Chancellor slashes stamp duty for first-time buyers March 24, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling has said stamp duty will be scrapped on house purchases up to £250,000 for first-time buyers – to be funded by a five per cent levy on those buying homes over £1m. The chancellor unveiled the measures in his budget in which he said the economy was at a “crossroads”. Meanwhile he said [...]
Three Alstom directors arrested in fraud probe March 24, 2010 THREE directors of transport and infrastructure group Alstom have been arrested in a UK corruption investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The arrests followed a raid on the French firms offices across the UK as well as residential addresses. The SFO said in a statement it believed bribes had been paid in order to [...]
easyJet lands Guardian executive as new boss March 24, 2010 BUDGET airline easyJet has chosen Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall to replace chief executive Andy Harrison. McCall who has been at the helm of the publisher of The Guardian and The Observer for four years, said the switch as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” She has been with GMG for 24 years, [...]
Bellway to raise dividend after profit surge March 24, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway will raise its dividend after reporting healthy first half profits. The firm, Britain’s fifth largest housebuilder by market value, made £19m in the six months to the end of January, compared with a loss of £48.6m in the same period the year before. It completed sales of 2,247 homes compared with 2,014 – [...]
Lloyds of London hits record profit March 24, 2010 THE Lloyd’s of London insurance market said its profit more than doubled last year to a new record thanks to a quiet hurricane season and lucrative investments. Pre-tax profit was £3.87bn – up from £1.9bnin 2008, when the market was forced to pay out massive sums after communities and businesses were torn apart by hurricanes [...]
Sainsbury’s sales growth at five-year low March 24, 2010 SAINSBURY’S has reported its smallest rise in underlying quarterly sales in almost five years. Britain’s third biggest grocery chain said stores open at least one year rose 1.7 per cent, excluding fuel, in the fourth quarter. Sales rose 3.7 per cent in the third quarter but a slowdown in price inflation and economic uncertainty before [...]
British Gas workers vote to strike March 23, 2010 BRITISH Gas workers have voted to strike over what they have branded macho management and bullying. The strikes would affect gas service engineers, central heating boiling engineers and distribution depot workers, the union added. No strike dates have been set among the 8,000 GMB members and the company, part of Centrica, has been given a [...]
Six arrested in FSA insider dealing probe March 23, 2010 SIX men – including three senior City professionals – have been arrested in the Financial Services Authority’s biggest ever operation against insider dealing. The FSA says the men are believed to have passed information to traders – either directly or via middlemen – in a sophisticated and long-running insider dealing ring. The traders then used [...]
UK inflation rate drops March 23, 2010 THE headline rate of inflation last month slowed for the first time since September, raising hopes that the figure has reached its peak. Utility price cuts and a slower rise in food prices helped to send the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) back down to three per cent in February. In January it soared to a [...]
RAB Capital narrows losses March 23, 2010 HEDGE fund firm RAB Capital has narrowed its full year net losses as new investors helped the business recover from the recession. The energy and commodities funds specialist posted an after-tax loss of £3.1m for last year compared with a loss of £17.1m in 2008. Assets under management improved to $1.35bn (£899m) at the end [...]
