Tube workers to reject Games offer March 18, 2012 TUBE workers are set to reject yet another Olympics bonus offer this week, leaving transport bosses scrambling to avoid strikes during the Games, which are now just over four months away. Almost 150 reps for the RMT will today call on the union to turn down the latest £850 overtime and bonus package. The reps [...]
Olympic Media Buzz LONDON 2012 PARTNERS March 18, 2012 IN ASSOCIATION with Repskan.com, City A.M. is measuring the relative Olympic media buzz around the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games partners, week by week. The leaderboard, right, reflects their ranking over the past week, in this case from Wednesday 7 March to Wednesday 14 March. News that Coca-Cola is considering acquiring the post-Games naming [...]
Chevron and Transocean execs held in Brazil pending spill case March 18, 2012 A Brazilian court has barred 17 executives from Chevron and Transocean from leaving Brazil, pending criminal charges related to a high-profile oil spill last November. Over the weekend a federal judge in Rio de Janeiro state granted a request from prosecutors who are pressing for charges against both firms. George Buck, who heads Chevron’s Brazil [...]
Vodafone in line for CWW tax loss boost March 18, 2012 VODAFONE’S tax dealings have been brought back into focus after it emerged that the firm could benefit from tax benefits worth as much as £1bn if it makes a successful takeover bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW). Analysts at Espirito Santo said in a note last month that CWW has tax assets worth up [...]
Cables, not tax, would justify a deal March 18, 2012 AS THE Greek government has discovered in recent weeks, a 50 per cent haircut is a tricky thing to foist upon investors. Vodafone’s tax boffins will by now have been through CWW’s assets with a fine tooth comb to figure out how many of its benefits will remain useable following a takeover. If Espirito Santo’s [...]
CMC Markets to close Irish office in rethink March 18, 2012 CMC Markets, the spread betting group, has decided to close its Dublin office, bringing the operation of its Irish business into its London headquarters. The group, which is expected to swing back into profit in its financial year to the end of the month after two successive annual losses, says the move is largely tactical. [...]
Whisky group says minimum pricing illegal March 18, 2012 WHISKY producers have warned the government that plans to place a minimum price on units of alcohol would be illegal under European trade rules. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), whose members include Diageo, the Edrington Group and Chivas Brothers, has written a letter to Downing Street stating that the policy would amount to a domestic [...]
UK tops G20 for internet contribution to its GDP March 18, 2012 THE INTERNET industry contributed more to GDP in the UK than in any other G20 nation, accounting for 8.3 per cent – or £121bn – of its gross domestic product in 2010, compared to a G20 average of 4.1 per cent. And a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report predicts this will rise by almost half [...]
Nigeria tops oil expat pay table March 18, 2012 A typical oil and gas executive in Nigeria earns nearly half a million dollars a year, chalking up the biggest premium for working abroad over salary levels in Britain, research released today showed. A typical senior oil and gas employee in Nigeria will receive a supplementary country premium worth 45 per cent of base pay, [...]
IMF urges fast reforms March 18, 2012 EUROPE’S economies must seize the moment to push through vital economic reforms, and not wait until a renewed crisis forces them to make changes, IMF boss Christine Lagarde said yesterday. She spoke as Greek socialist party PASOK voted for finance minister Evangelos Venizelos as party leader, as it heads towards a general election with a [...]