C&WW investors alerted July 4, 2011 Cable & Wireless Worldwide shareholders have been warned that the telecoms company’s corporate governance could cause further problems as the firm attempts to right itself following three profit warnings. The Association of British Insurers is thought to have told shareholders that it has concerns over top executives at C&WW standing to gain from the company’s [...]
Knight Vinke has plan for Comet July 4, 2011 Kesa Electricals’ largest investor said it has put forward a plan to the retailer’s board for its loss-making Comet business in the UK that it wants considered as an alternative to disposal. Activist shareholder Knight Vinke, which has a 19.3 per cent stake in Kesa, Europe’s third-biggest electrical goods retailer, said yesterday it met with [...]
S&P: Greece plan is default July 4, 2011 STANDARD & Poor’s has dealt a bruising blow to Europe’s efforts to get banks involved in a second bailout for Greece, claiming that the proposal currently on the table would be an “effective default” by the sovereign. EU officials and governments have been scrambling to strike a “burden-sharing” deal to share the cost of a [...]
CBI calls for probe into the cost of ring-fencing proposal July 4, 2011 BRITAIN’S biggest business lobby has demanded an investigation into how much proposals to ring-fence the retail operations of UK-based banks will cost the economy. The CBI called on the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) to carry out a “rigorous cost-benefit analysis” of the plans, adding it remained “unconvinced” the policy will support recovery. John Cridland, [...]
British Gas to announce hike in its energy bills later this month July 4, 2011 BRITISH GAS is poised to announce the rise of gas and electricity prices as early as this month, with families facing increased bills of up to 20 per cent. Analysts expect its parent company Centrica to announce price increases of at least 15 per cent ahead of its half year results on 28 July to [...]
HACKERS TAKE A BITE OUT OF APPLE July 4, 2011 The Internet vigilante group Anonymous claimed to have broken into an Apple server and published a small number of usernames and passwords for one of Apple’s websites. Anonymous said on Twitter that Apple could be a target and released the data as part of its Anti Security campaign. Apple, led by Steve Jobs (pictured), did [...]
City players view LSE as Nasdaq merger target July 4, 2011 MARKET participants have called on the London Stock Exchange to consider a tie-up with Nasdaq, the US bourse, after its failed bid for Canadian group TMX made it vulnerable as a takeover target. Speculation has been rife in the City that Nasdaq could table a bid for the LSE, given the lack of a partner [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE SURVIVE ALONE? July 4, 2011 WILL RHODE | TABB GROUP They definitely could. They could be more nimble as a result. But it’s a big bet to say ‘I’m going to be better off small and nimble than big and global’. JAMES HAMILTON | NUMIS SECURITIES It can, although the question is if it will. The LSE is no longer what [...]
Total value of M&A deals up 40 per cent July 4, 2011 THE TOTAL value of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) surged by 40 per cent in the first six months of this year as dealmakers returned to making transactions. The value of worldwide M&A totalled $1.5 trillion (£934bn) in the first six months of this year, the strongest first half total since before the recession hit [...]
Equity market deals shoot up in the first half July 4, 2011 THE TOTAL value of equity deals done in the first half of this year has shot up by 27 per cent on the same period a year earlier, handing investment banks a boost from transaction fees. Equity market transactions, such as company floats and share issuance, in the first six months of 2011 hit $412bn (£256.5bn), [...]
