ECB should stay silent about monetary policy October 17, 2010 JEAN Claude Trichet and his colleagues at the ECB are playing a dangerous game. Despite the Eurozone’s recovery still looking fragile, the central bank’s key playmakers seem determined to talk about pushing policy back onto a more “normal” footing. Just last week, the Bundesbank’s Axel Weber, in a speech given in New York, indicated his [...]
BAE pushed to cut contract prices October 17, 2010 Defence contractor BAE Systems is set to be forced to slash the price of its contracted services with the government in the future, as part of the Ministry of Defence’s drive to cut costs. Ministers are this week poised to announce a strategic defence review which will aim to cut the department’s annual budget by [...]
Travelport seeks easing on debt October 17, 2010 Travel services group Travelport has approached its lenders to ease the requirements on its debt covenants to prevent a possible breach next year, according to weekend reports. The move comes after Travelport earlier this year had to cancel a planned $1.78bn (£1.11bn) London IPO due to poor demand. The firm’s advisers had tried to rescue [...]
British Gas shuffles seasonal work October 17, 2010 British Gas engineers will get a pay rise of more than a tenth in return for working longer hours in the winter to tackle higher numbers of gas and electricity problems, it emerged yesterday. The parent company of British Gas, Centrica, and the GMB union have negotiated a deal under which the firm’s 8,000 engineers [...]
Crunch time for BHP and Rio venture October 17, 2010 BHP BILLITON and Rio Tinto’s $116bn (£72bn) iron ore joint venture is hanging by a thread after the European Commission has told the companies it will object to the deal. The EU’s competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia is preparing to send a list of objections to Rio and BHP this week, which will ask the world’s [...]
Gulf Keystone raises £109m October 17, 2010 GULF Keystone Petroleum yesterday announced is has raised £109.2m through an oversubscribed share placing. The Kurdistan focused independent oil and gas exploration company says it will use the proceeds to accelerate its active drilling programme across its four blocks in Kurdistan. This will involve contracting a third Gulf Keystone operated deep drilling rig, as well [...]
Company name disputes increase by 43 per cent October 17, 2010 LEGAL disputes over company names have shot up 43 per cent this year according to new research by Sweet & Maxwell. Companies being taken to tribunal over the registration of a similar, or misleading company name has leapt from 54 last year to 77. Disputes typically occur when one company is thought to be using [...]
Eurostar strikes to hit services as Allianz stalks October 17, 2010 TRAVELLERS bound for Brussels face chaos today after Eurostar was forced to axe train services due to industrial action on the Belgian railways. The cross-Channel train operator said it would fail to run any services between the UK and the Belgian capital due to a 24-hour walkout by Belgian rail workers. The strike started last [...]
Insurers face new wave of regulation October 17, 2010 THE business agenda has been dominated by the latest developments in the regulation of banks. From Basel III to new European banking regulations on capital, much has been said on how much capital banks should hold. Much less focus has been on Solvency II, the European Directive which will dramatically change the way insurers are [...]
Coal India set for £2bn float October 17, 2010 THE INDIAN government is due to open the country’s largest ever initial public offering (IPO) today, in which it hopes to raise 150bn rupees (£2.1bn) by selling a 10 per cent stake of state-owned Coal India. The company is the largest coal miner in the world, producing 80 per cent of India’s coal in 471 [...]
