Cameron orders diplomats to be more business minded July 22, 2010 DIPLOMATS must put securing private-sector contracts at the heart of their work, Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech in New York. The government is also expected to consider opening up applications for senior civil service jobs – including ambassador posts around the world – to people from the private sector to help engineer [...]
Morgan Stanley in profit rise July 21, 2010 US bank Morgan Stanley saw a stronger than expected profit in the three months to the end of June. The company made a net profit of $1.4bn (£917m) compared with a loss of $138m in the same period last year. Morgan Stanley said remuneration for staff for the quarter – including the bonus pool – [...]
Sentance again votes for MPC interest rate rise July 21, 2010 MPC member Andrew Sentence was once again a lone voice in calling for a rise in interest rates, according to the minutes of the July meeting. He voted to lift the Bank rate to 0.75 per cent from the record low of 0.5 per cent, at the MPC’s regular meeting to ste rates. The most [...]
BA given approval for transatlantic tie-ups July 21, 2010 BRITISH Airways has been given the green light approval to operate a joint business on transatlantic flights with American Airlines and Iberia. The US Department of Transportation gave the airlines the go ahead. BA and its partners will co-operate commercially on flights to the US, Canada and Mexico from the EU, Switzerland and Norway. BA [...]
Reckitt Benckiser in £2.5bn takeover deal for SSL July 21, 2010 CONSUMER goods group Reckitt Benckiser has agreed to buy Durex condoms and Scholl sandals maker SSL International for £2.5bn ($3.8 billion) to increase its presence in health and personal care. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Nurofen painkillers, Strepsils and Lemsip cold remedies, said SSL shareholders would receive 1,171 pence in cash a share, including the eight [...]
Hedge funds still pulling in billions July 21, 2010 HEDGE funds pulled in $9.5bn (£6.22bn) during the second quarter with nervous investors preferring to send their money to the biggest and best established managers, according to industry tracker Hedge Fund Research Inc. Hedge fund managers have seen flat returns on average as they have battled a volatile market so far this year, but that [...]
BP in deal to sell $7bn of assets July 21, 2010 BP has sealed a deal to sell $7bn (£4.5bn) of assets in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corporation. The company will sell its Permian Basin operations in Texas and south-east New Mexico and its Western Canadian upstream gas assets. It will also offload its Western Desert business concessions and East Badr El-din [...]
Goldman Sachs suffers earnings slide July 20, 2010 GOLDMAN Sachs Group posted lower second quarter earnings – hit by its settlement of US Securities and Exchange Commission civil fraud charges and the UK tax on bank executive bonuses. The bank, which resolved a major headache last week by paying $550m (£362m) to settle the SEC case, fell short of analysts’ expectations. Earnings applicable [...]
Auditor warns £35bn Whitehall savings off target July 20, 2010 WHITEHALL departments are unlikely to come up with the £35bn of annual savings as planned, government auditors have warned. The National Audit Office said the savings programme initiated by the Treasury would fall short. The NAO reviewed the savings so far of five major departments, including the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence, which [...]
Government borrowing surges to £14.5bn in June July 20, 2010 The Government borrowed a higher than expected £14.5bn in June, according to official data. According to the figures from the Office for National Statistics the figure is only slightly down on a year ago. It means the nation’s net debt now stands at £926.9bn, which represents 63.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). That [...]
