European Union splashes €2.6bn on quangos, claims new report April 23, 2012 EUROPEAN Union quangos have seen their budgets soar by a third in the last two years, according to figures released yesterday. Despite preaching austerity to its member states, Brussels’ own spending on quangos now totals €2.64bn (£2.17bn) – 33.2 per cent higher than in 2010. There are now 52 EU-funded quasi-autonomous agencies, twice as many [...]
Poll shows Labour voters are still willing to back Johnson April 23, 2012 LONDONERS increasingly prefer Labour – but many are still willing to make an exception for Conservative mayoral candidate Boris Johnson, according to the latest YouGov poll. It shows Labour enjoy a crushing lead of 50 to 31 in Westminster voting intentions amongst the capital’s residents. But when asked for their mayoral voting intention this transforms [...]
Election will go to the wire as Ken closes gap April 23, 2012 KEN Livingstone yesterday blew the race for Mayor of London wide open after a YouGov poll put him just two percentage points behind his Conservative rival. Boris Johnson now leads the race by just 51 to 49 per cent, with ten days to go until election day. Previous polls had consistently given Johnson a six point [...]
Boris takes fight to heart of City April 23, 2012 PORT drinkers raised their glasses, a knight was converted and one supporter suggested the Mayor should join in with some “Boris Dancing” – it’s hard to imagine a more welcoming environment for the Conservative candidate than Leadenhall Market’s St George’s Day celebrations. Yesterday Johnson was cheered by City crowds as he gave a stump speech [...]
WHO WILL GET YOUR VOTE? INTERVIEWS BY CLARE HILL April 23, 2012 GORDON BOTTEN RELIANCE I’ll be voting Boris – I just think he’s got a lot more to offer than Ken. He’s spent a lot of money, but I think that we can see an improvement on public transport. JERRY PRINGLE MILES SMITH Boris’s sense of humour is just the best, and that’s what we are, [...]
Macquarie fear over India tax April 23, 2012 ● Macquarie’s Asia hedge fund has exited its short positions in Indian single stock futures in response to a controversial set of proposed tax rules that could lower investment returns. Instead, it has decided to use a futures contract linked to India’s 50-share NSE index (Nifty) on the Singapore Exchange to get its short exposure [...]
ST-Ericsson to cut 1,700 jobs April 23, 2012 ● Chip maker ST-Ericsson will cut 1,700 jobs and shift a key part of its product to parent STMicro, forcing the French co-owner to focus more on its loss-making and volatile wireless business. ST-Ericsson said it would partner with STMicro to develop application processors, after failing to cut a deal with one of four other [...]
Bumi fall sparks Bakries headache April 23, 2012 ● Indonesian group Bakrie has until Friday to resolve a covenant breach on a $437m loan following a drop in the price of its London-listed coal miner Bumi last week, sources familiar with the loan said yesterday. The breach was the latest in a series of debt problems for Bakrie Group, one of Indonesia’s largest [...]
Vodafone agrees to hand over £1bn for ailing CWW in £1bn buyout April 23, 2012 VODAFONE faces a possible shareholder rebellion over its £1.04bn bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide after the ailing telecoms company’s biggest investor expressed disappointment at the offer. Orbis, which holds a 19 per cent stake in CWW, refused to back Vodafone’s offer of 38p per share. A spokesperson for Orbis said: “With the transaction being [...]
Carcass of a failed tech firm may be worth more than you thought April 23, 2012 JUST three months ago, everyone thought Cable & Wireless Worldwide was a busted flush. After de-merging from the C&W mobile business in 2010, it was forced to make three profit warnings and went through the same number of chief executives. A roster of impressive blue-chip clients couldn’t hide the fact it lacked the scale and [...]
