Santander chairman and family face a tax probe June 16, 2011 EMILIO Botin, the chairman of Santander, the Eurozone’s largest bank, and his family face a probe into their tax affairs, Spain’s High Court said yesterday. An official investigation into the tax contributions of brothers Emilio and Jaime Botin, along with their 10 children, was opened before the case, which dates back to 2005, exceeded the [...]
Research in Motion sales take a tumble June 16, 2011 BLACKBERRY maker Research In Motion said yesterday its quarterly profit dropped and revenue missed its lowered forecast, forcing the firm to slash its outlook and send its shares sharply lower. The Canadian company, facing rising competition for its smartphones and under pressure after a botched launch of its PlayBook tablet computer, shipped 13.2m BlackBerrys in [...]
Prada is set for choppy debut June 16, 2011 ITALIAN fashion house Prada is set for a bumpy entrance to the Hong Kong stock market this morning, after pricing at HK$39.50 per share last night according to a source familiar with the float. Prada had earlier set an indicative range of HK$36.5-$48 per share, seeking to raise up to $2.6bn, but trimmed its final [...]
Capital One agrees to buy US online branch of ING June 16, 2011 ING Groep NV has agreed to sell its US online banking business to Capital One Financial for $9bn (£5.6bn), the company announced last night. The Dutch banking and insurance conglomerate said in a statement that Capital One will pay $6.2bn in cash and $2.8bn in shares to buy ING Direct USA. Capital One, ranked among [...]
Guardian shifts to digital but still set to lose £34m June 16, 2011 THE Guardian yesterday announced it will adopt a “digital first” strategy that will see its online activity take precedence over print editions. Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said the firm will “shift focus, effort and investment towards digital, because that is our future.” The paper said that while print remains critical, the strategy will involve changes to [...]
VALLARES FILLS ORDER BOOK AHEAD OF IPO June 16, 2011 Former BP boss Tony Hayward (pictured) has closed order books early for the listing of his oil acquisition vehicle and will raise an increased amount of at least £1.2bn, sources close to the deal said. Books on the offering will now close this week, instead of 20 June as originally planned. Hayward and financier Nathaniel [...]
Balls calls for a temporary VAT reduction June 16, 2011 ED Balls, the shadow chancellor, yesterday called for an emergency VAT cut to boost the economy. In a lecture at the London School of Economics, Balls urged chancellor George Osborne to “reverse VAT temporarily until the economy is growing strongly again”. He said: “When the last Labour government temporarily cut VAT to 15 per cent [...]
Energy body urges Opec to pump more oil June 16, 2011 THE West’s energy watchdog the IEA upped the pressure on producer club Opec to increase output by forecasting a steep rise in oil demand later this year and predicting the strain on supply would last over the medium term. Oil prices rose in response to the latest sets of numbers from the International Energy Agency. [...]
Companies unprepared for imminent Bribery Act June 16, 2011 ALMOST 40 per cent of UK companies say they are unprepared for the implementation of the Bribery Act at the beginning of next month, with many saying even their top board members are not ready for the new rules. One in six companies surveyed for a Thomson Reuters survey admitted they had not discussed the [...]
Lehman ups payback June 16, 2011 Lehman Brothers Holdings is increasing to $65bn (£40.3bn) its estimated payback for creditors, a company spokeswoman said last night. The figure represents a $5bn increase from the $60bn Lehman forecast in January, they added. Lehman hopes to begin making distributions to its creditors during the first quarter of 2012. Lehman filed the biggest bankruptcy in [...]
