Labour hits out at Sky tie-up plans July 7, 2010 LABOUR is gearing up to oppose Rupert Murdoch’s proposed £12bn takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. Shadow culture secretary Ben Bradshaw has written to opposite number Jeremy Darroch demanding he launch an investigation into plans by News Corp. to acquire the 61 per cent of Sky it doesn’t already own. And a group of Labour MPs [...]
Coutts: One needs £250k to qualify for free account July 7, 2010 THE Queen’s bank Coutts has withdrawn free banking to customers with less than £250,000 in their accounts. The private bank, which is majority-owned by the taxpayer after the government bailed out its owner, the Royal Bank of Scotland, used to offer free banking to anyone who kept at least £10,000 in their current account. But [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD ALL BANKS CONSIDER MONTHLY FEES? July 7, 2010 JIM BAND ROBERTSON CAPITAL “I used to be charged a monthly fee, after I set up a premium account without realising. I wasn’t seeing the benefits so I stopped and went back to a free account. Companies should pay for the services they get, but personal accounts don’t give enough to be value for money [...]
Walsh: BA will fly all planes July 7, 2010 WILLIE WALSH, British Airways (BA) chief executive, has vowed the airline will not lose money if there is a third strike by cabin crew after guaranteeing that 100 per cent of flights will be in operation. “If in case of a strike 100 per cent of flights will, as we believe, be guaranteed, British Airways [...]
ICBC to tap market for $6.6bn July 7, 2010 ICBC, the world’s most valuable lender, aims to tap investors for up to $6.6bn, sources said, a day after Agricultural Bank of China priced the world’s largest IPO. AgBank, the last of China’s big banking institutions to go public, is exercising an option to expand the Shanghai portion of its IPO by 15 percent, the [...]
KLM traffic up, down at Aer Lingus July 7, 2010 AIR FRANCE KLM saw a steady rise in June passenger numbers, surpassing Irish rival Aer Lingus which reported a fall in traffic during the same period. Last month Air France KLM flew 6.5m passengers, representing a 4.7 per cent rise in traffic figures. The airline said the rise reflected an increase in demand for air [...]
Clinton Cards issues profit warning after a poor performance in Ireland July 7, 2010 SHARES in the UK’s largest greeting card company Clinton Cards dropped more than seven per cent yesterday on news the retailer had issued a profit warning for the current financial year. The company, which has 860 outlets, said that since its last statement in May sales had dipped and it had faced a “disproportionately poor [...]
GM sells steering unit to China as it focuses on cars July 7, 2010 GENERAL Motors (GM) said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Nexteer Automotive unit to a group backed by the Beijing government to focus on its core car-making business. GM said it reached a definite agreement to sell the maker of steering systems to Pacific Century Motors, a joint venture between Chinese auto parts supplier [...]
Photo-Me swings into the black after FSA fine and hefty losses July 7, 2010 aPHOTO booth firm Photo-Me International has swung into profit, despite previous losses and a £500,000 Financial Services Authority (FSA) fine. In the year to 30 April the group saw pre-tax profits of £9.3m, compared to £5.1m in losses the previous year. Photo-Me declared itself in a much stronger position, helped by the disposal of Imaging [...]
Carillion confident despite challenges July 7, 2010 BUILDING and support services group Carillion said it expected an increase in earnings in 2010 due to a strong order book and more government outsourcing, despite challenging market conditions. Carillion, which generates much of its revenue from government work and public private partnership (PPP) projects, said investments in PPP continued to generate “substantial value” and [...]
