Equality watchdog launches a probe into the gender pay gap August 12, 2009 THE EQUALITY and Human Rights Commission is today launching a consultation on how private and voluntary sector employers with at least 250 staff can measure and report on their gender pay gap. Women working full-time currently earn 17.1 per cent less per hour on average than men, with the gap failing to improve over the [...]
China wins in its bid for Emerald August 12, 2009 SINOCHEM has agreed a £532.1m deal to take over London-listed oil and gas explorer Emerald, in the latest deal by a state-owned Chinese company eager to secure interests in natural resources overseas. The deal will give Sinochem, which focuses on energy, agriculture, chemicals, finance and real estate, access to Emerald’s operations in Syria and Colombia. [...]
JOBS DRIVE FOR MORRISONS August 12, 2009 WM MORRISON yesterday said it would create 7,000 jobs in 2009, exceeding its initial target by 40 per cent. Britain’s fourth largest grocery said it had reached its original target of 5,000 new jobs five months early and would now add an additional 2,000 posts. One-third of the new recruits will be in the 18 [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 12, 2009 RSAThe insurer has appointed Christian Torkington as its new UK chief operating officer. Torkington joins from Scottish Widows, where he was managing director of operations. Prior to that, he worked at Barclays in a variety of senior roles, and was also the chief executive of an economic development agency. RSIM Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management has [...]
Burden of pensions for ex-staff mounts August 12, 2009 BLUE CHIP companies are now being forced to spend more covering shortfalls on the pensions of former staff than they do on the future pensions of existing employees, according to research released yesterday. Within five years, payments made to top up the pensions of previous employees will outstrip those for current staff by a ratio [...]
CBA profits drop but number of bad debts starts to fall August 12, 2009 COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia, the country’s third-largest lender, saw full-year pre-tax profit fall nine per cent to A$5.8bn (£2.9bn) yesterday, compared to A$6.4bn in 2008. However second half profit at the bank registered an 18 per cent improvement, rising to A$3.2bn from $2.7bn in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on 30 [...]
BEER MONEY August 12, 2009 SAB MILLER’S chief executive Graham Mackay yesterday said he was prepared to “make the right acquisition” and predicted the beer industry will recover from the downturn at a sluggish pace. Mackay said there was “money available” but refused to be drawn on how much the brewer would be willing to spend.
Continental boss gets the chop August 12, 2009 Germany’s Schaeffler Group finally claimed the scalp of car parts manufacturer Continental’s chief executive Karl-Thomas Neumann yesterday by breaking down union opposition to his ousting with a last-minute compromise offer. The ball bearings manufacturer that controls 90 per cent of Continental installed the head of its own automotive components business, Elmar Degenhart, as the new [...]
SOCO profits boost exploration August 12, 2009 Oil and gas explorer SOCO International said yesterday it will launch a major exploration programme in West Africa over the next 18 months after swinging to a first-half pre-tax profit of $31.6m (£19.1m). Chief executive Ed Story said he hoped to find 500m barrels of oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congo [...]
Aquarius loses as demand drops August 12, 2009 Aquarius Platinum, the world’s fourth-biggest producer of platinum, said yesterday it had swung to a full-year net loss of $45.7m (£27.6m) on weaker metal prices and reduced output. Aquarius said production fell to 455,675 ounces from 500,203 ounces in its last financial year, hit by the suspension of operations at its South African Everest mine [...]
