Euro crisis fells seventh leader and another bank November 21, 2011 THE EUROZONE crisis claimed yet another leader’s scalp yesterday, after Spain’s centre-right party swept to power in a landslide victory. And Spain’s central bank yesterday seized Banco de Valencia, making it the latest casualty of the collapse in the property boom and the first retail bank in the country to seek a bailout. The restructuring [...]
Lloyds looks to old hands November 21, 2011 THE SLEW of changes at the top of Lloyds marks a stark departure from its recent strategy of bringing in brand new faces to turn around the ailing lender with the aim of privatising it as quickly as possible. While António Horta-Osório brought with him a string of new executives and promotions to shake up [...]
Capital Shopping Centres secures new debt facility November 21, 2011 CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the UK’s biggest mall owner, has secured a £375m credit facility from a consortium of five banks to help provide “general liquidity” to the company. The owner of Manchester’s Trafford Centre and the MetroCentre in Gateshead said yesterday that the revolving facility would replace a previous, undrawn £248m facility that was [...]
Fewer than one in five confident over savings November 21, 2011 FEWER than one in five people are confident that they are saving enough for retirement, according to a survey released conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) and the NS&I (National Savings and Investments). Women are more downbeat than men, the findings revealed, with two thirds saying they worry about [...]
Centrica pens Norway deal November 21, 2011 ENERGY giant Centrica has signed a £14bn deal with Norwegian oil major Statoil to develop oil and gas assets in the North Sea and supply gas to the UK for a decade. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said it had acquired £1bn of energy assets in Kvitebjørn in the Norwegian North Sea from Statoil [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL THESE DEALS BE GOOD FOR CENTRICA? November 21, 2011 KEITH MORRIS | EVOLUTION Centrica says the deal strengthens its energy hedge ie reduces a structural short. Centrica’s desire to improve its energy hedge would suggest it doesn’t see commodity prices going lower and therefore the implication is that the value of North Sea assets are the very least underpinned at these levels. JONATHAN JACKSON [...]
Pearson spends £187m on Chinese testing firm November 21, 2011 PUBLISHING group Pearson yesterday announced its plan to acquire Chinese-based Global Education and Technology Group for a headline price of $294m (£187.8m). The purchase of Global Education, a test preparation service for students learning English, bolsters Pearson’s position as the world’s largest learning company while also expanding its operations in China. Pearson believes Global Education [...]
Ofgem sets out tough rules for power suppliers November 21, 2011 ENERGY watchdog Ofgem yesterday laid out plans to protect small businesses from high energy bills by slapping fines on suppliers found guilty of breaching market rules, it said yesterday. Under the proposal, Ofgem will impose an enforceable code of conduct on utilities and intermediaries to protect businesses from unfair sales practices, while making it easier [...]
Eight in 10 households to cut or freeze Xmas spend November 21, 2011 OVER three in 10 households are planning to spend less this Christmas than last year, a worrying survey for the retail sector revealed yesterday. And the survey, conducted by Legal & General, showed that over half (51 per cent) of respondents will restrict their spending to “no more than last year”. The squeeze on Britons’ [...]
Housebuilders to get £900m subsidy November 21, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT put its balance sheet at the disposal of thousands of would-be homeowners yesterday, unveiling what it called an “innovative” scheme that will see the state underwrite mortgages for buyers of new-build homes. It also announced that it is earmarking £900m in subsidies for housebuilders on the grounds that building homes creates jobs and [...]
