Thailand and China try to stem inflows October 11, 2010 ASIAN authorities anxious about currency appreciation moved to stem foreign capital inflows yesterday while a European official stepped up rhetoric about a strong euro after IMF meetings failed to defuse tensions about exchange rates. China temporarily raised reserve requirements for six large commercial banks, a surprise move aimed at draining cash from the economy. Thailand, [...]
Walker to bid £1bn for food firm Iceland October 10, 2010 THE boss of frozen food chain Iceland is planning a £1bn takeover of the firm he founded four decades ago, although he faces a potential bid battle, it emerged yesterday. Malcolm Walker, who together with other managers owns about a quarter of the retailer, is thought to have offered to buy the remaining 76 per cent [...]
Flats for the Eurocrat: a Brussels bargain October 7, 2010 IF YOU’RE moving to Brussels, it’s unlikely to be for the Belgian beer, the moules-frites and the chocolates. Most Britons relocate to the Belgian capital for work and join the 100,000-strong expat community of European Union workers, lobbyists and lawyers for at least a year or two. While most expats tend to rent when they [...]
Coalition still too complacent on tax October 3, 2010 IT IS heating up here in Birmingham at the Conservative Party conference. George Osborne is about to launch a scathing attack on Ed Miliband for failing to grasp the importance of cutting the deficit; and a deal has been agreed to sweep away the plethora of incentive-destroying benefits, eventually replacing them with a single payout [...]
FTSE led lower as Smiths Group and banks fall despite gains by Unilever September 27, 2010 THE FTSE 100 closed down 25.06 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,573.42, after gaining 1.6 per cent last week, with Smiths Group out of favour while Unilever rose after a US acquisition. Broker recommendation and target price changes were behind some of the individual equity moves. Smiths shed 1.6 per cent after Bank of [...]
A tricky balancing act on tax reform September 21, 2010 CONFERENCE season is upon us and the next few weeks will be the first time the parties have had since May to slow down and take stock of this brave new post-coalition political world. Given the breakneck speed at which the coalition has been implementing its policies so far, the conference pause is also a [...]
Vodafone on track for Verizon dividend September 19, 2010 MOBILE phone operator Vodafone came a step closer to persuading Verizon to pay a dividend last week after bosses from the two firms held secret meetings in New York, reports said yesterday. Vittorio Colao of Vodafone and Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon met to discuss Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless, according to the [...]
Don’t get caught out by CGT September 16, 2010 BRITONS are set to waste over half a billion pounds this tax year in unnecessary capital gains tax (CGT) payments, research from unbiased.co.uk revealed earlier this week. The professional advice website said that UK taxpayers will waste £552m by not being CGT-efficient and warned that the capital gains tax rate rise to 28 per cent [...]
BUYING September 16, 2010 MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla, there has been a fair amount of negative news in the papers relating to property prices. Do you think prices are going to crash again like they did in 2008? A.With so much conflicting data and house price indices, trying to determine what is happening with house prices [...]
Vodafone will appeal Indian tax decision September 14, 2010 Vodafone has filed an appeal with India’s Supreme Court after its petition over a tax feud with authorities was dismissed. The lower court ruled that the Indian tax system has jurisdiction over tax bills in cross-border mergers. Vodafone, which is fighting a tax bill in India from its 2007 purchase of Hutchison Whampoa’s mobile business [...]