Savills: Mansion tax inefficient March 4, 2012 A MANSION tax would be “complex and inefficient” and could undermine London’s position as a leading business location, according to research director of Savills, Lucian Cook. Cook says that a mansion tax of one per cent of value over £2m would yield just £1bn, but would unfairly target the income poor, equity rich: “It would [...]
More calls for fuel duty cuts March 4, 2012 THE government is facing growing pressure to cut fuel duty in the Budget as petrol and diesel prices hit record highs last week. Campaign group FairFuelUK, which is holding a mass lobby of MPs on Wednesday, has called for a cut in fuel duty rather than the planned 3p increase in August. It said cutting [...]
Tchenguiz business Vincos narrows losses during 2011 March 4, 2012 THE MANAGEMENT company for the Tchenguiz family businesses narrowed its losses last year as it continues with its restructuring. Vincos, which “provides finance and support services” to a group of firms and looks into investment opportunities for the Tchenguiz Family Trust, said turnover fell 40 per cent to £13.8m in the year to May 2011 [...]
City panel would support UK intervention in Syria – but only with United Nations backing March 4, 2012 MORE than half of our City panel would support UK military intervention in Syria provided it had United Nations backing, according to the results of our latest Voice of the City/PoliticsHome.com poll. Fifty-one per cent of the panel, drawn exclusively from the City’s business and finance professionals, would either be “very” or “somewhat likely” to [...]
Deutsche shuffles top US bankers March 4, 2012 Deutsche Bank has shuffled some of its senior US investment bankers, appointing Jim Ratigan as co-head of Americas M&A, an internal memo has showed. Ratigan takes over from Bruce Evans, who will become chairman of Americas M&A. Tony Whittemore will remain co-head of Americas M&A alongside Ratigan.
Think-tank says no to Trident March 4, 2012 The government’s money would be better spent on Britain’s under-resourced traditional military forces than the renewal of Trident, urges think-tank CentreForum. “Britain is sleepwalking into replacing its Trident missiles at a capital cost of over £25bn,” the report says, putting this in the context of deep cuts to the UK’s conventional forces and the two [...]
EADS mulls foregoing state loan March 4, 2012 European aerospace group EADS was considering doing without part of a development loan for its Airbus unit worth €500m (£416.8m) from the German government as a dispute escalates regarding the group moving operations from Germany, a paper reported. EADS and Airbus therefore hope to prevent the German government from influencing its production locations, German daily [...]
DORMER TO CHAIR INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS March 4, 2012 IAN Dormer will be the next chairman of the Institute of Directors when incumbent Neville Bain steps down after his six-year term ends. County Durham-based Dormer, managing director of engineering group Rosh, has been involved in the IoD for more than 20 years.
Apple passes 25 billion app downloads March 4, 2012 APPLE hit 25bn app downloads this weekend, continuing a string of milestones reached in the last month by the world’s most valuable company. And the announcements are set to keep rolling as Apple is expected to reveal the latest iPad to the world this Wednesday, exactly a year after the iPad 2 was released in [...]
Huge energy costs are the new debt crisis March 4, 2012 GREAT. Just as we begin to think of a world saved from immediate financial collapse as the 7th Cavalry that is the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Long-Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO) and Anglo-Saxon QE swamp the banks with liquidity, along comes the next crisis. The new kid on the block is a familiar foe: exploding energy [...]