Government sets light to its bonfire of quangos October 13, 2010 THE government will this morning announce which quangos it plans to scrap or merge, as it seeks to cut the deficit and improve democratic accountability. Francis Maude, the cabinet office minister, will tell Parliament at 9.30am which of the 700 agencies has been spared. A merger of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition [...]
BoE’s Sentance reiterates call for higher rates October 13, 2010 BANK OF ENGLAND hawk Andrew Sentance yesterday repeated his call for a gradual increase in interest rates and argued that such a policy would support rather than threaten the recovery and bolster the central bank’s inflation-fighting credibility. In a speech in London, Sentance said: “It is the right response to an economy which is growing [...]
StanChart to raise £3bn in rights issue October 13, 2010 STANDARD Chartered yesterday confirmed it will launch a £3.3bn rights issue, with major investor Temasek already saying it will take up its full allotment of shares. Existing shareholders will be offered the chance to buy one new share at £12.80 for every eight shares they hold – a 33 per cent discount to the pre-announcement [...]
Standard Chartered October 13, 2010 THERE’S something that doesn’t ring quite true about Standard Chartered’s insistence that it is tapping shareholders for £3bn to boost its capital buffers. Management is adamant that cash won’t be used for acquisitions, but we’re not so sure. With a core Tier 1 capital ratio of nine per cent at the end of June, its [...]
Postal service plans unveiled October 13, 2010 THE government unveiled its plans to privatise the Royal Mail yesterday, but independent valuations suggest the business could fetch just £700m. Royal Mail will now almost certainly be swallowed up by a competitor like Deutsche Post or TNT, or bought by a private equity-led consortium. A stockmarket flotation is also being considered, while at least [...]
Sale of Royal Mail to include biggest ever staff share plan October 13, 2010 THE plan to privatise the Royal Mail will see the largest employee share scheme in history, Vince Cable said yesterday as he published the Postal Services Bill. Cable said a guaranteed ten per cent of the newly-privatised Royal Mail would ultimately be reserved for the service’s current 150,000 staff, all of whom would have the [...]
Appointment of new boss proves government is serious about sale October 13, 2010 THE appointment of Moya Greene as the Royal Mail’s new chief executive reveals the government’s hard-nosed approach to privatising the business, whatever the objections of the Communication Workers Union. Greene has a great deal of experience in such matters overseeing the privatisation of Canada’s national rail network and the deregulation of its airline industry as [...]
British jobs market still deteriorating October 13, 2010 FURTHER signs of a deteriorating jobs market emerged yesterday, intensifying fears of a second wave of rising unemployment as a leading report showed that the private sector could lose 500,000 jobs as a result of government cuts. Official data showed that the number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance last month rose by 5,300 to [...]
Industrial output across EU sees an upswing in August October 13, 2010 INDUSTRIAL output in the 16-member euro area grew by one per cent in August fuelled by an increase in the production of capital goods, official figures revealed yesterday. European statistics agency Eurostat said industrial output in the wider 27-member European Union (EU) also grew by 0.8 per cent. The figures showed the highest rise in [...]
US announces state probe of practices among mortgage firms October 13, 2010 All 50 US states yesterday launched a joint investigation of the mortgage industry, a move some experts fear will cause uncertainty and threaten the recovery of the fragile housing market. The state attorneys general are looking at allegations some banks used shoddy or fraudulent paperwork to remove struggling borrowers from their homes during a foreclosure [...]
