Lack of corporate guidance in spite of demand from audience March 25, 2012 DESPITE increased pressure on companies to be more open about their business practice and performance, firms across Europe are failing to rise to the challenge, new research claimed yesterday. More than 60 per cent of the top 200 companies in Europe provide no detailed corporate guidance to their core investment audience, despite the vast majority [...]
DOCTORS AND POLITICIANS CHARGE THEIR OWN GLASSES March 25, 2012 AS the debate rumbles on over setting a minimum price for alcohol, the British Medical Association has shown itself to be a bastion of moral fortitude. Heartily backing the move, which has found favour with the Prime Minister, it spoke out against the “scourge of alcohol abuse” and has lobbied against supermarkets selling cheap booze [...]
FRENCH ASSET MANAGER TO STAND AS MP March 25, 2012 IT’S barely a month since French presidential candidate François Hollande made a rare trip to London in an effort to sway City expats ahead of the country’s elections. But the capital’s 300,000 French inhabitants already have a new man vying for their votes in the shape of Yannick Naud – a portfolio manager at Glendevon [...]
CITY EYE March 25, 2012 ANIMAL health officer Ann Dallimore inspects a python on its arrival at the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre. The centre is run by the City of London Corporation and handles over 35m animals per year.
Vodafone and Tata call for a delay for bid March 25, 2012 INVESTORS sitting on the edge of their seat over the Cable & Wireless Worldwide bidding war might have longer to wait as Vodafone and Tata Communications are set to ask for an extension on the “put up or shut up” deadline imposed by the Takeover Panel. Vodafone’s original cut-off date of 12 March was extended [...]
Betfair takes a gamble with fixed-odds bets March 25, 2012 BETFAIR could launch its new fixed-odds betting service by this summer as it bids to keep hold of clients who are turning to rival bookmakers. The move, which Betfair has mentioned in passing for several months, could launch within the next few months and will see the company open its arms to a gambling system [...]
Economic woe in euro area will hit banks March 25, 2012 ECONOMIC woes in the Eurozone are hitting the financial services industry, a new report claims this morning, despite political measures that have calmed the markets. Loans approaching or at the point of default are set to hit an all time high, according to economists at Ernst & Young. Non-performing loans “will rise above six per [...]
Research: Low interest rates caused crisis March 25, 2012 BANKS were pushed into risky lending by low interest rates, creating the sub-prime bubble and causing the global financial crash, new research out claims – and low rates could again be failing to help the economy in the long run. Low rates in the US and other western economies in the 2000s led banks to [...]
M&A volumes down in 2012 March 25, 2012 GLOBAL market worries have continued to knock merger and acquisition activity at the start of the year, according to a new study released this morning. Internationally, the number of M&A deals fell by 24 per cent in the opening three months of the year compared to the final quarter of 2011, Ernst & Young has [...]
Number of British insolvencies edged up over last year March 25, 2012 INSOLVENCIES have crept up over the past 12 months, according to data released by Experian this morning. The rate of insolvencies among British companies rose to 0.1 per cent last month, compared to 0.08 per cent in February 2012. Among medium to large-sized firms – categorised as those with between 101 and 500 employees – [...]