Power market overhaul set to push up bills May 22, 2012 PLANS to shake up Britain’s energy market were unveiled by the government yesterday, in a sweeping overhaul that looks set to raise household bills to pay for a greater mix in the country’s power supply. Energy bills are forecast to jump by around £100 a year by 2030 under the plans, but the coalition insists [...]
ENERGY BILL AT A GLANCE May 22, 2012 The new draft Energy Bill, combined with parts of the Finance Bill 2011, is the biggest change to the UK energy market in decades It aims to secure Britain’s energy supply by diversifying into green power, domestic gas and shoring up the nuclear sector The government reckons it can attract £110bn of new energy investment [...]
Insurers fear industry will miss deadline May 22, 2012 MORE than a third of UK insurers fear the industry will miss the deadline to comply with the forthcoming Solvency II reforms, according to research carried out for Deloitte by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Insurers also said uncertainty over the final draft of the EU directive – which will lift capital requirements – has increased costs. Rick [...]
Investors take $1.6bn stake in F1 as IPO looms May 22, 2012 PRIVATE equity house CVC Capital has moved closer to its hotly anticipated flotation of Formula One by selling a $1.6bn (£1.01bn) stake to three major investors. CVC, which owned 63.4 per cent of F1, has sold 21 per cent of the business, it said yesterday. Asset managers BlackRock and Waddell & Reed alongside Norges Bank [...]
Google finally takes Motorola Mobility after China says yes May 22, 2012 GOOGLE yesterday completed its $12.5bn (£7.9bn) acquisition of Motorola Mobility after receiving the green light from the Chinese authorities. “Long-time Googler” Dennis Woodside was ushered into the top spot, taking over from Sanjay Jha as Motorola Mobility’s chief executive. In a blog post, Google boss Larry Page said: “Many users coming online today may never [...]
Yell hides poor results behind name change May 22, 2012 YELL Group, the struggling publisher of the Yellow Pages, yesterday unveiled a new name as it posted a £1.2bn loss. Subject to shareholder approval, the group will be renamed Hibu, pronounced high-boo, as part of its attempt to change its fortunes. But the re-brand, which would have cost the company hundreds of thousands in consulting fees, [...]
Facebook shares decline deflates internet banking star May 22, 2012 HOTSHOT Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes is the target of some angry finger pointing after Facebook’s share price fall since its debut on Friday. In many ways he shouldn’t be surprised. In the run-up to the float, Grimes was the subject of a number of press reports extolling his prominence in the technology sector, detailing [...]
One in ten investors reject Shell pay deal May 22, 2012 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell yesterday suffered an embarrassing investor rebellion when 9.1 per cent of its shareholders voted against its executive pay deal, up from two per cent a year before. Chief executive Peter Voser earned €11.7m (£9.5m) for 2011, double what he took home for the previous year, despite little improvement in the company’s [...]
SAP taps software rival Ariba in $4.3bn deal May 22, 2012 EUROPEAN software company SAP AG plans to buy US software maker Ariba in a deal valuing the company at $4.3bn in a bid to compete more aggressively against rival Oracle in the fast-growing cloud computing market. SAP and Ariba, a darling of the first dotcom boom that has since reinvented itself as a major networking [...]
SEC looking at JP Morgan accounts May 22, 2012 US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will look into the “appropriateness and completeness” of JP Morgan Chase’s financial reporting following the bank’s recent disclosure of large trading losses, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said yesterday. Earlier this month JP Morgan announced it had suffered at least $2bn in losses after trades that the bank says were [...]