Italy bond yields fall February 24, 2012 Vulnerable debtor Italy sold the top planned amount of bonds at a 4.5bn euro (£3.8bn) auction on Friday and the yield on a two-year zero coupon bond fell to its lowest since May, boosting market sentiment ahead of a more demanding debt sale next week. Analysts said the prospect of the European Central Bank offering [...]
FTSE buoyed by energy stocks February 24, 2012 Upbeat economic data across the Atlantic and strong energy stocks helped to keep the FTSE 100 on track today despite relative weakness in Europe. US blue chips added 0.4 per cent overnight after weekly jobless data showed the US labour market remained on the mend, with the Dow approaching levels not seen since before the [...]
UK GDP drop confirmed February 24, 2012 Britain’s economy shrank in the fourth quarter of last year despite higher consumer spending and strong export growth as businesses slashed investment, official data showed on Friday. The Office for National Statistics confirmed earlier estimates that the economy shrank by 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, growing by 0.7 per cent on the year – a slight downward [...]
William Hill targets international expansion February 24, 2012 Britain’s biggest bookmaker William Hill said it would look to expand internationally to take advantage of countries legalising gambling as it reported full-year earnings which were marginally ahead of previous guidance. The company, which has over 2,370 betting shops and takes over one million bets a day, said operating profit for the year to December [...]
Lloyds reports £3.5bn loss February 24, 2012 Lloyds said 2012 revenue would fall and pushed back a key financial target as the part state-owned British bank joined rival Royal Bank of Scotland in posting a hefty loss for 2011. Lloyds reported an annual loss of £3.54bn, having made a profit of £281m in 2010. “We expect the external environment to remain challenging [...]
BANK ECONOMIST OPEN TO MORE QE February 23, 2012 ECONOMIC uncertainty could see the Bank of England boost its quantitative easing programme even further, its director for markets has revealed. In today’s exclusive interview with City A.M., Paul Fisher, a member of the monetary policy committee, said he was open-minded on the possibility of voting for more easing later in the spring. “The outlook [...]
RBS chief: cutting pay is a big risk February 23, 2012 RBS chief executive Stephen Hester has said that his bank is taking a risk by paying below market rates for its top investment bankers due to political pressure. In an interview with City A.M., he said: “Clearly we are taking risks with that. We are paying less than some rivals like Barclays for similar productivity [...]
KPMG axes bonuses for trainees February 23, 2012 BIG Four accountancy giant KPMG has axed the £1,000 bonus it usually pays the majority of its second-year audit trainees, City A.M. has learned, in a move that will save the firm around £400,000. In a sign of significant challenges at the firm’s all-important audit division, KPMG emailed the trainees earlier this week to inform [...]
KPMG trainees furious after audit arm axes £1,000 bonus February 23, 2012 TRAINEES at KPMG were “furious” when they learned the Big Four accountancy giant would not be paying them the £1,000 bonus it usually gives to its highest performers. Adrian Stone, chief operating officer of the audit practice, broke the bad news to trainees via email at 4.15pm on Wednesday afternoon. The subject header read “First [...]
Osborne must not tax pensions more February 23, 2012 WANT to add some money into your pension? You’d better hurry up, as there is intense pressure on the chancellor to slash tax relief on pension contributions. If Lib Dems gets their way, 40p and 50p taxpayers will lose their tax relief, which would fall to just 20p for everybody. This would be a further, [...]
