WOMEN TAKE MORE SEATS ON FTSE 100 BOARDS July 24, 2012 THE proportion of women on the boards of FTSE 100 firms has risen to 16.7 per cent from 12.5 per cent in 2011, according to new figures from the Department of Business. The news will add steam to business secretary Vince Cable’s insistence that quotas to force board diversity are unnecessary. Recent appointments include Lucinda [...]
Rosneft returns to BP with offer for Russian arm July 24, 2012 A YEAR and a half after it sparked a £10bn row, Rosneft has waded back into the dispute between BP and its Russian partners by offering to buy half of their joint venture, TNK-BP. BP said yesterday it had entered formal talks with state-owned Rosneft to sell its 50 per cent holding in TNK-BP. Last [...]
Brooks and Coulson to face charges over phone hacking July 24, 2012 DAVID Cameron’s former head of communications Andy Coulson and ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks are to face criminal charges in relation to phone hacking offences, it was announced yesterday. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alleges that 600 people were targeted between 2000 and 2006. Brooks and Coulson face specific charges of conspiring to intercept the voicemails [...]
EU and Google agree outlined antitrust deal July 24, 2012 GOOGLE has agreed on the basis of an antitrust settlement with the EU, it emerged last night. The EU’s competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia has accepted proposals from the internet giant on changes to the way it ranks its search results. Although the deal has not been finalised, developments have opened the door for Google to [...]
Investors cheer Man Group cuts to save $100m July 24, 2012 ALTERNATIVE fund manager Man Group said yesterday it would cut more staff in an attempt to resize the business amid falling asset allocations from investors, sending its shares higher. Chief executive Peter Clarke announced a further round of cost cuts totalling $100m (£64.5m), including headcount reductions, on top of a planned $95m squeeze announced in [...]
Spring turns to a summer of love as investors look to sunny side July 24, 2012 MAN Group showed yesterday that the City already has plenty of investors with a long-term outlook, as it announced further outflows and another round of cuts, only to see a significant gain in its share price. Meanwhile Vodafone’s shares fell more than one per cent, in the wake of tough first quarter numbers out on [...]
Provident cards boost earnings July 24, 2012 PROVIDENT Financial, the money lending firm, revealed a 17 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £72.9m yesterday due to a surge in people using its low-limit credit cards. The jump was led by its Vanquis Bank business, which increased pre-tax profits by 60 per cent to £28.2m. Chief exec Peter Crook told City A.M.: [...]
IPF shares up as profit falls July 24, 2012 CREDIT firm International Personal Finance yesterday announced a drop in profits after an increase in early settlement rebates in the Czech Republic and Slovakia region. The group reported a fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £31.4m, down from £35.7m last year. Profits from the Czech-Slovakia region were down 28 per cent due to a £4.9m [...]
N+1 and Singer merge July 24, 2012 SMALL and mid cap company advisers Singer Capital Markets and N+1 Brewin yesterday announced plans to merge the two companies into a new business called N+1 Singer, in a tie-up first revealed in City A.M. earlier this year. The deal between the two houses will put the company in the top five corporate advisory and [...]
EasyJet to face fresh questions from Stelios alongside update July 24, 2012 EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to press the airline’s board on the cost of new planes and its advisers when he meets with the firm today. Fresh from a scuffle over the suitability of EasyJet chairman and Barclays deputy chair Sir Mike Rake, Sir Stelios has voiced concern over an Airbus order. And in [...]
