Thriller machine Patterson is back with another gripper June 23, 2010 Private by James Patterson Century £18.99 It’s fair to say that James Patterson is to thrillers what McDonalds is to food: a fast-paced outlet for easy, tasty matter. Except, unlike the fast food chain, Patterson is a brand associated with sophisticated fare, as well as one that nourishes the mind and the human appetite for [...]
Chip maker Imagination more than triples profits June 23, 2010 Graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies more than tripled its full-year pretax profit to £10.2m after it shipped 126m chips in smartphones, netbooks and set-top boxes. The company, whose designs are used by Apple and Intel – both shareholders – said yesterday its pipeline of licensing prospects, growth in design wins and momentum in chip volumes [...]
Bathroom cartel in hot water with EU June 23, 2010 EU competition regulators yesterday fined 17 bathroom fittings companies a total of €622m (£511m) for fixing prices, with five receiving lower penalties because of the economic crisis. The European Commission, the European Union competition watchdog, said the companies operated a cartel between 1992 and 2004 in Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Ideal [...]
Jobs market hots up in Asia-Pacific as pay leaps ahead June 23, 2010 Large numbers of finance professionals in Hong Kong have seen their pay jump between 20 and 40 per cent in the past six months as competition for top talent heats up, a study showed yesterday. Average salaries across the Asia-Pacific financial sector, which is the region’s highest paymaster, have risen or remained resilient in 2009/10 [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 23, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS Citigroup said that the pension deficit agreement at British Airways (BA) appears positive for the share price. Citi has given the airline group a “buy” rating and said that the agreed recovery plan takes into account the £2bn increase in the value of its pension assets since the deficit valuation date as of [...]
VEXED IN THE CITY June 23, 2010 I can’t take any more of my football-mad partner’s antics DEAR VEXED: My boyfriend is a massive England fan. That’s all very well, but he’s been on one big bender throughout the World?Cup and now that England is going through I don’t know how I’m going to be able to live with him. He’ll be [...]
Sage in line for £41m takeover of Polish firm June 23, 2010 ACQUISITION hungry software giant Sage Group has bid £41m for Polish firm Teta. The offer is a 15 per cent premium on the Poland and Hungary-based firm’s average three month share price. Sage says the acquisition of the firm, which reported revenue of £21m and Ebitda of £3m last year, will compliment its existing east [...]
Toyota aims to restrict experts in US court case June 23, 2010 TOYOTA’S lawyers were expected to face off with product-liability attorneys in US court yesterday over rules for safeguarding company trade secrets in litigation stemming from complaints about its cars racing out of control. Toyota has asked a judge to bar any confidential information it must furnish in pre-trial proceedings from being disclosed to outside experts [...]
O2 owner sells stake in PT June 23, 2010 O2 owner Telefonica yesterday sold an eight per cent stake in Portugal Telecom (PT) to other PT shareholders in a deal worth up to €800m (£659m). The sale has been seen as evidence of an increasingly strained relationship between the two Iberian telecoms giants, centering around their battle to dominate the lucrative Brazilian mobile market. [...]
New forms of finance will drive UK’s growth June 23, 2010 THE need to restructure corporate debt and find new sources of financing is germinating a new breed of so-called “equity solutions” that, it could be argued, will be absolutely vital to the UK in the next year or so as we get to grips with the new economic environment. According to a report from City [...]
