The big changes for companies floating in UK November 5, 2013 1 The new regulations will attempt to ensure listed companies are run independently of their controlling shareholders, including measures that give independent shareholders a veto over transactions between listed companies and a controlling shareholder when this independence is threatened. 2 They will require separate approval of independent directors by independent shareholders, in addition to gaining [...]
Carrier shipyard jobs at risk November 5, 2013 BAE Systems is reportedly about to make more than 1,000 workers redundant across three major shipyards, two in Glasgow and one in Portsmouth. Two new aircraft carriers which BAE is about to complete, which have been dogged by financial problems. According to the BBC, major job losses will be announced later in the week. The [...]
Earnings crunched for AOL November 5, 2013 AOL revenues for the third quarter beat expectations when announced yesterday, with increased advertising sales, but earnings fell sharply because of challenges at its network of community news websites known as Patch. The digital media firm took a pre-tax restructuring charge of $19m (£11.84m) and an impairment charge of $25m, sending income down 90 per [...]
Fox hit by split from News Corp November 5, 2013 Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox film and TV company reported quarterly earnings yesterday that missed expectations, hurt by investments in new cable channels and a weaker performance from its movie releases. For its first quarter as an independent company, having split from News Corp during the summer, Fox recorded total revenue of $7.06bn (£4.4bn), an [...]
EU nears bank fines over rate rigging claims November 5, 2013 A HOST of global banks are nearing a multi-billion euro settlement with EU competition regulators over allegations of European interest rate rigging. The European Commission is probing claims a cartel of traders acted together to fix the Euribor interest rate, which feeds into a host of prices used to sell financial products. The commission has [...]
Virgin Media boosts Tivo users after deal for BT’s sport channels November 5, 2013 NEARLY half of Virgin Media’s customers are now using Tivo, with hundreds of thousands signing up to the service in the past year, according to the company’s first results as part of Liberty Global. The telecoms giant has added 679,000 new subscribers to the service since the third quarter last year, and 165,000 between July [...]
Rising chunk of Europe budget spent in error November 5, 2013 THE SLICE of the European Union’s budget that was used incorrectly rose in the 2012 financial year, with over €6bn (£5.04bn) spent wrongly. The official error rate rose to 4.8 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent, according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Of the EU’s €138.6bn budget, this suggests that €6.65bn was [...]
Bottom Line: Hot competition in retail revolution November 5, 2013 PRIMARK doesn’t sell food, but if it did, it’s unlikely the range would compete with Marks & Spencer. Unfortunately for the 129-year-old high-street stalwart, its younger rival does sell clothes – a lot of them. Yesterday’s contrasting results from the two retailers were a stark reminder of just how much the British high street has [...]
M&S shares rise despite further fall in clothing November 5, 2013 MARKS & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland said efforts put into the new autumn and winter range were showing signs of paying off, as the retailer’s decline in general merchandise sales slowed slightly, pushing shares 4.5 per cent higher yesterday. The high street stalwart reported a 1.5 per cent decline in underlying general merchandise sales [...]
Primark profits steal the show at AB Foods November 5, 2013 ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF) said yesterday that “remarkable” results at its discount clothing chain Primark helped the FTSE 100 giant report a 13 per cent jump in profits. Primark’s adjusted operating profit rose 44 per cent to £514m in the year to 14 September, overtaking the £435m of profits at ABF’s sugar division, which was [...]
