News Corp’s Asian shake up July 23, 2009 James Murdoch is planning to shake-up News Corporation’s Star Asian television operations in a move which will mean sharp job cuts in Hong Kong and the rest of the region. Star’s Indian operation, which generates the most profits for the group in Asia, will become independent and start reporting directly to James Murdoch’s base in [...]
Landlords oppose Allied rent cuts July 23, 2009 A group of the UK’s largest commercial landlords is objecting to dropping rental payments for the company that bought collapsed retail firm Allied Carpets out of administration. The consortium, led by heavyweight property company British Land, is believed to be rejecting calls to cut rents by half for a year as part of a raft [...]
Credit Suisse sees recovery July 23, 2009 CREDIT Suisse added its name to the series of banks reporting improved results yesterday, as it unveiled a second-quarter profit of Sfr1.57bn (£890m) on the back of a barnstorming period for investment banking. The Swiss bank reported a second successive profitable quarter, up 29 per cent from the same quarter in 2008, a year in [...]
EC moves closer to break-up of banks rescued by state aid July 23, 2009 THE prospect of a break-up of Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) moved closer yesterday, after the European Commission (EC) called on banks to present plans to restructure themselves. EC competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said bailed out banks would have to detail their plans to the EC within six months, to prove [...]
OBAMA TO ADDRESS BANK PAY July 23, 2009 PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday said banks need new rules to curb risky behaviour. He predicted regulatory changes to give shareholders non-binding votes on executive rewards and said the government could levy fees on lenders who make “far-out transactions”. He added that the $700bn (£422bn) Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), while unpopular, had rescued the country’s [...]
New evidence in dairy probe July 23, 2009 The Office of Fair Trading said yesterday that it had provided more evidence to supermarkets and dairy companies as part of a probe into price-fixing of dairy products seven years ago. The watchdog said only Tesco and Wm Morrison were continuing to contest the provisional findings, issued in September 2007.
Air France-KLM sales plummet July 23, 2009 Air France-KLM suffered a 20.5 per cent slump in first-quarter sales, as the economic downturn dented appetite for tourist and freight air travel. Europe’s biggest airline booked revenues of ¤5.19bn (£4.47bn) in the quarter.
McDonald’s sales suffer a dip July 23, 2009 Fast-food giant McDonald’s said yesterday that the strong dollar contributed to a eight per cent dip in second-quarter profit to £1.09bn. The dip in profits was also down to tough comparatives, after a large gain in the same period of the previous year, the Illinois-based firm said.
BoA brings back accounting chief July 23, 2009 Bank of America has installed Neil Cotty in his previous position of chief accounting officer. Cotty had been chief financial officer of the group’s investment banking and wealth management operations and was at the heart of the bank’s acquisition of Wall Street rival Merrill Lynch.
JJB prepares for AGM row July 23, 2009 SPORTSWEAR tycoon Mike Ashley is threatening to make an explosive appearance at arch rival JJB Sport’s annual meeting today. The showdown will centre on the exact chronology of Ashley’s £1.5m personal loan to JJB’s executive chairman Sir David Jones, which could pose a conflict of interest. JJB Sports maintains that the £1.5m loan, which has [...]