British Airways owner International Airlines Group’s takeover of Aer Lingus given clearance for takeoff July 17, 2015 British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) said today it's been given the go-ahead to buy budget Irish airline Aer Lingus, after the company received acceptances from more than half of shareholders. The news brings IAG, which also owns Iberia and Vueling, a step closer to completing its €1.36bn (£951m) deal to take over [...]
BBC shows the strain over Tory reform plan: “Aunty has very much pulled up her sleeves” July 16, 2015 The BBC ramped up its fight with the government yesterday as a groundbreaking Conservative review threatened the broadcaster’s size, funding, content and regulation. Culture secretary John Whittingdale revealed a green paper on the future of the corporation, questioning whether it should aim to be “all things to all people”, attacking its “regressive” licence fee scheme [...]
Mark Carney fuels speculation of 2015 interest rate hike July 16, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney last night dropped another strong hint that markets could be underestimating the likelihood of a 2015 interest rate hike. “In the current circumstances there is no need to wait to raise rates because of a risk management approach and run the risk of inflation overshooting target,” he said in [...]
US corporate results round up July 16, 2015 Google Google beat earnings expectations in its latest financial results with earnings of $6.99 (£4.48) a share, but overall revenue of $17.73bn came in below analysts’ forecasts. Excluding the cost to acquire traffic, Google’s revenue in the second quarter rose 13 per cent to $14.35bn due to the strength of its core search business triggering [...]
Osborne wins guarantee on UK’s Greek loan July 16, 2015 CHANCELLOR George Osborne has managed to secure a guarantee on £700m of British funds that will be loaned to Greece while it continues to negotiate its bailout. Earlier this week, Eurozone officials decided that tapping into a €7bn (£4.9bn) pan-EU fund called the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) would be the most viable option to [...]
Jeremy Browne is recruited to boost the City’s voice in Brussels July 16, 2015 Former minister of state for foreign affairs Jeremy Browne is set for a new post in Brussels, promoting the interests of the City in EU policy making. The City of London Corporation – the City’s governing body – will be placing Browne in its Brussels office as a special representative for the City, it announced today. [...]
Draghi raises lending to Greek banks and calls for debt relief July 16, 2015 GREECE was given a major boost by the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday as it called for debt relief and lifted the amount that could be lent to its banks. ECB chief Mario Draghi said it was “uncontroversial” that Greece is in need of debt relief. It goes against the view of most of the Eurozone, who are resisting [...]
Farron takes Lib Dem leadership role July 16, 2015 FRONTRUNNER Tim Farron has won the Liberal Democrat leadership election, overcoming the former minister Normal Lamb to win the post with 56.5 per cent of the vote against 43.5 per cent of the vote. Farron, who will lead a party of only eight MPs, said the party now needed to “turn millions of liberals throughout [...]
Boris banters in Twitter Q&A July 16, 2015 YOU WOULD have thought that by now politicians would have learnt to avoid Twitter Q&As. They just descend into silliness. Never one to let the fear of causing a scene deter him, Boris Johnson held his own yesterday and fought fire with fire. Rather than ignoring some of the sillier questions, including “are you excited [...]
Cityboys drive Porsche from London to Mongolia via a few 18 holes of golf – for charity July 16, 2015 We know what you’re like – you’re well-travelled, you play golf, you drive a Porsche, you drive the Porsche to the golf course while travelling, you get the idea. It should come as no surprise then that a couple of Cityboys are planning to do just that for charity; driving from London to Mongolia in [...]
