South Africa’s Mondi swings to a profit in the first half of 2010 August 10, 2010 Paper maker Mondi again raised prices for some products and forecast a strong second half yesterday after better demand and prices helped it return to a half-year profit. South Africa’s Mondi, which is also listed in London, said business picked up across all of its paper grades and its domestic division was also improving. “Mondi [...]
BAD TEMPERS AND CHICKEN WINGS IN OBAMA’S ECONOMIC HOTHOUSE August 10, 2010 WHEN Christina Romer, Chair of the US Council of Economic Advisors, quit her role suddenly last week, speculation was rife that she had been forced out due to fighting with colleague Lawrence Summers. Summers is director of the National Economic Council and before his role as coordinator of US economic policy, he was president of [...]
EU plans to levy direct tax on UK August 9, 2010 EUROPEAN bureaucrats are preparing plans for an EU-wide levy on financial transactions, domestic aviation and carbon dioxide emissions, putting them on a collision course with the British government. The European Commission wants to impose a series of pan-European taxes to fund its €140bn (£116bn) annual budget, allowing cash-strapped member states to reduce the amount of [...]
Investors stop £1.7bn super trust August 9, 2010 F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT was celebrating a dramatic victory last night after small investors shot down a merger between the F&C Commercial Property Trust (FCPT) and Ignis’ UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT). Minority shareholders voted by a narrow margin to block the creation of a £1.7bn “super trust” by joining the two real estate funds. In [...]
Skype eyes a $100m listing August 9, 2010 Skype, a provider of Internet telephone services, plans to raise up to $100m (£62.8m) in an initial public offering of its shares in the US, according to filings made to regulators yesterday. Analysts said this could be a bid by Skype’s private equity owners to recoup some of their investment of more than $2bn when [...]
Taking on Sky is a risky Vision for BT August 9, 2010 INthe run up to the new football season there is a fascinating encounter taking place off the field as BT Vision tries to take on the might of BSkyB in the showing of live football. BT Vision, boosted by a ruling from the regulator on the price that Sky can sell its sports channels to [...]
Unions threaten air chaos strikes August 9, 2010 UNIONS are threatening to cause travel chaos in the run-up to the August Bank Holiday with a ballot over strike action against the British Airports Authority (BAA). The Unite ballot of more than 6,000 firefighters and ground staff at six airports, including Heathrow, is expected to come out in favour of strikes on Thursday after [...]
Gulf well stakeholder sells bonds August 9, 2010 Anadarko Petroleum, which owns 25 per cent of the Macondo well at the centre of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said yesterday it sold $2bn worth of bonds and will now not need a $1.5bn loan it previously lined up. Anadarko said it raised $6.5bn in financing commitments, in part to pay for potential [...]
Ambac in bankruptcy warning August 9, 2010 Financial services group Ambac said it lost $57.6m in the second quarter, after the US bond insurer suffered big losses on securities. The company warned it may have to file for bankruptcy if it cannot restructure its liabilities by the second quarter of 2011. The firm is looking at raising capital as well as a [...]
BBC to abolish pension top-ups August 9, 2010 The BBC board is set to scrap pension top-up payments to around 30 executives at the corporation, saving more than £1m. The move would slash director general Mark Thompson’s pay packet by around 20 per cent, in a bid to diffuse criticism over executive pay.
