Hosting World Cup could give £3.2bn to UK May 12, 2010 THE economy would be £3.2bn better off if England hosts the 2018 football World Cup, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Business leaders including Sir Alan Sugar cited the findings yesterday as they backed the bid. Sugar from BBC1’s The Apprentice and British Airways chief Willie Walsh said winning the bid to hold the tournament [...]
CINEWORLD BOOSTED BY 3D BLOCKBUSTERS May 12, 2010 CINEMA chain Cineworld Group said yesterday it had traded strongly in the 18 weeks to 6 May with revenue up 13.9 per cent, driven by box office hits such as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp (above). The company said it expected its first-half performance to be comfortably ahead of last year, helped [...]
BP accused of faulty device in US oil leak May 12, 2010 US lawmakers pressed BP executives about flaws in a crucial well safety device yesterday while the oil giant scrambled with its latest deep-sea effort to control the huge Gulf of Mexico spill that threatens environmental disaster. BP said it hoped to have a small containment dome in place by late today to staunch the oil [...]
BP’s reputation sinks as size of spill spreads May 12, 2010 BP has witnessed a significant drop in its “impression” score on YouGov’s BrandIndex in the wake of the explosion on its leased oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, which resulted in eleven deaths and precipitated one of the worst man-made ecological disasters to hit the US in recent years. Yet it was not the [...]
Baugur tycoon faces $2bn lawsuit from Glitnir team May 12, 2010 JÓN Ásgeir Jóhannesson, the Icelandic retail tycoon who once held stakes in House of Fraser and Hamleys, has been served with a $2bn (£1.3bn) lawsuit by the liquidators of failed bank Glitnir. Jóhannesson, who owned swathes of the UK high street through his now-collapsed firm Baugur, is accused of conspiring with Glitnir’s chief executive and chairman [...]
Basel bank trading rules are delayed May 12, 2010 THE European Union and the United States said they will work on setting a common date in 2011 for tougher new bank trading book rules, signalling the first scheduling slippage in a global drive to make the financial system less risky. “Both sides agree that within their respective legal systems and in coordination with the [...]
Disaster prone first quarter pushes premiums up 19pc for insurer Beazley May 12, 2010 LLOYDS of London insurer Beazley said premiums rose 19 per cent in an action-packed first quarter. Premiums hit $438.2m (£295.5m) in the three months to March. The firm was hit by a series of disasters. It said it will pay out between $55m and $75m for losses incurred in the Chilean earthquake, with market costs [...]
Prudential closes in on FSA approval for cash call May 12, 2010 PRUDENTIAL is close to satisfying the City watchdog on plans to buy Asian insurer AIA for $35.5bn (£24bn), and is understood to be waiting on clearance from the UK Listing Authority. Prudential’s move to raise $21bn to part-finance its purchase of AIA hit a snag last week when the Financial Services Authority (FSA) blocked the [...]
City jobs fall on election uncertainty May 12, 2010 CITY vacancies dipped last month in the run up to the general election, according to recent data by Morgan McKinley, as the number of candidates increased by over 10,000. The number of newly available jobs in the financial services sector fell by 12 per cent during the month of April to 5,569 marking a u-turn [...]
Avoid the Greek plague May 12, 2010 COMPASS is the perfect choice for those fearful of contagion from the Greek crisis. Its Rest of the World Division saw EBIT increase 45 per cent to £87m, while the UK and Ireland, which saw revenues drop six per cent, account for just 12 per cent of total revenue. With just a seven per cent [...]
