Bonuses are back for top boardrooms June 16, 2010 THE average FTSE 100 boardroom bonus topped half a million pounds in the first half of this year, with an average pay rise for top directors of 23 per cent, research out today reveals. Bonus payments rose to an average of £558,918, a dramatic bounce from last year when payouts fell 30 per cent, according [...]
Top lawyers show signs of recovery June 16, 2010 THE UK’s top 100 law firms enjoyed a minor resurgence at the start of 2010, as fee income and chargeable hours increased in the three months to April, according to figures out today. While the revival has not generated the fees seen before the banking crisis, fee income grew by an average of 4.6 per [...]
Creditors rights limited in US Ponzi case June 16, 2010 IN a case involving a $255m (£173m) Ponzi scheme targeting Orthodox Jews, a federal appeals court said district judges have the power to block creditors from beginning involuntary bankruptcies against entities put under US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) receivership. Tuesday’s ruling by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals is a setback for creditors [...]
US factory output jumps June 16, 2010 MANUFACTURING production in the US rose 0.9 per cent in May, fuelled by a 5.5 per cent rebound in motor vehicle output. The wider industrial output measure rose 1.2 per cent last month thanks to a 4.8 per cent weather-related jump in utilities output. The continued recovery in the US manufacturing sector shows little sign of [...]
Picoult strikes gold again June 16, 2010 HOUSE RULES BY JODI PICOULT Hodder, £16.99 For an easy-reading, best-selling author, Picoult tackles some pretty serious issues. Fans will recognise her favoured theme of troubled or ill children, written through the perspectives of those nearest to them, in House Rules. But with this, her 16th novel, Picoult seems to be stepping her writing up [...]
Sky set to see shareholders June 16, 2010 NICHOLAS Ferguson, the senior independent director of BSkyB, which is facing an outright bid from its largest shareholder News Corporation, has intimated he wants to see some of the larger shareholders in the group to listen to their views about the bid price. Ferguson was travelling yesterday on unrelated business but he will no doubt [...]
Jupiter shares rise in the grey market June 16, 2010 UNOFFICIAL dealings in the fund manager Jupiter saw the shares peak at 190p, well above the 165p price at which new shares were issued in the group’s flotation. Sources said 25m shares were traded and the closing price came in at 188.5p. It also emerged yesterday that the fund management group BlackRock has emerged as [...]
This may be news to some, but Murdoch’s move is a good one June 16, 2010 Not all of News Corp’s shareholders jumped with joy at news of controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch’s plan to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB’s shares it doesn’t already own. Some may feel it is a convoluted attempt to serve Murdoch interests rather than those of the minority holders in News Corp. Others may think [...]
Buy her an engagement ring she’ll love June 16, 2010 IT’S not just the cost that can make buying an engagement ring a daunting process. Once you’ve passed the man-mountain of a security guard and entered the museum-like atmosphere of a shop overflowing with rare, sparkling objects, it’s hardly the easiest environment in which to speak up and admit that, actually, you haven’t a clue [...]
Fannie, Freddie delist June 16, 2010 FANNIE MAE and Freddie Mac, the largest US home funding companies, will delist their shares on the New York Stock Exchange after Fannie Mae fell below and Freddie Mac held near minimum price requirements, the companies’ regulator said yesterday. The companies, each taken under government control in September 2008, said they no longer met NYSE [...]
