Sentance in renewed call for interest rate hike September 22, 2010 Bank of England policymaker Andrew Sentance repeated his lone call for an interest rate hike in September but some of his colleagues thought the probability that more monetary easing would be needed had increased. Minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee’s last meeting showed an 8-1 vote for leaving interest rates on hold at a record [...]
FirstGroup founder Lockhead to step down September 22, 2010 British transport operator FirstGroup said chief executive Moir Lockhead would retire next March after 21 years at the helm, with his replacement Tim O’Toole set to take the reins later this year. Lockhead helped transform the group into one of Europe’s largest bus and rail operators from an employee and management buyout of Grampian Regional [...]
RSM Tenon hikes dividend as profit rises September 22, 2010 British business adviser RSM Tenon Group posted a 37 per cent increase in full-year adjusted pretax profit, boosted by acquisition of RSM Bentley Jennison and certain assets of troubled peer Vantis. The accountancy and advisory firm said it raised dividend by seven per cent to 1.6 pence per share. “Organic sales growth and margin improvements [...]
RSM Tenon hikes dividend as profit rises September 22, 2010 British business adviser RSM Tenon Group posted a 37 per cent increase in full-year adjusted pretax profit, boosted by acquisition of RSM Bentley Jennison and certain assets of troubled peer Vantis. The accountancy and advisory firm said it raised dividend by seven per cent to 1.6 pence per share. “Organic sales growth and margin improvements [...]
Imperial Tobacco trading hitting forecasts September 22, 2010 Imperial Tobacco, the world’s No.4 cigarette group, said its cigarette volume were in line with the 4.3 per cent fall seen at its 9-month stage as its financial performance stayed in line with its own expectations. The group, which acquired Franco-Spanish group Altadis in January 2008, said its global key cigarette brands continued to perform [...]
Sinochem hires banks as it eyes rival bid for Potash September 22, 2010 China’s Sinochem Corp has hired investment banks to look at toppling BHP Billiton’s $39bn (£24bn) bid for Potash Corp, sources said, as the miner warned it would not be caught in an expensive bidding war for the world’s largest fertiliser group. State-owned chemicals group Sinochem has hired Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to evaluate measures to [...]
Cable wages war on British boardrooms September 21, 2010 VINCE Cable will today launch a scathing attack on British business, announcing a wide-ranging investigation into company takeovers, executive pay and corporate governance. The business secretary will use a keynote speech at the Liberal Democrat conference to wage war on large companies, promising to “shine a harsh light into the murky world of corporate behaviour”. [...]
Europe facing pensions crisis September 21, 2010 EUROPE faces a pensions time bomb with the estimated gap between what people are saving for retirement and what they will actually need to live comfortably when they retire estimated at €1.9 trillion (£1.6 trillion), a report claims today. Europe’s annual “pensions gap” is equivalent to 19 per cent of the European Union’s (EU) GDP [...]
Coalition’s attacks on City must stop September 21, 2010 PLAIN awful. That is the only way to describe yesterday’s government borrowing figures, which saw the deficit jump to another record for August, dashing hopes the public finances were improving of their own accord. Revenue growth was tolerable at 6.3 per cent. What was shocking was that government current spending jumped 11 per cent year [...]
HSBC to pick new chair September 21, 2010 HSBC will choose and announce a replacement for outgoing chairman Stephen Green at a board meeting in Shanghai next Tuesday. Current chief executive Michael Geoghegan is understood to be hopeful of his imminent appointment, given the company’s track record of elevating chief executives to the role of chairman. However, former Goldman Sachs investment banker John [...]
