TAX RAID HALTS NORTH SEA DRILL March 29, 2011 THE CHANCELLOR was forced to defend his surprise tax raid on oil firms yesterday after energy giant Statoil announced that it was suspending a $10bn (£6.2bn) investment in the North Sea in response to the hike. Statoil, Norway’s top fuel producer, was due to hire contractors in the next few weeks to work on the [...]
Crisis talks called over Topaz float March 29, 2011 BANKING advisers to the £300m flotation of Topaz Energy and Marine are meeting with the management of the group today amid fears that the flotation might be dropped. The Dubai-based oilfield services group Topaz is a subisidiary of Omani group Renaissance Services and its proposed share listing has inevitably been hit by concerns over Middle [...]
S&P fuels fear over Eurozone March 29, 2011 STANDARD & POOR’S downgraded Greece and Portugal’s sovereign credit ratings yesterday, sending their borrowing costs up. Greece’s rating has been cut to BB-, close to junk status and worse than Egypt’s credit standing, while Portugal is now rated BBB- with a negative outlook by S&P. The yield on Portugal’s ten- and two-year bonds jumped to [...]
National pay cut has only just begun March 29, 2011 FOR months now, it has been clear that exploding inflation, costs and taxes were the main threat to the recovery. Yesterday’s figures showing that real household disposable income dropped 0.8 per cent in 2010, the first national pay cut in two decades, merely serve as a grim confirmation that the retail boom is well and [...]
Kaupthing search widens March 29, 2011 POLICE working on the investigation into Iceland’s failed Kaupthing Bank raided five addresses yesterday, including the bank owned by the family of former Tory Party treasurer David Rowland. In a joint operation between the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Icelandic Special Prosecutor’s Office and Luxembourg police, more than 70 investigators searched three businesses and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 29, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES NETWORK RAIL AIMS TO TAKE TRACTION OUT OF BONUS ISSUE Network Rail will seek to allay long-standing concerns about its executive bonuses by putting a new system to the vote of its 100 members tomorrow. But the scheme, intended to provide a longer term solution to the issue, has been criticised by the [...]
GE spends $3.2bn on Converteam March 29, 2011 General Electric (GE) yesterday reached a $3.2bn (£2bn) cash deal to acquire a French maker of high-efficiency motors used in the oil and gas sector, pouring more money into its most profitable division. The largest US conglomerate said its acquisition of Converteam, which reported 2010 revenue of $1.5bn , would boost its offering of equipment [...]
ICB meets to finalise bank report March 29, 2011 The members of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) are due to meet in London today to put the finishing touches to their interim report into a possible overhaul of the banking sector, due to be published on 11 April. The panel’s final recommendations are not due until autumn, but three banking bosses plan to [...]
Lords report to slam big four auditors March 29, 2011 AN influential House of Lords Committee is set to issue a blistering attack on the “big four” auditors today after an eight-month inquiry into the competitiveness of the audit industry. The Economic Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Conservative Lord John MacGregor, is understood to want drastic action to deal with a potential “systemic risk” [...]
BP shares drop on worries of criminal charges for Gulf spill March 29, 2011 BP saw its shares drop 2.2 per cent yesterday after it emerged that executives at the oil major might face criminal charges for their role in last April’s Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 yesterday, closing at 466.55p. The shares have been under pressure since a tribunal blocked its [...]
