Reckitt fined £20m for price fix November 23, 2011 British consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser has been fined €24m (£20m) by the German cartel office for fixing prices on laundry and dishwashing products with German rival Henkel. The German cartel office said Henkel escaped a fine after acting as a whistle-blower and instigating the investigation in 2010. “The two companies coordinated price rises for [...]
Sirius sells £54,000 in shares November 23, 2011 An adviser to the potash exploration company Sirius has exercised an option on 900,000 of the company’s shares. Sirius sold the shares for £54,000, or 6p per share. Yesterday shares rose almost 10 per cent to close at 28.25p. Sirius said the money would be used for general working capital.
Murdoch son leaves News Int board jobs November 23, 2011 JAMES Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the publishing units within News International, which used to include the News of the World tabloid at the centre of the phone hacking scandal. But Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert and deputy chief operating officer of parent company News Corp, remains chairman of News International, the [...]
Nokia Siemens venture set to cut a quarter of its workforce November 23, 2011 Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) plans to cut 17,000 jobs in an effort to cut its operating expenses and overhead costs by €1bn (£860m) a year by 2013, the company announced yesterday. The loss making venture, which is owned jointly by Nokia and Siemens, aims to get rid of almost a quarter of its workforce. NSN [...]
PR disaster as bosses of rival agencies head for the courts November 23, 2011 THE ROW between two City public relations heavyweights deepened yesterday when Porta boss David Wright, who is being sued by Media Square, threatened to launch his own legal action against the rival firm. Wright said Porta was “considering all [its] options” over Media Square, which is pursuing him and his firm for at least £760,000 [...]
Public grilling for ex-chief of MF Global November 23, 2011 THE former head of MF Global will be hauled before Congress to explain the collapse of the US broker. Jon Corzine, who has not spoken publicly since resigning on 4 November, has been asked to appear before the house oversight and investigations sub-committee on 15 December. It will mark a sharp role reversal for Corzine [...]
Lloyd’s to cut up to 60 staff November 23, 2011 LLOYD’S Corporation, the agency that manages the iconic London insurance market, could make up to 60 of its staff redundant in the next year as it squeezes its budget, it revealed yesterday. In a letter to the more than 50 Lloyd’s managing agents on Monday, the Corporation said it would cut its budget by eight [...]
Aviva distances itself from Irish closure leaks November 23, 2011 INSURANCE giant Aviva sought to play down leaked documents suggesting that it could close its network of 26 branches in Ireland with the loss of about 120 more jobs than previously announced. Aviva last month unveiled plans to dramatically scale back its Irish business and move its European headquarters back to London with the loss [...]
JD Sports set for hard slog at Christmas November 23, 2011 HIGH street chain JD Sports said yesterday it had seen a sharp slowdown in sales growth since September and warned that Christmas trading would be tough. In a downbeat assessment of falling UK consumer sentiment, the company warned that it was having to work hard to sustain its margins as customers spent less. Shares in [...]
Playtech raises a £100m war chest for deals November 23, 2011 GAMING software maker Playtech added to its takeover firepower yesterday by raising £100m from its major investors in a share placement. Playtech’s founder and biggest shareholder Teddy Sagi, an Israeli entrepreneur who made about £165m from the company’s flotation in 2006, could see his stake rise to just under 50 per cent if other investors [...]
