Monti begs Merkel for aid as leaders press for Tobin tax January 16, 2012 ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti wants Germany to take more action to support Eurozone countries with their debts, in an attempt to push down Italy’s borrowing costs and ease the pressure on his government. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy joined Monti in criticising Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded all three [...]
Greece creditors hit out at Eurozone demands on debt January 16, 2012 THE PROSPECT of a deal with Greece’s private debtholders grew more remote yesterday as the head of the group representing its creditors accused Eurozone officials of making “unreasonable” demands. Greek and Portuguese debt markets were spooked by the news, although a healthy French debt issue helped other markets hold steady. Charles Dallara, head of the [...]
Irish Life picks new bank boss January 16, 2012 Irish Life & Permanent has hired Jeremy Masding as the new chief executive of its banking business, Permanent TSB. The bailed-out bank, which is splitting its business in late March, said its current chief executive David Guinane will leave the firm when Masding joins in February. Masding spend 23 years at Barclays, after which he [...]
Nama appoints loan sale advisers January 16, 2012 Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency has appointed a panel of advisers from the financial services sector as it ramps up its efforts to sell its property loans. The “bad bank”, set up during Ireland’s banking crisis, holds about £64bn of debt. At least 13 banks, lawyers, accountants and property consultants including CBRE have been appointed [...]
Egypt asks for IMF support January 16, 2012 A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is due to visit Egypt later this month after the country asked the IMF for $3.2bn (£2.09bn) in support. Egypt’s interim cabinet seeks to fill a budget gap pushed wider by almost a year of political and economic turmoil. The previous army-backed government turned down an offer of [...]
E.ON latest to join price war with 6pc cut January 16, 2012 ENERGY company E.ON is the latest provider to reduce its customers’ household bills to reflect lower wholesale prices. E.ON yesterday became the fifth of the big six energy companies to announce price cuts for either gas or electricity in the past few days. E.ON said the cut to electricity would benefit three quarters of its [...]
Olympus panel says auditors not to blame January 16, 2012 ACCOUNTING groups KPMG and Ernst & Young have been cleared of any responsibility for a £704m accounting fraud at Japan’s Olympus, one of the nation’s worst corporate scandals, in a report issued this morning by a panel of lawyers appointed by the company. The panel said five current and former individual auditors were responsible for [...]
Bovis builds a solid profit in southern UK January 16, 2012 HOUSING group Bovis has laid the foundation for a strong 2012 after reporting significant profit growth last year, largely fuelled by family homes in the south of England. The house-building company, which is based in Kent, expects to improve returns further in 2012 after a year that saw 2,045 homes legally completed – an eight [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM BOVIS IN 2012? January 16, 2012 SIMON BROWN | NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS The group will achieve faster profit growth in 2012 due to stock specific attributes and a regional bias to southern England. We believe over 50 per cent of the sites in 2012 will be higher margin outlets. Coupled with improved cash flow, the new sites will yield a higher [...]
BALFOUR BEATTY WINS £100M IN DEALS January 16, 2012 BALFOUR Beatty has won construction contracts in the commercial sector worth £100m. In the City of London, the company has secured a £57m contract, to build AXA Real Estate’s Sixty London prime office development (pictured). The company has also won a £25m deal to deliver an 11-storey office building in the City for Viridis Real [...]