CHIEF EXECUTIVE OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL UK EDWARD FOX November 22, 2011 The latest figures to hit my desk this week show that we now have 405,000 savers in Malawi, eight times as many as we have loan clients. Of course, saving for the proverbial rainy day in a country racked by both drought and wet seasons, gives people a shield against down periods. They can also [...]
New Spanish leader fails to calm markets November 22, 2011 YIELDS hit a 14-year high on short-term Spanish debt yesterday, as the country’s new Prime Minister failed to announce a plan to extricate the country from its debt crisis. Belgium too felt the markets’ heat, and the IMF stepped in with an offer of increased aid for countries with sound fundamentals but temporary debt problems. [...]
Consumer confidence hit by euro debt crisis November 22, 2011 CONSUMER confidence in the Eurozone hit a 27-month low in November, as the sovereign debt crisis worsened, European Commission figures showed yesterday. The indicator fell from minus 19.9 in October to minus 20.4 in November in the Eurozone and from minus 20.2 to minus 20.7 in the wider EU. The falls are much larger than [...]
UK yields fall as investors seek safe haven debt November 22, 2011 INVESTORS drove long-term interest rates down to below one per cent yesterday as they sought to keep their money safe in UK government debt. The £3.5bn issuance of debt maturing in 2029 was oversubscribed, with more than £10bn placed in orders. Gross real yields fell to 0.085 per cent despite the lengthy term of the [...]
New quango proposed to cut high pay November 22, 2011 A NEW quango should be set up to “police pay codes in UK companies”, the final report of the High Pay Commission proposed yesterday. The government’s business secretary Vince Cable welcomed the findings, saying: “Many of the options we are consulting on are reflected in the report. “There is widespread consensus, not just among the [...]
THE VERDICT | COMMISSION IS MORE LIKE AN ACTIVIST GROUP November 22, 2011 Restraining high pay is very much what the Commission would like the government to do. This should not come as a surprise, given that the commissioners and their “expert panel” include a range of people who have campaigned for state-enforced income equality – trade unionists, political campaigners and socialist columnists such as Polly Toynbee. These [...]
DON’T FEAR A RETURN TO VICTORIAN ENGLAND November 22, 2011 BRITAIN is heading for levels of inequality that were “evident in Victorian England”, the High Pay Commission has concluded. Yet the data this is based on does not go back to Victorian times. The earliest year on record is 1913, a dozen years after Victoria died. So the High Pay Commission has estimated where this [...]
De La Rue recovery could ward off rival November 22, 2011 BANKNOTE printer De La Rue has reported a 22 per cent rise in profits that could see off any renewed takeover attempts by rival Oberthur Technologies. Speculation is rife that French smartcard maker Oberthur could return to the field once its prohibition on bidding again runs out in December. It mounted an aggressive campaign to [...]
Case for consolidation is undimmed November 22, 2011 WHEN Tim Cobbold, De La Rue’s chief executive, joined the company last year, he did so in highly inauspicious circumstances. The firm was defending itself against the advances of French suitor Oberthur – but this was no ordinary takeover battle. Having seen Cadbury fall into the arms of America’s Kraft, the British public were up [...]
KKR and Japanese firm Itochu link for $7bn Samson bid November 22, 2011 KKR, the global investment firm, has joined forces with Japanese trading house Itochu in a $7bn (£4.5bn) bid for US oil and gas group Samson Investment. KKR has been in exclusive talks to buy privately held Samson for weeks, two people familiar with the matter said. The involvement of Itochu is a new twist, underscoring [...]
