M&S launches first ever bond buy-back plan November 17, 2009 MARKS and Spencer yesterday announced it would be embarking on its first tender offer to shareholders in its 125-year history. The retail bellwether said it plans to buy back up to £225m of bonds from investors and issue new debt, becoming the latest firm to take advantage of attractive market conditions. The clothing, homewares and [...]
TRUMP ACCEPTS CASINO LOSSES November 17, 2009 DONALD Trump and his daughter Ivanka have given up trying to take control of Trump Entertainment Resorts’ three Atlantic City casinos. Under a new deal, The US Apprentice Star has agreed to keep a 10 per cent stake and drop litigation against creditors of the bankrupt company. The casinos will continue to bear the Trump [...]
UBS outlines profit goals in recovery plan November 17, 2009 UBS, the giant Swiss bank, has set itself a mountain to climb, unveiling an ambitious profit target of $15bn (£8.9bn) within three to five years. Chief executive Oswald Gruebel stunned banking experts yesterday with a range of ambitious hurdles along the bank’s path to recovery. UBS, which took the full brunt of the subprime crisis, [...]
October jump in inflation is first of many November 17, 2009 INFLATION accelerated in October for the first time in eight months as economists warned that last month’s bounce might spell the beginning of several months of increases. Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed yesterday that the consumer prices index (CPI) rose to an annual rate of 1.5 per cent in October, [...]
Bailey tells banks not to rely on state bailouts in the future November 17, 2009 BANKS should not rely on taxpayers’ money to bail them out if they are caught out by another crisis, the Bank of England’s executive director for banking services Andrew Bailey said yesterday, echoing comments made by the Bank’s deputy governor Paul Tucker on Monday. Speaking in Madrid, Bailey said: “We cannot justify having a banking [...]
Eurozone posts trade surplus November 17, 2009 THE Eurozone unexpectedly posted a trade surplus in September, with exports expanding by a healthy 5.5 per cent on the previous month. Over the third quarter as a whole, exports rose by 3.7 per cent, the first quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2008. IHS Global Insight’s Howard Archer said: “The recent improving trend [...]
No cheer in US industrial data November 17, 2009 AMERICA’S recovery in industrial production may be running out of steam, according to figures for October released yesterday. Activity only rose 0.1 per cent on the month, which was entirely down to a weather-related 1.6 per cent rise in utilities output. The September figure was also revised downwards. Disappointingly, manufacturing output fell by 0.1 per [...]
Icap looks to grow abroad November 17, 2009 ICAP, the interdealer broker founded by Conservative Party treasurer Michael Spencer, said it would accelerate its international expansion after a dip in first half profit. Icap, the world’s biggest interdealer broker, is one of the few companies doing worse than last year, with pretax profit slipping five per cent to £166m. Icap, like its rivals, [...]
Lehman lawyers in attempt to claw back $10m from BarCap November 17, 2009 LAWYERS representing Lehman Brothers have filed a $10bn (£5.9bn) court case against Barclays Capital over assets transferred during Lehman’s bankruptcy. Alvarez and Marsal, the consultancy hired after Lehman filed for insolvency, wants to claw back ‘windfall’ profits it claims BarCap received after buying the New York group. Lawyers say the contract agreed in September 2008 [...]
T-Mobile admits that employee sold off private customer data November 17, 2009 AN EMPLOYEE of mobile phone operator T-Mobile is facing prosecution after selling personal details of thousands of British customers to rival companies in an alleged major breach of data protection laws. In a statement, T-Mobile UK, part of Deutsche Telekom, said it had contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after discovering an employee was passing [...]
