Rio’s UK cash call a success July 2, 2009 MINING giant Rio Tinto yesterday pulled off one of the biggest rights issues on record, after the British leg of its $15.2bn (£9.2bn) cash call was successful. The firm said 97 per cent of its British investors took up the world’s fifth biggest cash call ever. The dual-listed company – which is seeking to ease [...]
Postal staff set to walk out as Royal Mail fails to deliver July 2, 2009 ROYAL MAIL yesterday condemned plans by London’s postal workers to strike over job cuts and modernisation next week, causing further chaos for Royal Mail. A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Customers will not understand how the union can claim to support modernisation but then announce strike action to halt existing efforts to modernise Royal Mail in [...]
Home Retail Group fights off an investor rebellion over exec pay July 2, 2009 HOME Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase, yesterday saw off an investor rebellion over proposed changes to pay plans at its annual shareholders meeting. A resolution to approve a new executive bonus scheme, which will see some managers paid up to 150 per cent of their salaries in cash, was passed. However, 35.7 [...]
DOMINO’S TAKES A SLICE FROM DRESDNER July 2, 2009 TAKEAWAY pizza firm, Domino’s Pizza, yesterday bought an equipment leasing business from Dresdner Kleinwort Leasing. The pizza chain is acquiring the entire issued share capital of Dresdner Kleinwort Leasing for an initial consideration of £26,000 and a deferred consideration of up to £15m to be paid from £2011 until £2016, depending on undisclosed conditions.
Hell’s kitchen for Ramsay’s restaurants July 2, 2009 CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay has found himself in hot water after his UK restaurants suffered a near 90 per cent drop in profits, forcing the foul-mouthed chef to pump his own money into the business. Gordon Ramsay Holdings filed accounts showing that the TV chef and Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law and business partner, were forced [...]
Failure to take tourism seriously is a big mistake July 2, 2009 WHICH industry is worth £114bn, is responsible for 2.65m British jobs and represents 8.2 per cent of UK GDP? Perhaps surprisingly the answer is the tourism industry. So, given the clear importance of this key economic activity, it is surely worrying to consider that tourism bosses believe their business interests are not taken as seriously [...]
Leslau’s Max Property eyes up its first bargain July 2, 2009 PROPERTY mogul Nick Leslau is eyeing up a bargain acquisition and could buy it through his recently floated Max Property Group. The Aim-listed property company, which became the largest initial public offering in the UK this year after raising £220m, is in discussions to buy a £270m industrial portfolio out of administration. The portfolio comprises [...]
JP Morgan leads bank equity tables July 2, 2009 JP MORGAN was the leading bank in global equity capital markets (ECM) in the first half of 2009, with a 14.6 per cent share of revenues, according to figures released by Dealogic yesterday. The investment bank’s ECM revenues of $1.3bn (£800m) were boosted by its role as joint bookrunner for HSBC’s $19.6bn rights issue. However, [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAVE YOU SEEN EVIDENCE THAT THE “CHAMPAGNE LIFESTYLE” IS MAKING A COMEBACK IN THE CITY? July 2, 2009 GRAHAM GLEN COMMERZBANK“No, I haven’t – and the best example of that is when I look outside my office window in the evening, the bar just outside is never full. People are still relatively downbeat as they are scared about redundancies, and no one’s got a lot of cash to spare.” JOHN BYRNE UBS“Human nature [...]
White paper on consumer debt slated July 2, 2009 THE government’s bid to crack down on the credit card industry to reduce the number of people struggling with unsustainable debts has been criticised by a number of bodies who warn it may restrict lending at a time when people need it the most. The Consumer White Paper aims to clamp down on unsolicited credit [...]
