UK and Europe on a collision course March 12, 2012 IT is the elephant in the room, the issue nobody wants to talk about. But the growing, irreconcilable gulf between what UK voters and their continental counterparts want from European integration will eventually become as important a question as the fallout from the economic crisis. The scale of the challenge is laid bare by YouGov-Cambridge [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 12, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EARNINGS FORECASTS TAKE A BULLISH TURN Analysts last week upgraded more companies’ earnings forecasts globally than they downgraded for the first time since May last year. After 41 weeks of consecutive downgrades, net earnings per share revisions for next year turned positive powered by a surge in upgrades of Japanese companies and industrial [...]
Yahoo is suing Facebook March 12, 2012 YAHOO is suing Facebook over 10 patents that include methods and systems for advertising on the web, opening the first major legal battle among social media’s technology giants. The lawsuit, filed in a San Jose, California federal court yesterday, marks a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept through the smartphone and tablet [...]
CME loses its chief executive March 12, 2012 Craig Donohue is to step down as chief executive of US futures exchange operator CME Group at the end of the year, handing over the reins to CME’s president Phupinder Gill, the company said yesterday. Chairman Terrence Duffy, who has been the face of the company as it navigates the fallout from the failure last [...]
WTO rules on Boeing subsidies March 12, 2012 The World Trade Organisation said yesterday it had upheld the bulk of a ruling that Boeing received billions of dollars of subsidies to compete with Europe’s Airbus as both sides once again claimed victory in a long-running trade row. The unfair subsidies included at least $2.6bn (£1.7bn) in assistance from space agency NASA, which the [...]
Simon Collins wins vote for KPMG chair March 12, 2012 KPMG’s new UK chairman elect Simon Collins yesterday vowed to put his firm at the centre of the debate on how to win back trust in the financial services sector, as he celebrated his election victory against two better known rivals Oliver Tant and Alan Buckle. Collins, who is currently global head of KPMG’s transactions [...]
United Biscuits owners revive talks to break up the business March 12, 2012 THE OWNERS of United Biscuits, which makes brands including KP Nuts and McVitie’s, have revived talks with banks over options for its savoury snacks arm, including a potential sale of the business. Private equity groups Blackstone and PAI Partners have appointed Credit Suisse to look at separating its biscuits arm from its crisps and nuts [...]
Spain to miss goals as Italy hits recession March 12, 2012 SPAIN will be allowed to break the terms of the new fiscal compact, it was announced last night, as Eurozone peer Italy officially sank into recession. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (pictured) successfully persuaded the other Eurozone leaders at the Eurogroup that it is only missing its deficit targets because the country is mired in [...]
Debt holders lining up for lawsuit over risk warning March 12, 2012 INVESTORS who claim banks failed to warn them of the risks involved in buying Greek debt are to try and sue the government and banks involved, it was announced yesterday. Lawyers in Germany representing 110 investors have formed a class action group. Most of the investors involved spent between €100,000 (£84,116) and €500,000 on Greek [...]
Leaders give green light to bailout plan March 12, 2012 EUROZONE leaders approved the €130bn (£109.3bn) Greek bailout package yesterday, after private sector investors were forced to take major losses on their holdings of the government’s debt. Last week investors accounting for 85.8 per cent of the private sector’s holdings agreed to take a 53.5 per cent write-down, and an additional 9.9 per cent were [...]
