BP reaches deal with Cameron Intl over oil spill payouts December 16, 2011 Cameron International Corp said BP had agreed to indemnify the company for current and future compensatory claims associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident. As part of the deal, Cameron said it had agreed to pay $250m to BP. Cameron said the company’s insurers are expected to fund not less than $170 million of this agreement [...]
In comes tax December 15, 2011 City institutions and their employees paid a whopping £63bn in tax to the Treasury this year, more than any other industry in the UK, new figures published today show. City firms paid almost £10bn more tax this year than in 2010, despite the stretched trading conditions – contributing more than 12 per cent of the [...]
Sleepless in the City: Lloyds boss explains his absence December 15, 2011 LLOYDS chief António Horta-Osório admitted that he had not been able to sleep for five days in a row before going on sick leave last month. The exhausted executive returned to his bank’s HQ in Gresham Street yesterday to shake hands and demonstrate what chairman Sir Win Bischoff called his new, “bushy-tailed” condition following almost [...]
Noyer: France safer than UK December 15, 2011 FRENCH central bank chief Christian Noyer lashed out at the UK economy yesterday, saying Britain’s sovereign should be downgraded before any cut to France’s gold-plated credit rating. Noyer’s unexpected attack drew responses from Number 10 and the Treasury. Prime Minister David Cameron pointed to the “credibility” granted by the UK’s low bond yields and his [...]
Don’t let IPO row endanger London December 15, 2011 GRAFF Diamonds, one of the most famous jewellers in the world, is based in New Bond Street, Mayfair. Its headline web-page promotes London as a sign of its class. And yet its forthcoming flotation, in which it hopes to raise $1bn, is all going on in Hong Kong. There isn’t even a secondary listing in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 15, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CVC STRUGGLES WITH TERRIBLE RESULTS IN ASIA When CVC raised a $4.12bn Asian buy-out fund in 2008, Marc St John, its head of investor relations, referred to the private equity group’s record in the region when he said investors “like what they see”. A few years and a financial crisis later, investors are [...]
Fitch downgrades eight banks December 15, 2011 France’s two biggest banks were among eight downgraded by ratings agency Fitch yesterday after it put them on negative watch two months ago. Fitch hit BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs with downgrades to their viability ratings and one or two notch cuts to [...]
RIM co-CEOs pay cut to just $1 December 15, 2011 BlackBerry maker Research in Motion will pay its two co-chief executives $1 each next year after it posted a 27 per cent drop in quarterly profit and gave a dismal outlook for the Christmas period. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis will cut their salaries as they work to fix the firm’s problems. Revenues fell six [...]
Canaccord in £253m Collins Stewart deal December 15, 2011 SHARES in finance group Collins Stewart Hawkpoint rocketed more than 75 per cent yesterday after it agreed a sale of the business to Canaccord Financial for £253.3m. The 96p per share cash and shares offer put the bid at a 90 per cent premium to Collins Stewart’s share price on Wednesday, and shareholders will also [...]
Faith in Bank of England collapses to a record low December 15, 2011 PUBLIC satisfaction in the Bank of England’s managing of inflation has plummeted to the lowest level since records began in 1999. The net proportion of respondents satisfied that the Bank is “doing its job to set interest rates to control inflation” collapsed to plus nine per cent in a survey conducted last month – down [...]