Banks launch SME lending campaign April 5, 2011 A task force of Britain’s major banks have launched a campaign to make lending to small and medium-sized businesses more transparent, the British Bankers Association said. Under the scheme, backed by the BBA, the banks will have to provide businesses with the result of a loan appeal within 30 days and information on alternative sources [...]
SGX takeover of ASX “to be blocked” April 5, 2011 The Australian government said it intends to reject the Singapore Exchange’s proposed $7.8bn (£4.8bn) takeover bid for Australian stock-exchange operator ASX on national interest grounds. SGX and ASX wanted to team up to cut costs, fight growing pressure from alternative trading platforms and avoid being left behind as rivals in North America and Europe get [...]
LSE to sell Servizio Titoli for £26m April 5, 2011 The London Stock Exchange, which is currently seeking to buy the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, said it had sold its non-core Italian unit Servizio Titoli to Computershare. The LSE said it would sell the unit for an initial amount of 30 million euros (£26.4m). Servizio Titoli provides shareholder management services to listed companies [...]
HMV in new profit warning April 5, 2011 HMV issued its third profit warning this year, sating it expects profit before tax and exceptional items for the full year to be around £30m. That is £8m down on what the embattled company estimated just a month ago. However the music retailer said negotiations over its credit facilities were ongoing and that lending tests [...]
Oil price hits two and a half year high April 4, 2011 Oil has hit a new two-and-a-half year high triggered by increasing worries over the situation in Libya. The cost of a barrel of US light, sweet crude reached $108.78 on on expectations of rising demand. Meanwhile, Brent crude, rose to $119.75 a barrel, just below the peak of $119.79 it hit in February, when the [...]
Britons put record £7bn into housing equity April 4, 2011 Britons put a record £7bn of equity into their homes in the fourth quarter of the year as record-low interest rates encouraged homeowners to pay down debt, Bank of England data has shown. Between October and December Britons invested the equivalent of 2.7 per cent of post-tax income, and the highest figure in absolute terms [...]
Construction PMI stronger than expected April 4, 2011 The pace of activity in Britain’s construction sector slowed only marginally in March from February’s eight-month high, a monthly purchasing managers’ survey showed. The Markit/CIPS construction PMI index eased to 56.4 in March from 56.5 in February. Construction makes up about six per cent of British economic output, and Monday’s data follows a bigger-than-expected fall [...]
YouGov profit surge fuelled by US April 4, 2011 Online market research group YouGov Plc posted a 64 per cent rise in its first-half profit, spurred by growth in its US market due to an acquisition. The company, which bought Harrison Group last year, said the acquisition helped in making the United States its largest market by revenue. YouGov also said it would also [...]
BP to offload Arco for $680m April 4, 2011 BP is to sell its subsidiary ARCO Aluminium to a consortium of Japanese companies for $680m. Sumitomo Light Metal Industries, Furukawa Sky Aluminum, Sumitomo Corporation, Itochu Corporation, and Itochu Metals Corporation are paying cash for the company. BP chief executive Bob Dudley said: “Although a strong business, ARCO Aluminum is clearly a non-strategic asset for [...]
M&S returns to France April 1, 2011 Marks and Spencer will return to France this year with stores in Paris and its first international website, it announced today. The new website will be in French and is set to trade in Euros. A new store will be opened in Champs-Elysees, central Paris, in the next few months and will sell both womenswear [...]
