US government scrambles to limit damage from WikiLeaks November 28, 2010 WHISTLEBLOWER website WikiLeaks yesterday released a cache of classified documents that left the US government scrambling to limit the damage. The 250,000 US diplomatic cables, which have been sighted by newspapers around the world, provided candid views of foreign leaders and sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Reports say the documents show Saudi donors [...]
Treasury to launch consultation into taxation of foreign profits November 28, 2010 GEORGE Osborne will today launch a consultation on the much-maligned rules that govern the taxation of foreign profits, which have been blamed for the departure of several high-profile multinationals in recent years. The Treasury is expected to propose a more “territorial” approach to the so-called controlled foreign companies (CFC) rules, which would restrict the Revenue’s right [...]
Samsonite to consider $1bn share issue November 28, 2010 LUGGAGE maker Samsonite is considering a $1bn (£640bn) public offering in Hong Kong, a debt refinancing or a trade sale, people close to the company confirmed yesterday. Samsonite has signed up Goldman Sachs to help examine its options, though the evaluation is at an early stage and a decision is expected to take months rather [...]
Macquarie buys into asset firm Bluestone November 28, 2010 AUSTRALIAN bank Macquarie has acquired a 17.5 per cent stake in capital and asset management group Bluestone for between £5 and £10m, it announced yesterday. While no price tag has been put on the all-cash deal, sources said the price paid by Macquarie would be based on an open market multiplier of between eight to [...]
HARRY POTTER BATTLES HAIRY PRINCESS November 28, 2010 HARRY Potter led the worldwide box office for a second weekend yesterday, but the boy wizard had a close shave with a hairy princess – Walt Disney’s Rapunzel story “Tangled – in North America. The seventh movie in the hit franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” sold $163.5m (£104.9m) worth of tickets [...]
HSBC shuffles managers to focus on Asia November 28, 2010 HSBC reshuffled a number of senior managers over the weekend with new group chief executive Stuart Gulliver pointing to an increased focus on emerging markets when he takes over. Gulliver, who becomes boss of HSBC in January, said: “With the massive wealth creation we see in emerging markets today, the logic for HSBC to build [...]
Metro Bank beats its own growth targets November 28, 2010 METRO Bank, set up in July to rival the high street banks, has hit its annual targets in the first three months of business, chairman and co-founder Anthony Thomson said yesterday. Metro, which has four branches in London, will now accelerate its expansion with eight additional outlets in the next year including banks in Kensington, [...]
Demand for homes falling, finds survey November 28, 2010 DEMAND for homes fell at the fastest rate for nearly two years last month as buyer confidence dipped, industry figures showed. The number of new buyers registering with agents fell by 4.3 per cent in November, according to the monthly national housing survey from property website Hometrack. The monthly fall was the fifth in a row [...]
Sentance repeats call for Bank to lift interest rates November 28, 2010 THE Bank of England (BoE) should embark on a gradual rise in interest rates to avoid the need for a damaging sharp increase later on, policymaker Andrew Sentance said yesterday. Sentance, the most hawkish member of the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said the BoE’s inflation forecasts had consistently underestimated the upside impact from rising [...]
OBR expected to upgrade its forecasts November 28, 2010 BETTER than predicted growth has been recorded in the UK this year, the government’s spending watchdog is expected to announce today. The economy was forecast to grow by 1.2 per cent in June’s emergency Budget, but the prediction could increase to 1.8 per cent in light of surprisingly high growth. In the three months to [...]
