CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TIPPING February 14, 2012 A real mouthwatering tie in prospect here with two sides that have underachieved in recent years but are still two of the biggest clubs in European football. AC Milan cruised through the group stages this time around and really held their own in two games against the mighty Barcelona. Last season’s Serie A champions are [...]
UK car factories rev back into life February 14, 2012 JAGUAR Land Rover underlined the rebound in the British car industry yesterday when it posted a record quarterly profit. Just three years after it turned to the European Investment Bank for a £340m crisis loan, JLR reported a 57 per cent rise in net profit to £440m for the final three months of 2011. Demand [...]
Eurogroup meeting is postponed February 14, 2012 A CRUCIAL meeting of Eurozone finance ministers planned for today has been postponed, following doubts that Greece will stick to austerity measures necessary to receive its latest bailout. The meeting of ministers known as the Eurogroup will be replaced by a telephone conference, chairman Jean-Claude Juncker admitted last night. The delay is the latest setback [...]
Grieve orders probe into SFO February 14, 2012 MINISTERS have ordered an inquiry into the running of the Serious Fraud Office following the collapse of a string of major investigations. The review, which will begin next month, will be carried out by the head of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and will look at SFO cases and how it chooses investigations. Dominic Grieve, [...]
The real reasons why UK is in trouble February 14, 2012 FORGET about the reasoning Moody’s cited when putting the UK on negative watch this week. The problem with the credit rating agencies is not that they are too harsh – they are invariably too soft, too backwards-looking and cautious. Their decisions are always months out of date. Here is the real reason why the UK [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 14, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES PRESSURE RISES ON PRIVATE EQUITY BOSSES’ TAX Pressure is rising across the globe to raise taxes for private equity bosses, with German and Swedish authorities pushing for legislative changes and a leading US pension fund investor calling the 15 per cent rate in America “indefensible”. HSBC SETS TARGET OF 800 BRANCHES IN CHINA [...]
Britain defiant on triple-A February 14, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT is highly confident that Britain will keep its triple-A rating despite Moody’s warning there is a 30 per cent chance of a downgrade, according to a person familiar with Treasury thinking. The source said there is “no expectation” of an actual downgrade and it is business as usual, despite the more cautious official [...]
Yahoo investor calls for new board February 14, 2012 Yahoo activist investor Daniel Loeb, of the hedge fund ThirdPoint, last night launched a campaign to install his own slate of directors on the embattled internet firm’s board, highlighting the turmoil engulfing the one-time online pioneer. His move came after talks between Yahoo and China’s Alibaba over the US internet giant’s Asian assets hit an [...]
Paulson sells his BAML stake February 14, 2012 Veteran hedge fund manager John Paulson sold his entire stake in Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the last quarter, according to filings last night. Bank of America shares fell 15 per cent during the fourth quarter, but it is not clear when Paulson offloaded his 64m shares. Bank of America’s losses helped turn 2011 [...]
Rothschild’s rivals to take fight to board February 14, 2012 NAT Rothschild will have to affirm his loyalty to the FTSE 250 miner Bumi in order to get the full support of its board after rival shareholders in the company dropped a call for an emergency investor vote to oust him. Rothschild is likely to lose his title of co-chairman to new Indonesian shareholder Samin Tan [...]
