House of Fraser could be sold December 17, 2013 DEPARTMENT store House of Fraser is in advanced talks with opulent French retailer Galeries Lafayette about a takeover. The French company is closing in on a deal to buy the British favourite after the two entered exclusive negotiations. The talks, first reported by the FT, cast doubt on a touted float of the company next [...]
Record year for US watchdog as sanctions surge December 17, 2013 THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) raked in $3.4bn (£2.09bn) in fines during the last financial year, the highest in the history of the organisation. The US financial watchdog announced yesterday that it had levied the record amount in the year to September, a 10 per cent hike from last year. Despite the fact that [...]
Bottom Line: Aldi and Lidl are not just for Christmas December 17, 2013 IF, AS the saying goes, the customer is always right, then the future of British grocery shopping could soon start to look very different. In the past three months, one in two of us has been to either Aldi or Lidl – the so-called budget supermarkets that now make up a combined seven per cent of [...]
Jefferies profits soar thanks to recovery boosting stock market December 17, 2013 INVESTMENT bank Jefferies saw record fourth quarter profits in the three months to 30 November, the institution said yesterday. Net earnings soared to $120m (£73.7m), up 67.7 per cent on the same period of 2012. Net revenue increased 21.7 per cent to $935.7m while non-pay expenses edged up 6.4 per cent to $198.1m. The success [...]
Mortgage debt leans on south east of England December 17, 2013 LONDON and the south east of England make up nearly half of Great Britain’s outstanding property loans, as new figures show how the region dominates the mortgage market. London and the south east have £388.7bn of outstanding mortgage debt, 43 per cent of Britain’s £891.4bn total lending. The capital alone holds £227.3bn, more than a [...]
London attracts biggest share of small business bank loans December 17, 2013 LONDON’S small businesses account for more than one-fifth of bank loans to the sector, data from the British Bankers’ Association showed yesterday. As a result the capital’s small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) currently owe around £35.8bn. The south east came next with 13 per cent of the UK’s stock of SME loans, worth £22.2bn. [...]
UK companies sitting on cash December 17, 2013 BUSINESSES in the UK racked up £69bn of unproductive cash in 2012, an eight per cent increase on 2011, a new report from Deloitte has found. The money is equivalent to a cash injection worth five per cent of the businesses’ total income and is largely the result of inefficient financial and operational practices. Andrew [...]
Supermarket fuel war reignites as Tesco and Asda drop prices December 17, 2013 THE SUPERMARKET fuel price war sparked off once again yesterday, after two major chains introduced new price cuts, effective from this morning. Tesco and Asda are both dropping the price of petrol by up to 2p per litre and diesel by 1p per litre. Spokespersons from Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s confirmed yesterday that they were not [...]
UK to give out next shale gas permits in 2014 December 17, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday said it plans to hold the next round of licensing for companies wishing to explore for shale gas next year, as it published a new report which claims the energy source will not have a detrimental effect on the environment. The 14th round of shale licensing, which was initially planned for 2010 [...]
BP-led consortium signs £17bn Azerbaijan gas supply contract December 17, 2013 A CONSORTIUM of oil majors, including BP and Statoil, yesterday confirmed that they have signed a $28bn (£17.2bn) deal that will bring gas from Azerbaijan into Europe. The project aims to produce 120,000 barrels of condensate gas per day from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan – expanded from 50,000 barrels per day – over [...]
