Record overnight deposits at ECB January 10, 2012 With no end to the Eurozone’s debt crisis in sight, banks have been choosing safety over profit, pushing overnight deposits at the ECB to record highs of €482bn yesterday. The ECB pays 0.25 per cent interest for overnight deposits, well below the 0.372 per cent at which banks could lend out their spare cash on [...]
BBVA takes a hit on US goodwill January 10, 2012 BBVA, Spain’s second-biggest bank, said it would take a €1bn (£825m) hit on 2011 net profit due to an adjustment in its goodwill, boosting capital by €400m. The goodwill adjustment in its US unit was due to the slow economic recovery and an expectation of low interest rates in that country, BBVA said yesterday.
Hays hurt by slowdown in global market January 10, 2012 TOUGH economic conditions have hit the confidence of employers and jobseekers alike in recent months, recruitment company Hays said yesterday, as it reported a drop in business in its home market and a slowdown in growth overseas. Hays said net fees – or gross profit – rose eight per cent in its second quarter to [...]
Westminster prompts row over Scottish referendum January 10, 2012 THE WESTMINSTER government has raised the tension in the row with Scottish nationalists by telling Edinburgh it has no power to call a referendum on independence. Coalition sources said a vote could be organised within 18 months with Scotland Secretary Michael Moore saying it would put an end to “uncertainty”. Alex Salmond, the First Minister, [...]
Do you support the HS2 rail plans? January 10, 2012 This week we are asking members of the City A.M. Voice of the City panel, run with PoliticsHome.com, what they think of the HS2 rail link now it has been given the green light. Will the high speed train line between London and the north of the country help or hinder the UK’s economy? Will it [...]
RESTAURANT GROUP GETS OUT-OF-TOWN LIFT January 10, 2012 FRANKIE & Benny’s and Garfunkel owner Restaurant Group expects to report strong sales for 2011 as people shun high street chains and opt for its restaurants located in the suburbs, chief executive Andrew Page (inset) said yesterday. Restaurant Group bucked the downbeat leisure environment by selling more than 39m meals in 2011, up five per [...]
Bill for HS2 likely to fall mainly on UK taxpayers January 10, 2012 TAXPAYERS are set to foot a mammoth bill for the new HS2 rail line, with the combined cost of construction and operation estimated to be in excess of £60bn. Yet the government says the £33bn construction costs will be affordable, spread out over around 15 years. “Actual infrastructure costs would only start once we have [...]
FOR HS2 AGAINST HS2 January 10, 2012 JOHN CRIDLAND Director general, CBI “Without new capacity, by the 2020s the main west coast line would be gummed up, and rail freight would be likely to be squeezed out. We are right to plan for the infrastructure which the next generation will need, and the biggest prize will come from phase two. This will [...]
JEREMY IRONS SHORTED BY TRADER AT MARGIN CALL’S RISKY PREMIERE January 10, 2012 TO LEICESTER Square for the premiere of Margin Call, the film set in the last days of an over-leveraged investment bank that has “no relation” to any actual financial institution that went to the wall in 2008. Just as well – because Jeremy Irons, who plays the bank’s pragmatic CEO John Tuld, would have had [...]
Flybe shares in a tailspin after warning January 10, 2012 FLYBE’S shares tumbled 20 per cent yesterday after it warned its revenues would fall short of targets. The regional airline, which makes 70 per cent of its revenues on UK domestic flights, said conditions in Britain had deteriorated, leading to an eight per cent sales drop in its third quarter. Flybe’s board spent the day [...]
