Pru faces growing rebellion May 26, 2010 PRUDENTIAL’S quest to buy AIA is turning into “a high-stakes gamble”, one major shareholder said last night, as it emerged 15 per cent of investors may vote against the deal. Referring to the insurer’s plan to take over AIG’s Asian arm for $35.5bn (£25bn), the top-20 shareholder said: “There are a number of issues you [...]
UK rates need to start rising May 26, 2010 THE Bank of England will need to raise interest rates to 3.5 per cent by the end of next year if it is to preserve its inflation-fighting capabilities, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned yesterday. The Paris-based think-tank, which represents 31 of the world’s developed economies, said: “The gradual drift up of [...]
Capital gains tax hike a very bad idea May 26, 2010 IT is time for the new government to pause for thought on capital gains tax. John Redwood, the former Tory minister, is right on the money in his article for this newspaper today (see p16): a massive increase in capital gains tax to 40 or even 50 per cent, as envisaged by the government, would [...]
Apple trumps Microsoft May 26, 2010 APPLE shot past Microsoft to become the world’s biggest tech company based on market value yesterday, the latest milestone in the resurgence of the maker of the iPhone, which nearly went out of business in the 1990s. Apple’s shares rose as much 2.8 per cent on Nasdaq as Microsoft shares floundered, briefly pushing its market [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 26, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES APPLE, HP AND DELL INVESTIGATE FOXCONN AFTER SPATE OF SUICIDES Apple, Dell and HP, three of the world’s largest IT companies, said yesterday they were investigating working conditions at Foxconn after a series of suicides at the huge factory in southern China where Foxconn makes electronic goods. Nine workers at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant, [...]
CNN aims for record profits May 26, 2010 American news network CNN is on track to deliver its most profitable set of results in its 30-year history, despite a 42 per cent slump in ratings since the start of the year. The broadcaster, part of the Time Warner group, is expected to say operating profits came to $500m for the year ending December [...]
S&P boosts Lloyds and RBS May 26, 2010 Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, has upgraded its stance on government-backed Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland in a move that underlines the recovery at the two banks. S&P raised the ratings on the institutions one notch from BBB to BBB+. Lloyds, 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer, bounced back [...]
BRC: VAT hike will destroy 163,000 jobs May 26, 2010 RAISING VAT to 20 per cent would cost thousands of jobs and pull billions of pounds of consumer spending out of the economy, the British Retail Consortium warned today. Cautioning chancellor George Osborne there is no “silver bullet” to reduce Britain’s budget deficit without harming the recovery, the BRC said hiking VAT from its current [...]
Accounting standards overhauled May 26, 2010 THE Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which sets US accounting rules, released a proposal yesterday that could change how banks account for financial instruments such as loans and debt securities. FASB, which has been debating the changes for months with the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, said it proposes to require that companies provide new [...]
Lazard man quits M&A watchdog May 26, 2010 THE City takeovers watchdog began hunting for a new boss today after the incoming director general was forced to resign over his role in Kraft’s controversial buyout of Cadbury. Peter Kiernan, a top banker at Lazard, said he would not take the two-year posting at the Takeover Panel after it published a harsh verdict of [...]
