Carnival and insurers see losses mount January 16, 2012 CRUISE operator Carnival saw over £700m wiped from its stock market valuation yesterday as investors and insurers counted the cost of the company’s Costa Concordia ship capsizing off the Italian coast. Analysts at Espirito Santo said the disaster could be the biggest ship claim in maritime history, with insurance claims as high as $1bn (£653m). [...]
Tesco shareholders slam executives’ share trades January 16, 2012 SHAREHOLDERS want Tesco to tighten rules on when its executives can trade shares, after a senior manager sold stock eight days before the company issued a profit warning that hammered its share price. Investors said rules need revising to put greater distance between the timing of share deals by executives and significant company announcements. The [...]
Rogue captain defence is firm’s best hope January 16, 2012 WE all know about rogue traders, but the idea of a rogue captain is pretty new. Costa Cruises, the Italian arm of Carnival, has wasted no time in pointing the finger at the man steering its capsized ship. Just as UBS needed to convince clients a single errant employee was to blame for unauthorised trades [...]
Peacocks and Past Times hit the wall January 16, 2012 PEACOCKS has confirmed it plans to call in administrators after talks with its lenders to restructure £240m of debt collapsed. The board, chaired by former Asda boss Allan Leighton, said it is still in talks with potential investors but had filed its notice of “intention to appoint an administrator” to try and protect the 611-store [...]
Monti begs Merkel for aid as leaders press for Tobin tax January 16, 2012 ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti wants Germany to take more action to support Eurozone countries with their debts, in an attempt to push down Italy’s borrowing costs and ease the pressure on his government. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy joined Monti in criticising Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded all three [...]
Greece creditors hit out at Eurozone demands on debt January 16, 2012 THE PROSPECT of a deal with Greece’s private debtholders grew more remote yesterday as the head of the group representing its creditors accused Eurozone officials of making “unreasonable” demands. Greek and Portuguese debt markets were spooked by the news, although a healthy French debt issue helped other markets hold steady. Charles Dallara, head of the [...]
Irish Life picks new bank boss January 16, 2012 Irish Life & Permanent has hired Jeremy Masding as the new chief executive of its banking business, Permanent TSB. The bailed-out bank, which is splitting its business in late March, said its current chief executive David Guinane will leave the firm when Masding joins in February. Masding spend 23 years at Barclays, after which he [...]
Nama appoints loan sale advisers January 16, 2012 Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency has appointed a panel of advisers from the financial services sector as it ramps up its efforts to sell its property loans. The “bad bank”, set up during Ireland’s banking crisis, holds about £64bn of debt. At least 13 banks, lawyers, accountants and property consultants including CBRE have been appointed [...]
Egypt asks for IMF support January 16, 2012 A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is due to visit Egypt later this month after the country asked the IMF for $3.2bn (£2.09bn) in support. Egypt’s interim cabinet seeks to fill a budget gap pushed wider by almost a year of political and economic turmoil. The previous army-backed government turned down an offer of [...]
E.ON latest to join price war with 6pc cut January 16, 2012 ENERGY company E.ON is the latest provider to reduce its customers’ household bills to reflect lower wholesale prices. E.ON yesterday became the fifth of the big six energy companies to announce price cuts for either gas or electricity in the past few days. E.ON said the cut to electricity would benefit three quarters of its [...]
