WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MOD TALLIES COST OF CUTTING PROJECTS The Ministry of Defence has instructed its equipment managers to calculate the cost of cancelling all individual programmes in the latest sign of the budget squeeze it faces. The directive, issued in the past two weeks, underlines that no programme, even if under contract with industry, is [...]
Pru boss sets off on second charm effort March 22, 2010 PRUDENTIAL kicked off a second round of meetings with its largest UK investors yesterday, in a move to smooth ruffled feathers after shareholders opened fire on the insurer last week. Chief executive Tidjane Thiam met with a number of fund managers in London to cement their support for Prudential’s $35.5bn (£23.5bn) buyout of American International [...]
Babcock set to bag VT Group with higher bid March 22, 2010 ENGINEERING support firm Babcock International completed its long pursuit of sector rival VT Group with an offer worth £1.33bn last night. Sources told City A.M. that VT would formally recommend the 735p-a-share offer this morning. Babcock is understood to have raised its offer, made up of cash plus 0.701 Babcock shares per VT share, after [...]
SAMCAM: NEW MAM March 22, 2010 David Cameron’s wife Samantha is expecting a baby due in September. The Camerons also have a four-year-old son Arthur and a six-year-old daughter Nancy, and suffered heartbreak last year when their disabled son Ivan died, aged six. Cameron has described his wife as his “secret weapon” in the general election. Picture: REUTERS
BA and Unite disagree over strike figures March 22, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS and cabin crew union Unite continued to stand their ground yesterday, even as a three day strike drew to an end. BA said it was still open to talks with Unite but that there were no immediate plans to go back into negotiations over plans to cut the pay and staff numbers of cabin [...]
Rio Tinto men admit bribery March 22, 2010 STERN Hu, one of the four Rio Tinto employees charged in China last year, has admitted accepting 6.4m yuan (£627,000) in bribes. Ge Minqiang and Liu Caikui, two other Rio executives, also admitted receiving bribes on the first day of the three-day trial. The bribery charge could draw jail terms of up to 20 years, [...]
Your chance to have your say on the Budget March 22, 2010 TO have your say on tomorrow’s Budget, apply to join our panel at www.cityam.com/panel before 12pm today. All existing panelists will receive an email this morning QUESTIONS 1) A 50p rate of tax on those earning over £150,000 pa and a rise in national insurance will shortly come into effect. Do you think that Alistair Darling [...]
Iceland ready for Icesave talks March 22, 2010 Iceland’s finance minister said the government was ready to resume talks with Britain and the Netherlands on Icesave without preconditions and expressed hope a deal could be reached in “not too many weeks.” Earlier this month, Icelanders overwhelmingly rejected the terms of a deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands more than $5bn (£3.3bn) lost [...]
First Lady of Football Brady eyeing last laugh at embattled West Ham March 22, 2010 ANYONE willing to succeed the much-loved Margaret Mountford as Alan Sugar’s sidekick on The Apprentice is clearly on first-name terms with daunting tasks, but Karren Brady may have surpassed herself with the role of vice-chairman at West Ham. Among the Premier League’s most illustrious clubs but staring down the barrel of financial ruin, they are [...]
FA in lurch as Watmore quits top job March 22, 2010 THE Football Association was thrown into chaos last night after chief executive Ian Watmore resigned less than nine months into the post. The 51-year-old quit just 80 days before England’s World Cup bid amid reports he had become fed up with the on-going power struggle with the Premier League. Watmore only undertook the role last [...]
