Regulators look into sale of shares by BlackRock in Saipem February 12, 2013 INVESTIGATORS are looking into whether there was any market abuse surrounding a controversial share sale by the institutional fund manager BlackRock last month. Both the Italian financial regulator Consob and the FSA are looking into the circumstances behind the share sale in the Italian oil services group Saipem and a subsequent profits warning less than [...]
Tesco must rein in the runaway horse lasagne scandal February 12, 2013 THREE weeks ago I wrote in this column that Tesco had suffered an immediate image impact after the revelations over horsemeat in burgers – but that the supermarket giant was already starting to recover and the story could prove to be a storm in a teacup. Our measurement of brand perception – called the Index [...]
Police raid Yorkshire abattoir over horsemeat kebab fears February 12, 2013 POLICE yesterday raided an abattoir in West Yorkshire and a meat supplier in Aberystwyth as the scandal over the mislabelling of meat products continued to spread. Officials from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) closed down the two sites following allegations that horse carcasses from the Yorkshire site were sold on to the Welsh company for [...]
Heathrow boss defends plans to hike charges February 12, 2013 HEATHROW yesterday defended its plan to hike passenger charges from next year to pay for its upgrade work. The airport said it wants to spend £3bn between 2014 and 2019 to complete the revamp of terminal two, install more self-service check-in desks and improve punctuality. The plans, which must be approved by the Civil Aviation [...]
City Views | Where should London’s next airport or runways be built? February 12, 2013 KEITH BUROWES | BANK OF ENGLAND Given the residential area surrounding Heathrow, wouldn’t it be a better idea to put expansion out of the way from where people live? PAUL RILEY | RR DONNELLEY Living out in the east would make it more convenient for me. They’re looking to fund improvements for Heathrow through its [...]
London Capital in buyout talks February 12, 2013 LONDON Capital Group saw its shares leap 23 per cent yesterday after the spread betting firm confirmed it is in takeover talks with a number of bidders. The owner of Capital Spreads said it has received preliminary takeover approaches from Cantor Fitzgerald, GAIN Capital and City Index although it said there was no certainty of [...]
Profits up on Marsh’s sales February 12, 2013 MARSH & McLennan’s said yesterday its fourth-quarter profit rose two per cent, helped by growth in its core insurance business. The insurance broker reported a profit of $259m (£165.4m), or 47 cents per share, up from $256m, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue at Marsh, the company’s main insurance business, grew four [...]
Inflation stuck above target for 38th month February 12, 2013 CONSUMER prices grew faster than the Bank of England’s target rate for the 38th straight month over the year to January, data revealed yesterday. The consumer prices index (CPI) grew 2.7 per cent between January 2012 and January 2013, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, the same rate as recorded in October, November and [...]
House prices climb steadily through 2012 February 12, 2013 HOUSE prices chugged upwards steadily during last year, according to official statistics out yesterday. The average UK home was worth 3.3 per cent more at the end of 2012 than at end of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its house price index, up from the 2.2 per cent annual growth seen [...]
Draghi in no rush to buy up Spain’s bonds February 12, 2013 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) will only step into the Spanish bond market and use its bond buying scheme if it was having “major problems” trying to carry out monetary policy, its boss said yesterday. ECB boss Draghi also said the rate-setters would not use the outright monetary transactions (OMT) bond-buying programme unless Spain had [...]
