McLoughlin committed to HS2 as superfast rail plans include Wi-Fi September 30, 2013 RAIL travellers will be able to enjoy high-speed mobile internet access from 2015 onwards, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced yesterday. He also insisted that the government remains absolutely committed to the High Speed 2, dismissing critics of the plan as “moaning London commentators”. Under McLoughlin’s plan extra mobile phone masts will be provided along key [...]
Marriage tax break under fire as cliff edge hits incentive to work September 30, 2013 FAMILIES could become worse off as they earn more under the government’s new marriage tax breaks, tax analysts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned yesterday. The policy will allow couples to share their tax-free income allowance, at an expected cost of £700m to the state coffers. If the higher earning partner is a standard-rate [...]
Davis returns to haunt Glencore with $3bn miner September 30, 2013 FORMER Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis reinforced his comeback into the mining sector yesterday, with the announcement that his new mining venture has raised $1bn (£618m). Private equity firm TPG and commodities trading house Noble have invested $500m each in X2 Resources, which aims “to create a new mid-tier diversified mining and metals group by…identifying [...]
Bottom Line: Mick the miner is ready to build September 30, 2013 IT MAY share its name with both a superhero movie sequel and a low-cost Nokia phone, but there’s only one thing that Mick Davis’ new venture looks like – Xstrata. The former chief executive of the resources group, pushed out of the top job as part of a revised deal with merger partner Glencore earlier this [...]
US politicians at loggerheads on health spending September 30, 2013 LAST night’s bitter debate on a new emergency budget centred on the so-called Obamacare health policy, with Republicans and Democrats both unwilling to back down. Republican leader of the house John Boehner wants to delay the introduction of the policy by a year, as well as repealing a new tax on medical equipment. But President Obama dug [...]
Hedgies on a high despite less shorting September 30, 2013 HEDGE funds have shrunk the value of their bets against FTSE 100 companies to their lowest known level since 2006, indicating a bullish outlook on the future of the UK economy. Fresh figures from data provider Markit shows just over one per cent of FTSE 100 shares were out on loan at the end of [...]
Lloyds could sell Oz assets to Macquarie September 30, 2013 INVESTMENT bank Macquarie has made a final offer of AU$9bn (£5.2bn) for Lloyds Banking Group’s Australian assets, Bloomberg reported last night. If the sale goes ahead it would be the latest in a long line of divestments which have seen the British lender exit overseas markets. Foreign private banking operations have been sold off, along with [...]
M&S director of Asia to leave at end of October September 30, 2013 MARKS & Spencer is to see more changes to its senior management after confirming last night that its Asia regional director is to leave after two years with the company. The high street retail giant said Pascal Martin is to step down at the end of October “to pursue new opportunities outside of the business”. [...]
Business braves Italy mayhem to raise loans September 30, 2013 A SPATE of corporate giants shrugged off European jitters yesterday to tap the bond markets for billions of euros in cash. Luxury brand owner Kering – which owns well known labels such as Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney – and the world’s largest postal service Deutsche Post both raised substantial loans from investors despite [...]
Aquis targets November launch date September 30, 2013 AQUIS Exchange, the trading platform which has attracted the attention former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, has told prospective clients it hopes to launch the exchange next month. The company, which has been set up by former Chi-X chief executive Alasdair Haynes, wrote to potential customers last week telling them it hoped the trading platform would [...]
