Surge in fraud as hard times encourage investors and firms to drop their guard July 19, 2009 FRAUD is hitting record levels in the UK, with over 160 cases of serious fraud with charges of more than £100,000 during the first half of this year, according to the latest barometer from business advisers KPMG. The half-year figures are the highest recorded since KPMG began the survey 21 years ago. Together the cases [...]
BHP Billiton in talks with its top two candidates for the chairmanship role July 19, 2009 BHP Billiton, the mining giant, is believed to be holding interviews this week with Jacques Nasser, former chief executive of Ford, and John Schubert, a former managing director of Esso Australia, for the post of chairman. The current BHP chairman Don Argus is expected to be stepping down after the £71bn iron ore joint venture [...]
Wagner’s Tesco tie-up deal July 19, 2009 Dan Wagner, the internet entrepreneur, is mulling over a return to the stock market after his online business venture, Venda, signed a tie-up with Tesco online. Wagner has signed a new contract to power Tesco’s fashion website when it goes live this autumn. It is believed that Goldman Sachs has been appointed to advise on [...]
Tennents sale quenches thirst July 19, 2009 Scotland’s best-selling lager, Tennents, has been touted for sale by its parent company Anheuser-Busch Inbev. Investment bank Lazard has been appointed to seek out potential buyers for the business, which controls 60 per cent of the Scottish drinking market. Industry sources have put a €100m (£86m) price tag on Tennents.
Hilton’s new sporting ambitions July 19, 2009 Hilton, the up-market hotel chain, is set to defy the gloom by opening a string of new properties, including plans to open a venue at the stadium of the MK Dons, in Milton Keynes. As part of the deal, under its Doubletree vehicle, Hilton will also become the football team’s shirt sponsor. Other new venues [...]
London house asking prices turn positive July 19, 2009 AVERAGE asking prices for properties in London are higher now than they were a year ago, while the yearly decline for England and Wales was trimmed to 3.1 per cent, according to property website Rightmove. Rightmove figures show that the average asking price for a UK house rose by 0.6 per cent in July on [...]
Boardroom bonuses remain attainable July 19, 2009 BRITISH board members are still receiving bonuses worth a third of their salaries, despite the general trend for pay to be frozen. According to the latest Executive Compensation Review survey by employment research firm Incomes Data Services, the amount board directors receive in bonuses fell by 25 per cent on 2008 when they could expect [...]
PartyGaming buys rival July 19, 2009 PARTYGAMING yesterday confirmed that it has clinched a £100m deal for the owner of bingo website foxybingo.com, Cashcade. Partygaming is believed to be paying £75m upfront for Cashcade, with £25m to be paid at a later date depending on the group’s performance this year and in 2010. In April Partygaming reached an agreement with US [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR THE UK HOUSING MARKET? July 19, 2009 SEEMA SHAH CAPITAL ECONOMICSIn our view there are more falls to come, although recent falls have been slower than seen previously. The problem is that just by looking at a couple of months rise you forget how far they have fallen from the peak. The outlook is slightly more positive than it was but we [...]
SEEING IS BELIEVING AS 6,500 RUNNERS HIT THE CITY OF LONDON July 16, 2009 THE CITY was out in force last night for the fifth annual Standard Chartered Great City Run, and The Capitalist was impressed that as many as 6,500 of you tackled the five kilometre race in the name of the official charity, Seeing is Believing (SiB). The square mile closed to traffic so that teams from [...]