BEST OF THE BROKERS July 2, 2009 WPP GROUPCitigroup has downgraded WPP to “sell” saying that a continuation on second quarter trends would suggest a 2009 full-year organic decline of 7.5 per cent and limited growth in 2010. The broker sees risk to the earnings and thinks that the first half results in August will be a negative catalyst, and lowers its [...]
Oracle to cut 1,000 European jobs July 2, 2009 Oracle plans to lay off up to 1,000 workers in Europe, or about one per cent of its global staff, as the recession erodes the giant software compans earnings, it emerged yesterday. The world’s second biggest listed software maker would be one of the last major technology companies to undertake significant layoffs in this economic [...]
Flybe ranked as UK number one July 2, 2009 Europe’s largest regional airline Flybe will say today it carried more domestic passengers than any other airline. Overall, the Flybe brand carried 26 per cent of the total UK domestic passengers that flew during April, with its closest rival Easyjet landing behind with 23 per cent, figures from the CAA will show.
Tributes paid to dead cyclist July 2, 2009 Staff at PR firm Citigate Dewe Rogerson paid tribute to their former colleague Catriona Cockburn yesterday, who died in a cycling accident on Monday. 39-year-old Cockburn collided with an HGV lorry. A message on the company’s website said she would be “enormously missed.”
Credit availability to increase July 2, 2009 Lenders are expecting to increase the availability of credit to both households and businesses over the next three months, the Bank of England’s credit conditions survey showed yesterday. Lenders also expect a further increase in default rates and predicted that spreads on household and corporate lending, would widen further, consistent with higher expected future losses.
Moody’s strips Ireland of its remaining coveted triple-A rating on grim outlook July 2, 2009 MOODY’S yesterday stripped Ireland of its last AAA credit rating and warned Prime Minister Brian Cowen he needed to inflict more fiscal pain on his recession-wracked country or risk a further costly downgrade. Cowen has put Ireland on a five-year austerity diet after a debt-fuelled property binge transformed the former “Celtic Tiger” economy into one [...]
IMF to begin discussions on its delayed review of China’s economy next week July 2, 2009 THE International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board will discuss a long-delayed assessment of China’s economy on 8 July after it revised rules on how it assesses the foreign-exchange policies of member countries. Fund spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said an IMF staff mission had concluded the China economic review on 10 June and it would now go to [...]
Carpathian restructuring deal gets the green light July 2, 2009 PROPERTY investor Carpathian said yesterday it has successfully completed a debt restructuring of €235m (£203m) with German lender Hypo Real Estate. The transaction represents about 56 per cent of the total debt of £417.1m within the group as at 31 December 2008, the company said, stabilising the majority of its portfolio, which was previously under [...]
Timis group to raise 63.8m July 2, 2009 AFRICA Minerals Limited, the exploration group chaired by the colourful Frank Timis, has raised £63.8m after a placing of shares with institutional investors. Africa Minerals says it is placing 25.54m shares at a price of 250p each to help it undertake further drilling at its iron ore project in Sierra Leone. “The group has got [...]
White paper on consumer debt slated July 2, 2009 THE government’s bid to crack down on the credit card industry to reduce the number of people struggling with unsustainable debts has been criticised by a number of bodies who warn it may restrict lending at a time when people need it the most. The Consumer White Paper aims to clamp down on unsolicited credit [...]
