RBS looks to IPO 316 branches as rival bidders offer too little February 3, 2013 RBS is set to float 316 branches as an independent bank after failing to get any attractive bids from smaller banks or private equity buyers, it emerged yesterday. The bank is being forced to sell the branches, which come with 1.8m customers and 250,000 small business accounts, by the European Commission as part of its [...]
Super Bowl advertisements hit record prices in age of YouTube February 3, 2013 ADVERTS at this year’s Super Bowl have hit record prices, with the price of a 30-second advertisement at the event reaching an average of $3.8m (£2.4m). Companies including Samsung, Budweiser and Coca-Cola have paid US television network CBS around nine per cent more than they did last year for the event, which was broadcast last [...]
Three pledges not to charge extra for 4G February 3, 2013 THREE, the UK’s fourth-biggest mobile network company, will not charge a premium for 4G services. The company, which is set to launch a high-speed 4G service later this year, says it will offer the technology as standard rather than creating separate price plans for 4G and 3G services. The move contrasts with the decision taken [...]
Seymour Pierce has reprieve as creditor agrees to late payment February 3, 2013 STRICKEN City broker Seymour Pierce has cleared a major hurdle in its bid to avoid administration after one of its largest creditors made it clear he was willing to be patient about calling his funds in. Hopes the 130-year-old brokerage could be saved from administration were raised yesterday after a major Ukrainian investor indicated he [...]
Carney getting ready for tough MPs’ questions February 3, 2013 INCOMING Bank of England governor Mark Carney will face a grilling from MPs on Thursday as an influential backbench committee makes the most of its first ever chance to question an incoming governor. Carney is set to take up the role this summer just as the Bank receives huge new powers over finance firms. That [...]
China’s services expand slightly February 3, 2013 Growth in China’s increasingly important services sector rose for the fourth straight month in January, though the slim increase added to evidence that the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy remains a modest one. China’s official purchasing managers’ index for the non-manufacturing sector rose to 56.2 in January from 56.1 in December, the National Bureau [...]
MPs’ lack of trust threatens banks February 3, 2013 Out of all industries MPs trust banking the least, according to the results of a new Edelman survey. A net balance of 61 per cent of MPs distrust the banking and finance industry. This lack of trust means banks will find it hard to have their concerns listened to and so could lead to “revolutionary [...]
Sales up at Patisserie Valerie February 3, 2013 Patisserie Holdings, the company behind Patisserie Valerie cafes, has capitalised on consumers’ sweet tooths with a 22 per cent increase in turnover in the year to September 2012. Turnover jumped to £49.5m while pre-tax profits rose 28 per cent to £5.9m in the same period. Patisserie Valerie is planning to add more than 20 branches [...]
Firms’ spirits up on hopes of 2013 recovery February 3, 2013 BUSINESS sentiment improved in the first month of the new year, as firms bet the UK could put decline behind it and dodge a triple-dip recession. Confidence hit an 18-month high in January, according to Lloyds Bank’s business barometer, out this morning, with 46 per cent more firms saying their trading prospects would improve than [...]
Berlusconi promises swathe of tax cuts if he wins Italian poll February 3, 2013 ITALIAN former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday staked out the battle lines in the upcoming election, promising sweeping tax cuts if he is elected. He said that a centre-right government would reimburse a tax on families’ primary residences, freeze VAT, eliminate a regional business tax, and refrain from imposing a wealth tax. Part of the [...]
