Cameron rules out tax cuts in Budget February 6, 2011 DAVID Cameron yesterday ruled out “significant” tax cuts for individuals, insisting the parlous public finances made Budget giveaways impossible. The Prime Minister said: “I would love to see tax reductions. I’m a tax cutting Tory and I believe in tax cuts, but when you’re borrowing 11 per cent of your GDP, it’s not possible to make significant net [...]
Herbert: Labour wrong on police February 6, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday defended its spending plans after shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper accused it of “taking risks” with crime. Policing minister Nick Herbert said Labour claims that more than 10,000 jobs could go across police forces in England and Wales by 2012 were “totally dishonest”. Cooper said the figures were based on announcements by police [...]
Coalition plans marriage fund February 6, 2011 IAIN Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, is said to be planning a £30m “relationship support” scheme designed to encourage couples to get married and stay together. The scheme, which was devised after studying the reasons for the falling divorce rate in Norway, will be unveiled this week as part of a raft of benefit [...]
Jimmy Choo owner mulls £500m sale February 6, 2011 THE OWNERS of luxury fashion brand Jimmy Choo are likely to put the firm up for sale, according to people familiar with the situation. The designer shoe-maker, which is majority owned by private equity house Towerbrook Capital, could change hands for as much as £500m. A sale was first mooted in September last year, after [...]
888 insists talks with Ladbrokes are still on-going February 6, 2011 ONLINE bookmaker 888.com will this morning tell the market that it is still in talks with Ladbrokes over a possible merger, after suggestions that discussions had faltered. High street bookmaker Ladbrokes last month confirmed it was in “very preliminary” talks with 888 over a merger. Weekend reports suggested the pair had terminated talks after failing [...]
Northern Foods sale near February 6, 2011 RANJIT BOPARAN is getting ready to publish more details of his £342m takeover bid for Northern Foods, which could be sent to shareholders as soon as today, sources said yesterday. Boparan’s bankers at Rothschild and Goldman Sachs were this weekend putting the finishing touches on Boparan’s takeover papers, which are understood to include further details [...]
Airlines are wary over NATS plan February 6, 2011 AIRLINES do not want the government to reduce its dominant stake in the country’s air-traffic control system below 25 per cent, it is understood. The government is considering reducing its 49 per cent stake in the air-traffic control system NATS as part of measures to pay off the ballooning public debt. But the Airline Group, [...]
India hopes Cairn deal will proceed February 6, 2011 INDIA’S oil secretary said yesterday he was hopeful of finding a “positive solution” to Cairn India’s plans to sell a controlling stake in its Indian unit to Vedanta Resources. Oil secretary S. Sunderashan’s remarks are the strongest sign yet that the proposed deal, valued at up to $9.6bn (£5.9bn), could go through by 15 April, [...]
Barclays joins £115m Daisy loan syndicate February 6, 2011 BUSINESS telecoms group Daisy has secured an additional £40m credit facility to help fund further acquisitions, the firm will announce today. AIM-listed Daisy has brought in Barclays as the fourth lender in its syndicate, which also includes Lloyds TSB, Yorkshire Bank and HSBC. Daisy now has access to £115m through the credit facility. Chief financial [...]
Google wants short probe February 6, 2011 GOOGLE wants to avoid a lengthy legal battle with European Union regulators investigating its market dominance, the Sunday Telegraph quoted its chief executive as saying. “We certainly want to avoid that,” Eric Schmidt told the paper in an interview. “I think it is in our interests and I would hope in their interests to a [...]
