Ma Filleule can silence big guns up at Aintree April 8, 2015 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE OPENING DAY OF THE CRABBIE’S GRAND NATIONAL MEETING AT AINTREE ANYONE who witnessed Holywell’s demolition of the Mildmay Novices’ Chase field at this meeting 12 months ago will find it pretty hard to oppose the AP McCoy-ridden eight-year-old in the Betfred Bowl (2.50pm) at Aintree this afternoon. He jumped and galloped [...]
Improving Arctic Fire can give Mullins and Walsh yet another big win April 8, 2015 WILLIE Mullins and Ruby Walsh carried all before them at last month’s Cheltenham Festival and I expect them to continue in the same vein in today’s Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle (3.25pm). ARCTIC FIRE was the stable’s supposed third string in the Champion Hurdle, but he flew past his rivals up the home straight to chase [...]
BG Group agrees to £47bn takeover by Royal Dutch Shell in oil mega-merger April 8, 2015 Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced a takeover of BG Group, in a deal valuing gas producer BG at £47bn. Shell will pay a premium of around 50 per cent on BG’s shares, which closed up by 6.74 per cent at 910.40p yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of £31bn. BG’s board have recommended [...]
General Election 2015: Tories get 31 more business leaders on side April 7, 2015 A further 31 business leaders have added their names to a letter supporting the Conservatives’ approach to the economy. The new additions bring the total number of signatories up to 150, after the letter was launched last week by over 100 major business figures. Despite the growth in public support for business-friendly policy platforms, the [...]
TNT Express share price rises on FedEx’s €4.4bn bid April 7, 2015 Shares in Dutch firm TNT Express leapt by a third yesterday after FedEx announced a €4.4bn (£3.2bn) all-cash offer to acquire the beleaguered delivery giant. TNT has struggled since European regulators prevented it from merging with UPS in 2013, with its market share declining by five per cent leading to a €137m loss in the [...]
UK needs an exports revolution says independent commission April 7, 2015 A revolution is required to boost British exports, according to a report by Graham Cole’s independent exports commission. Cole, the chairman of AgustaWestland, was asked to lead the commission by Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls, and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna. He told City A.M that “a lot has been done to improve exports. There’s [...]
Miliband vows to end non-dom tax loophole April 7, 2015 Ed Miliband will today vow to abolish the non-domicile rule that allows many of the UK’s richest permanent residents to avoid paying tax in the UK on their global income. This could affect the likes of HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who can claim the status because he previously worked in Hong Kong.
Spanish cost of borrowing dips lower than zero April 7, 2015 THE INTEREST rate on Spanish government debt dropped briefly into negative territory yesterday. It meant that for a short time, investors had to pay a small a fee to park their money with the Spanish government. However, the real rate of interest – the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with money [...]
Jay Z removes his album from rival as the tide turns on Spotify April 7, 2015 RAP MOGUL Jay Z yesterday yanked his first album from Spotify in the US, making it available instead on his new Tidal streaming music service. It is, however, still available on Spotify in the UK. Reasonable Doubt, Jay Z’s 1996 debut album, had been listed on Spotify as recently as Monday. Now, Spotify customers can [...]
ITV eyes new $950m deal with television arm of The Weinstein Company April 7, 2015 After buying Talpa in March, ITV is looking to the US again to expand its content creation arm. It has been less than a month since ITV’s acquisition of Talpa Media, the production company of BBC1’s The Voice. But already the broadcaster is back in the limelight – this time over talks to buy the [...]
