Ryanair slashes aircraft numbers June 17, 2009 Irish budget airline Ryanair will reduce the number of its aircraft at two Irish bases and will likely do so at airports in the United Kingdom as well, chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday. O’Leary, who blamed taxes levied on air travel in the two countries for the planned moves, said Ryanair was still planning [...]
Victoria Oil & Gas to raise 5.3m June 17, 2009 Natural resources firm Victoria Oil & Gas said yesterday it is to raise £5.3m before expenses via a two-tranche equity placing, to fund production at its Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon. The Aim-listed firm has placed 100m new ordinary shares at 3p each and is seeking shareholder approval to place a further 76.6m [...]
Holidaybreak plans rights issue June 17, 2009 Travel firm Holidaybreak plans to raise around £31m through a rights issue, fully underwritten by broker KBC Peel Hunt. The firm will issue around 21.7 new shares on the basis of four new shares for every nine existing shares, at a price of 153p a share, a 49 per cent discount to the stock’s Tuesday [...]
ITV favourite joins BT board June 17, 2009 TONY Ball, the chairman of Germany’s largest cable TV operator and frontrunner for the job of ITV chief executive, has been appointed as non-executive director at BT. The appointment of the former BSkyB boss – who has spent the past four years turning Kabel Deutschland into Germany’s fastest-growing high-speed broadband provider – came a day [...]
Anglo Overseas claims the worst of the economic crisis has passed June 17, 2009 INVESTMENT trust Anglo Overseas Trust yesterday injected a note of optimism into the market as it claimed the economic recovery was already underway. The trust’s net asset value per share rose 7.2 per cent to 92.35p over the three months to the end of April. “The economic outlook appears more stable and it is probable [...]
Broadband for all is a worthy but pointless goal June 17, 2009 FOR ALL the hype that preceded Lord Carter’s Digital Britain Report, its central recommendation can be summed up in four dreary words: Slow broadband for all. It wouldn’t be so bad if the meagre 2Mbps connection wasn’t being part-funded with a planned £6-a-year telephone line tax; this will mainly be collected from people who live [...]
Boris plans RMT talks June 17, 2009 TALKS between warring London Underground (LU) and the Rail and Maritime (RMT) union will resume tomorrow, London mayor Boris Johnson said yesterday, as fears of further tube strikes grow in the capital. Discussions between the two parties collapsed last week, leading to a 48 hour strike London’s 3.5m commuters, and a slanging match between both [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 16, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES NATIONAL EXPRESS IN DEBT TALKSNational Express is in talks with bankers to renegotiate terms on part of its £1.2bn debt amid fears that the bus and rail operator will breach loan conditions in December. The group is expected to pass a key test of whether it is meeting the terms of its debt [...]
Rio stung with $625m costs for rights issue June 16, 2009 MINING giant Rio Tinto now faces $625m (£382m) in costs over its $15.2bn rights issue, which came after its bid to raise money from Chinese state-owned mining group Chinalco collapsed. Investment banking giants including Morgan Stanley will walk away from the deal $430m better off, after Rio already had to pay a $195m break fee [...]
Insider dealing three in court June 16, 2009 CITY watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday hauled two lawyers and a former finance chief into court, amid its “be afraid” crackdown on fraud. The FSA accused Andrew King, formerly finance head of Manchester-based Neutec Pharma, of disclosing inside information about the company to lawyer Michael McFall ahead of last Wednesday’s takeover of the [...]
