Aldermore says loans to SMEs have risen 75pc May 31, 2011 BRITISH bank Aldermore said its loan book to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was up 75 per cent to £469m at the end of the first-quarter. “Aldermore is continuing to lend at record levels to small businesses – our outstanding loan book to SMEs has increased 75 per cent over the last year – but [...]
Desire finds North Falkland leads May 31, 2011 Oil and gas exploration group Desire Petroleum yesterday revealed it had found two new leads from early results of a 3D seismic survey over its acreage in the North Falkland Basin and has completed a detailed survey in order to identify new targets. Chairman Stephen Phipps said the prospect inventory will continue to grow as [...]
Blinkx unveils fashion tie-up May 31, 2011 The world’s largest video search engine Blinkx yesterday announced a partnership with FashionTV, CHIC.TV and VIDCAT to offer fashion, beauty and celebrity-style enthusiasts access to fashion advice, news and trends. The company has made more than 720 partners and indexed over 35m hours of video and audio content to date.
Salamander farm out in Vietnam May 31, 2011 Independent oil and gas company Salamander Energy yesterday announced an agreement with Japanese oil and gas exploration JX Nippon to farm out a 20 per cent interest in Block 101-100/04 that contains the Cat Ba oil prospect offshore Vietnam. Chief executive James Menzies said the transaction reduced Salamander’s financial exposure to the drilling while staying [...]
Capita buys health recruiter May 31, 2011 Outsourcing specialist Capita has acquired specialist healthcare recruitment firm Team24. Capita is paying an initial £24m for the recruiter, with up to £2m more payable depending on the firm’s performance in the year to 31 March, 2012. Team24 provides nurses and doctors at short notice for a range of placements across the NHS and the [...]
Hope of fresh Greek rescue lifts markets May 31, 2011 MARKETS across Europe opened to a strong rally yesterday after reports that Germany is weakening its opposition to a second Greek bailout. The initial burst of risk appetite was later knocked by US data and further doubts on Greece, but the euro nonetheless gained 0.9 per cent against sterling, 0.75 per cent against the Swiss [...]
Even if the ECB gets its way, its task will only get harder May 31, 2011 It’s hardly surprising that when it comes to scary piles of debt, EU bureaucrats are no more willing to confront the horrible truth than ordinary consumers. The truth is that Greece faces a funding shortfall of €60-80bn next year, a year in which it was meant to be ready to go back to markets for [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD GREECE BE FORCED TO LEAVE THE EURO? May 31, 2011 JOHNNY CHAM | COFUNDS “No Greece shouldn’t be made to leave the euro. These things work in cycles, if Europe helps them out now then it’s possible they would contribute to help us in the future.” JUISEPPE D’ANGELO | AEGIS “I think keep them in as no one should be made to leave the euro [...]
Tesco revamps exec pay after rebellion May 31, 2011 TESCO has moved to head off a repeat of last year’s shareholder revolt by overhauling its executive pay structure. The shake-up, revealed in Tesco’s annual report, sees the scrapping of an incentive scheme which benefited US boss Tim Mason. His £4.2m in pay and bonuses was blasted by US institutional investors at last year’s AGM [...]
Haymarket goes behind a paywall May 31, 2011 PUBLISHER Haymarket yesterday revealed plans to put up a paywall to charge for its online magazines. Haymarket, owned by Lord Heseltine, is following a similar model to the Financial Times’s “metered model” as registered users get free access to a set number of articles per month before having to pay. From July, subscribers will be [...]
