Fresnillo confident on 2012 targets October 15, 2012 Mexican miner Fresnillo this morning posted a 2.6 per cent increase in silver production over the third quarter compared to the year before. The world’s largest silver producer said it was on track to meet its 2012 production target of 41m ounces of silver and 460,000 ounces of gold. In the year to date, Fresnillo [...]
Virgin to run West Coast line in short term October 15, 2012 Virgin will continue running the West Coast mainline for at least the next year after the government was forced to pull the franchise award to FirstGroup. “The current franchise is due to expire on 9 December after which it is the government’s intention that Virgin remain as operator for a short period – expected to [...]
RBS calls Virgin for deal rescue October 14, 2012 VIRGIN Money and two other institutions are in the running to take 316 branches from RBS, it emerged yesterday, two days after the planned sale to Santander collapsed. The sale was forced on RBS by the European Commission as part of the approval of its 2008 bailout, and must be completed by the end of [...]
High street resurgence will return the UK to growth by the end of the year October 14, 2012 THE UK will bounce back into economic growth in the second half of the year, driven by a resurgence in consumer spending, forecasts released by the Ernst & Young Item Club claim today. UK GDP will turn positive, inching up 0.1 per cent between October and the end of the year, the forecasting group predicts. [...]
Hammond to crack down on defence lobby October 14, 2012 PHILIP Hammond yesterday pledged to investigate defence lobbyists and “shut down” inappropriate meetings with former military leaders, in a move that could affect recently awarded military contracts. The defence secretary was speaking after an undercover sting caught some of the British military’s most respected former officers boasting of their ability to influence Ministry of Defence [...]
The Man who fell to Earth October 14, 2012 AUSTRIAN daredevil Felix Baumgartner yesterday set the record for the highest-ever skydive, when he leapt from the edge of space, 24 miles above Roswell, New Mexico, and into the record books, falling at an unprecedented speed and, within less than a minute, becoming the first human to travel unassisted through the sound barrier. Baumgartner failed [...]
Small firms not ready for auto-enrolment scheme October 14, 2012 SMALL and medium sized firms are clueless about auto-enrolment, and unprepared for dealing with its requirements and duties, the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) said today. Some 28 per cent of respondents to an ACA survey had budgeted for the cost of enrolling their employees, while less than one in five respondents were even aware [...]
HMRC tightens screw on expat workers in City October 14, 2012 THE TAXMAN raised an extra £20m from investigations into foreign workers in the City last year compared with two years earlier, by applying the rules more strictly, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data analysed by law firm Pinsent Masons. HMRC received £117.2m from its expat team’s compliance work in 2011-12, on top of [...]
What the other papers say this morning October 14, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Tories plot cash-for-seats offer Senior Conservatives are plotting an audacious “cash-for-seats” offer to Nick Clegg, where the Liberal Democrat leader would back a Conservative-friendly Commons boundary review in exchange for millions in state funding for his party. US woman takes on banks over Libor A pensioner whose home was repossessed is taking on [...]
Nobel Economics Prize awaits October 14, 2012 The European Union may have taken away this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, but the winner of the Nobel Economics Prize seems more likely to be American. Frontrunners for the prestigious title, set to be awarded today, include Americans Robert Shiller, who studies behavioural finance and the erratic movement of markets, and Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen [...]