US financial reform bill moves towards endgame May 20, 2010 THE US Senate is expected to tonight approve the biggest overhaul of financial regulations since the 1930s after the measure finally cleared a procedural hurdle yesterday. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priorities. If passed, it would increase restrictions on the banking industry and some say reduce profits. After the Senate [...]
Top banker at UBS quits for Goldman May 20, 2010 UBS suffered another shock senior defection yesterday when its head of global capital markets for Asia, Steven Barg, quit for its US rival Goldman Sachs. Barg is the third senior banker at the Swiss firm to leave the firm since March, marking another blow to its regional equity capital markets (ECM) franchise. Barg will join [...]
Unite claims victory in BA court ruling May 20, 2010 A STRIKE threatened by British Airways (BA) cabin crew is to go ahead after the Appeals Court yesterday overturned an earlier decision that ruled the strike unlawful. After two days of hearings, the Court ruled in favour of Unite on the grounds that the union had fairly and openly balloted staff dismissing BA’s original claim [...]
LEGAL VIEWS: HOW DO YOU VIEW THE BA/UNITE APPEAL COURT DECISION? May 20, 2010 PAUL REEVES | STEPHENSON HARWOOD “Despite the court’s judgment today to allow the BA strikes to go ahead next week, this was always a win-win situation for BA and its chief Willie Walsh. He either succeeded in getting the strike called off or he bought himself and the company more time, by delaying the walk [...]
SABMiller in flat sales but Peroni fizzes May 20, 2010 BREWING giant SABMiller expects consumer spending to recover at the end of 2010 – with only a slight lift in beer sales at the World Cup in South Africa. The world’s second biggest brewer – which earns over 85 per cent of its profit from emerging markets – posted a 17 per cent rise in [...]
Marston’s upbeat as cask ale thrives May 20, 2010 BREWER and pub group Marston’s said it had returned to growth in revenues and profits at the half year – fulled by cask ale and food sales. The group, which makes ales including Pedigree and Hobgoblin, reported underlying profits up 0.4 per cent to £27.8m in the six months to 3 April. Sales in its [...]
Mothercare in dividend rise despite sales stalling May 20, 2010 MOTHERCARE posted flat profit for the year but raised its dividend 16 per cent and said it was well placed to drive growth going forward. The group, which trades from over 1,100 stores in 52 countries, said it made an underlying pre-tax profit of £37.2m for the year to 27 March. Group sales increased 5.9 [...]
Booker profit rises as it sets sights on India May 20, 2010 BOOKER Group beat forecasts with a 21 per cent rise in annual profit – boosted by higher customer numbers and tight cost control – and said it was stepping up expansion in India. Britain’s biggest cash-and-carry chain company, which runs over 170 branches supplying convenience stores, restaurants, pubs, schools and prisons, said its performance made [...]
Portmeirion in sales surge May 20, 2010 Pottery group Portmeirion said yesterday that sales for the first four months of the year are 40 per cent up on the same period in 2009. The company said the rise had been fuelled by sales of Spode and Royal Worcester. Those acquisitions – due to their timing – did not generate any revenue in [...]
Google sees Android success May 20, 2010 Google said more than 100,000 smartphones running on its Android mobile operating system are now activated daily and its library of applications has grown to 50,000, underscoring rapid adoption of the devices. The Internet search and advertising leader said yesterday that searches on its mobile Internet search engine have quintupled in just the past two [...]
