Telefonica nears deal to buy KPN phone business July 22, 2013 TELEFONICA, the owner of O2, is on the verge of clinching a $6bn (£3.9bn) deal to buy a German phone network from KPN, the Dutch group controlled by the world’s richest man Carlos Slim. The Spanish company – which took over O2 eight years ago – is in advanced talks to snap up KPN’s German [...]
Bottom Line: Competition concerns could hert(z) July 22, 2013 AS TALKS between Telefonica and KPN dragged into the night yesterday, it soon became clear that regulatory concerns remain the biggest threat to any deal being agreed. It’s no wonder the talks have been revived after years of to-ing and fro-ing between the parties – the German wireless market is incredibly competitive, and a merger [...]
Institute of Directors takes stand against tighter listing proposals July 22, 2013 THE INSTITUTE of Directors (IoD) yesterday criticised proposals to tighten listing rules for companies with controlling shareholders. The influential group said the idea put forward by the Association of British Insurers for more stringent rules on majority shareholders in London-listed companies would fail to boost governance standards. It follows criticism of London’s listing rules after [...]
Whitehall says EU status quo suits Britain July 22, 2013 BRITAIN receives “appreciable economic benefits” from its membership of the EU, according to a series of civil service-authored reports released yesterday by the government. The six separate publications cover issues such as tax and the single market but do make any policy recommendations. Instead they weigh up the pros and cons based on evidence sent [...]
UK homes banned from online pornography unless they opt-in July 22, 2013 MOST British homes will not be able to see online pornography unless they actively request to access it, under plans announced yesterday by David Cameron. He also threatened Google and Bing with legislation unless they block results for an unspecified blacklist of child abuse terms by this autumn. Search engines already retrospectively remove abusive sites when [...]
GSK says China execs may have broken the law July 22, 2013 GLAXOSMITHKLINE’S share price slipped yesterday after the pharma giant announced that certain senior executives appeared to have breached Chinese law. The FTSE 100-listed drugmaker, which has been accused of being the ringleader in a ¥3bn (£320m) bribery scandal, said it has “zero tolerance” for any illegal behaviour and that it will cooperate with Chinese authorities [...]
McDonald’s cautious as tough economy eats into food sales July 22, 2013 MCDONALD’S yesterday said it expects the rest of the year to be tough for fast food sales, after posting a four per cent rise in net income to almost $1.4bn (£911m) for the second quarter. Shares in the world’s biggest restaurant chain lost 2.7 per cent yesterday after chief executive Don Thompson said “the informal [...]
Netflix reports higher than forecast profit July 22, 2013 NETFLIX reported a higher-than-expected profit for the second quarter, as the company added subscribers to its video streaming service, though not as many as analysts had hoped for. Shares of Netflix fell five per cent in after-hours trading to $248.00 (£161.45), down from their earlier $261.96 close on the Nasdaq. Netflix signed up 630,000 new [...]
UBS settles loan case as earnings soar 62 per cent July 22, 2013 SWISS bank UBS is paying SFr700m (£487m) to settle claims it overstated the quality of loans in the run up to the financial crisis, the lender announced yesterday. US regulators brought the case after complaints from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who claim they were misled by 18 institutions into buying bad debts without realising [...]
Oriel and Panmure break off tie-up talks July 22, 2013 STOCKBROKERS Oriel Securities and Panmure Gordon have decided not to pursue a merger after preliminary talks suggested the deal would not be beneficial enough. Oriel said it is “very happy being an independent business with engaged and helpful shareholders, many of whom are senior employees”. “We do get approaches from time to time and obviously [...]
