Tories prepare the ground for spending cuts May 16, 2010 MOST governments leave behind an unwieldy in-tray, but Labour has laced the departments of Whitehall with landmines. That was the assessment of David Willets, the universities and science minister, upon finding that Lord Mandelson had announced large cuts to the universities budget without deciding where the axe would fall. Elsewhere, Tory spinners talk of a [...]
Osborne’s top team recruited to the Treasury May 16, 2010 GEORGE Osborne has put the finishing touches to his team at the Treasury, ahead of an emergency Budget on 30 June. Mark Hoban, MP for Fareham, is the new financial secretary to the Treasury, with specific responsibility for the City and financial services industry. He is joined by MP for Putney Justine Greening, who takes [...]
BA faced with triple dose of misfortune May 16, 2010 WILLIE WALSH, British Airways (BA) chief executive, is facing a trio of threats to the airline’s business during the same week it is expected to report over £600m in losses for the 2009 financial year. According to analysts, BA will report before tax losses of £613m when it publishes its 2009 financial results at the [...]
Waddell trades named in stock drop mystery May 16, 2010 WADDELL & REED Financial, a brokerage and mutual-fund firm, has been named as the mystery trader that sold a large amount of futures contracts during the 6 May stockmarket slide. Without identifying the firm, Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler said the trading was one of many factors that contributed to the Dow Jones [...]
Vodafone to reveal surge from iPhone May 16, 2010 VODAFONE is expected to announce strong results tomorrow off the back of strong smartphone sales. The soaring popularity of products including Apple’s iPhone will lead to a spike in revenue of around seven per cent, according to analysts. This would bring the full-year revenue for the telecoms giant to around £44bn. Its profit before tax [...]
Trafigura mulls a £1bn UK flotation May 16, 2010 TRAFIGURA, the Switzerland-based oil trader, has not ruled out the possibility of a £1bn flotation of its industrial assets. A flotation in the UK would represent a change of direction for the commodities company, which never publishes financial details except to bondholders and other interested parties. Trafigura will spin off its industrial assets but will [...]
UBS may face lawsuits in US May 16, 2010 UBS could face lawsuits in the United States if the Swiss parliament fails to agree to a deal passing data on the bank’s US clients to US tax authorities, Switzerland’s finance minister said. Hans-Rudolf Merz told the newspaper SonntagsBlick he hoped parliament, which will vote on the measure in June, would approve the agreement, though [...]
Investor pay rebellion rises May 16, 2010 THREE more of the UK’s biggest companies are preparing to face shareholder wrath over generous executive pay schemes, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The ABI has issued “amber top” alerts over remuneration at HSBC, engineer Tomkins and electronic chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics, indicating a “considerable” level of concern. HSBC investors have signalled anger [...]
KPMG and PwC consider move into credit rating May 16, 2010 ACCOUNTANTS KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have considered entering the credit rating business as the established players come under fire for failing to pre-empt the financial crisis. In the aftermath of the recession, which saw high-profile companies such as retail investor Baugur go bankrupt, KPMG said auditors should provide forward-looking assessments of a business’ risks as well [...]
Battle for RBS branches heats up May 16, 2010 Santander, the frontrunner to buy £1.5bn of bank branches put up for sale by Royal Bank of Scotland, faces increased competition. National Australia Bank and BBVA, who are also in the running for the assets, are understood to have held talks about teaming up for a bid through a joint venture. Santander sees the RBS [...]
