Ireland sells €1.1bn stake in Bank of Ireland July 25, 2011 Ireland sold a €1.1bn stake in Bank of Ireland to a group of unidentified investors in a deal that will keep the country’s largest bank out of state control, the government said. The government had been widely expected to take control of Bank of Ireland, the last domestic lender outside of state ownership, after it [...]
Ryanair profit hit by soaring fuel costs July 25, 2011 Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, posted quarterly profits below market expectations due to higher fuel and operating costs. The Irish airline, which operates more than 1,500 flights a day, said it expects average income yields to rise by 12 to 15 per cent in its second quarter ending in September, but warned traffic would fall [...]
Yorkshire to buy Egg units from Citi July 25, 2011 Mortgage lender Yorkshire Building Society is to buy the mortgage and savings business of Egg Banking from American bank Citigroup, as Citi continues to sell non-core assets after its bailout during the credit crisis. Yorkshire, owned by its customers, said the Egg businesses it was acquiring comprised of a £2.5bn savings book and a 430 [...]
Reckitt earnings boosted by Suboxone drug July 25, 2011 Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser posted a 10 per cent rise in second-quarter earnings on Monday helped by last year’s SSL acquisition and the success of the film version of its Suboxone drug. The British group said it was well positioned to achieve its 2011 targets of a 12 per cent rise in net revenue [...]
Moody’s: Greek default almost certain July 25, 2011 Ratings agency Moody’s has cut Greece’s debt ratings by three notches to Ca, leaving it just one notch above what is considered default, and said the chance of a default is now “virtually 100 per cent”. The rating agency warned that last week’s bailout package agreed by euro zone leaders will make it easier for [...]
Debt deadlock July 24, 2011 Washington fails to hammer out a deal on US budget AMERICA’S ticking time bomb grew even louder last night, after bickering politicians failed to deliver a plan to cut the country’s annual deficit and raise the legal debt ceiling. The White House had targeted the opening of Asian markets this morning as a deadline to [...]
Cable in call for more QE July 24, 2011 VINCE Cable yesterday floated the idea of a “more imaginative” form of quantitative easing to kickstart Britain’s economy should it continue to grow at an anaemic rate. In an unusual intervention for a business secretary, Cable favourably quoted former members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, who argued that quantitative easing should be [...]
The tide is turning on public spending July 24, 2011 IT has taken over a year but the coalition is finally getting to grips with public spending. It is still going up in cash terms, of course (there were never any plans to cut the sterling value of public spending) but for the first time it appears to have started to drop in real terms. [...]
Balls: UK faces Greek trap July 24, 2011 GEORGE Osborne faced a barrage of attacks from Labour yesterday, with shadow chancellor Ed Balls accusing him of plunging Britain into a “Greek-style trap.” With second quarter GDP figures expected to reflect badly on the UK economy tomorrow, Balls criticised the chancellor’s “reckless” deficit reduction for hampering the recovery. “Unless you’ve got more people in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA EYES BARTER PLAN TO BYPASS US SANCTIONS ON IRAN PAYMENTS Tehran and Beijing are in talks about using a barter system to exchange Iranian oil for Chinese goods and services, as US financial sanctions have blocked China from paying at least $20bn for oil exports. The US sanctions against Iran, which make [...]
