Cameron urges papers to form new body to ward off press law December 4, 2012 DAVID CAMERON yesterday urged newspaper editors to set up a new system of press regulation that would not need state interference. The Prime Minister and culture secretary Maria Miller held a meeting at Number 10 yesterday with editors and industry representatives, in the wake of last week’s Leveson report. Miller said the talks had been [...]
HS2 gets a new director general December 4, 2012 The government has picked a mandarin to oversee the controversial High Speed 2 rail link. David Prout, who is currently a director general in the Department of Communities and Local Government, will take a similar, newly-created role at HS2 in the new year. Prout’s appointment comes as the coalition tries to fend off a string [...]
Supermarkets watchdog set up December 4, 2012 Large supermarkets that abuse their power to mistreat suppliers could be fined, the government announced yesterday, as it set up a new watchdog. The Groceries Code Adjudicator will listen to complaints from farmers and other suppliers, which have raised objections to supermarket dominance. Competition minister Jo Swinson said most punishments would involve “naming and shaming” supermarkets.
Sky comes out on top in survey December 4, 2012 Sky has come ahead of rivals BT and Virgin Media in a consumer satisfaction survey conducted by Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator. The company was voted best in the landline, broadband, and pay-TV categories. In a survey of mobile networks, O2 came far ahead of the competition, followed by Three and T-Mobile, then Orange. Vodafone was [...]
Monitise seals £100m placing but at discount December 4, 2012 MONITISE, the mobile payments firm part owned by Visa, yesterday completed a share offering that will raise £100m for the fast-growing company. In a move revealed by City A.M. columnist Mark Kleinman last Thursday, Monitise yesterday said it had found investors for the placing. However, shares fell by almost eight per cent due to the [...]
Greene King spirits up as cash strapped diners flock to pubs December 4, 2012 GREENE King boss Rooney Anand said yesterday that his 2,298 pubs were benefiting from the effects of the economy’s troubles, with customers choosing pubs over fine dining as they tighten their belts. As the pub owner and brewer announced a 7.3 per cent rise in turnover in the first half of its financial year, Anand [...]
Robert Friedland eyes London listing for Canada’s Ivanplats December 4, 2012 MINING entrepreneur Robert Friedland hopes to list his African-focused miner, Ivanplats, in London within around six months, after a long-awaited debut in Toronto in October. “We hope to bring the company to London, although we are a Canadian company, within about six months,” Friedland told a London conference. Friedland is one of the mining industry’s [...]
Autonomy’s Mike Lynch sets up website to challenge HP December 4, 2012 MIKE LYNCH, the British founder of the software firm Autonomy, has intensified his battle with Hewlett-Packard (HP) by setting up a website to rebut HP’s explosive claims. HP took a $5bn (£3.1bn) writedown last month, saying former Autonomy management had inflated the company’s accounts before the firm’s $11bn sale to HP. Lynch has publicly denied [...]
Facebook data use challenged December 4, 2012 FACEBOOK’S privacy policy will be probed in an Irish court by a campaign group that claims the social network is violating European data protection laws. Europe v Facebook, a group set up by Austrian student Max Schrems, said it will challenge an audit from Ireland’s data commissioner, which Schrems said did not go far enough.
UBS sells off pension business December 4, 2012 Swiss bank UBS has sold its pension business based in its wealth management arm to Broadstone Pensions and Investments. Terms were not disclosed. The deal will see the six-man team at the UBS London office transfer over to Broadstone’s office in Baker Street once the deal is completed. The former UBS Corporate Pensions business serves [...]
