RBS sells WorldPay to Bain Capital November 27, 2013 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has sold its 20 per cent stake in WorldPay to private equity firms Bain Capital and Advent International. RBS said it expected to record a £160m profit from the sale of the payment processing company in its 2013 results. RBS sold the the majority of its stake in WorldPay [...]
EU antitrust regulators clear Monte Paschi restructuring November 27, 2013 European Union antitrust regulators have given the the go ahead for a planned restructuring by Italian lender, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS). The European Commission concluded that the bailout granted for the restructuring of the bank was compatible with state aid rules. In December 2012 MPS received a capital injection of €3.9bn (£2.4bn) [...]
Politcians call on Peugeot CEO told to renounce pension November 27, 2013 Peugeot's outgoing chief executive officer (CEO), Philippe Varin (pictured), has faced calls to renounce part of his £258,000 pension. Mr Varin is set to receive the compensation when he steps down in January 2014. The leader of the Union of Democrats and Independents, Jean-Louis Borloo, said the compensation to be awarded was excessive. He said [...]
WPP lands majority stake in Cerebra Communications November 27, 2013 WPP has announced that it has acquired a majority stake in the South African based agency, Cerebra Communications. The strategic communications company was founded in 2006 and employs 35 people with clients including Vodacom and Nedbank. Cerebra offers services such as community management, crisis management, social business strategy and creative communication campaigns. The acquisition adds [...]
Albermarle & Bond shares collapse as board downgrade expectations November 27, 2013 Shares in Albermarle & Bond have taken a hammering this morning, falling by 40 per cent as the company released its trading update. The pawnbroking business has been in the process of renegotiating its debt and restructuring in the wake of the dramatic fall in the price of gold, on which the company had been [...]
Royal Mail profits up in wake of pension reforms November 27, 2013 Royal Mail has reported pre-tax profits of £1.58bn in the six months ended 29 September. A one-off gain of £1.35bn from pension reforms accounted for most of the increase in profits. However even without the pension reform profits rose £94m from last year. The recently-privatised mail service said that the state of industrial relations has [...]
Merkel seals the deal as Germany prepares for coalition government November 27, 2013 German chancellor Angela Merkel has secured a coalition agreement with the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), putting her on course for a third term as German Chancellor. The deal reached between Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the SPD includes the introduction of a national minimum wage and promises to raise spending on social security without further [...]
Portugal approves budget for 2014 amidst austerity protests November 26, 2013 On Tuesday Portuguese law makers passed a budget for 2014. Many of the measures contained in the budget have proved controversial such as increasing the time of the working week in the public sector from 35 hours to 40 hours. During the pre-vote debate trade unionists protested in front of the parliament demanding an end [...]
Unions and Royal Mail extend deadline for talks November 26, 2013 Recently privatised Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have extended the deadline for an agreement on workers pay and conditions to 3 December. The parties said there had been progress in reaching a deal on pensions and working conditions. Dave Ward, deputy secretary general of the CWU, said: We are confident that negotiations [...]
French downgrade was unjustified says IMF chief economist November 26, 2013 The IMF's chief economist, Olivier Blanchard has said that France's recent credit downgrade by Standard & Poor's (S&P) was unjustified. Speaking to German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Mr Blanchard, said: Even if France hasn't fully recovered yet, I don't see any substantial risk — or even an increased risk — that it won't be able to [...]
