeing as FTSE MIB was up nearly 4% at one point yesterday, we're talking about a nearly 9% swing in the stock market [...]
European markets slide on open February 26, 2013 As markets open for the first time since Italy's political gridlock has become apparent, numbers are red across the board: FTSE MIB -5 per centFTSE 100 -1.4 per centIBEX -3.4 per centDAX -2.1 per centCAC -2.5 per cent BERLUSCONI SAYS MARKET ARE BIT CRAZY — Steve Collins (@TradeDesk_Steve) February 26, 2013
Profit leaps at GKN February 26, 2013 PROFITS jumped 19 per cent over the full year for car and aeroplane parts maker GKN, as it was boosted by record profit from all four of its divisions. GKN, which includes driveline, powder metallurgy, aerospace and land systems units, this morning posted a pre-tax profit over the year of £497m, up from £417m [...]
Italian shares set to plummet February 26, 2013 This was the grim picture as the FTSE MIB closed yesterday: (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Allister Heath wrote on Italy's election woes in his column today: Italy has spoken. Few in the City like what they are hearing, but they should listen carefully. Bond yields, which had fallen when it was thought the centre-left was cruising [...]
Italy gridlocked by angry voters February 25, 2013 ITALIAN voters left the Eurozone’s third biggest economy a gridlocked political mess yesterday, with a hung parliament clobbering the euro, spooking stock markets, and sending measures of volatility soaring. Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left bloc managed to win a majority in the lower house by dint of the electoral system’s generous winner’s bonus. But projections late last [...]
RBS under orders from the Treasury February 25, 2013 GEORGE Osborne yesterday revealed he is putting unprecedented pressure on RBS to change its business model, pushing the lender to cut its US operations, shrink its investment banking arm and focus on UK household and business lending. In the past the government has kept out of the day-to-day running of the bank, operating at arm’s [...]
BP goes to court over 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion February 25, 2013 OIL GIANT BP faced its first day in court over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill yesterday, in a trial that could drag on the company for up to a year and cost it billions of dollars in fines. The trial – in New Orleans, Louisiana – could last up to a year, and will see [...]
Met Police launch probe into Lib Dem sex claims February 25, 2013 SCOTLAND Yard yesterday confirmed it would investigate sexual harassment claims made against a former Lib Dem official as the scandal continued to engulf the party. The news came as a former party insider told City A.M. that female Lib Dems decided to go public with their claims against Lord Rennard after the peer was allowed to [...]