United agree to let Ronaldo join Real in 80m switch June 11, 2009 ONE of the longest-running transfer sagas of recent years edged close to conclusion yesterday when Manchester United accepted a world record-shattering £80m bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. United said they gave Real permission to discuss personal terms with Ronaldo, 24, after the Fifa World Player of the Year informed the Old Trafford hierarchy [...]
BLOCKBUSTER YEAR June 11, 2009 BOLLYWOOD investment firm The Indian Film Company (IFC) saw profits double over the past year, despite the economic slowdown and the terror attacks in Mumbai. IFC said full year net profit increased by 98.5 per cent to £3.89m, on revenue which rose 257 per cent to £40.9m. The group released eight films over the year, [...]
Sir Alex is a transfer master June 11, 2009 MANCHESTER UNITED are undoubtedly losing one of their greatest players of all time in Cristiano Ronaldo, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson rarely gets his big transfer decisions wrong. Ferguson demands total commitment from his players and it is easy to understand if he has decided that this is the right time to sell Ronaldo. The [...]
US retail sales rose in May, driven by surging cost of petrol at the pumps June 11, 2009 US RETAIL sales rose for the first time in three months in May and the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits last week hit the lowest level since January, suggesting the recession was abating. The Commerce Department said that sales at U.S. retailers rose 0.5 per cent last month, lifted by strong [...]
Crude rises to an eight-month high on hopes the global downturn is easing June 11, 2009 OIL climbed above $72 a barrel yesterday, an eight-month high, after research body the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its global forecast on rising hopes the economic recession is easing. Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 nations, boosted its global estimate for daily oil demand by 120,000 barrels to 83.3 million barrels in its monthly report. [...]
Chelsea deny lodging late bid to hijack Villa’s Madrid move June 11, 2009 CHELSEA last night dismissed speculation they tried to poach David Villa from under the noses of Real Madrid. The Valencia striker is set to become the latest member of the Bernabeu ‘galacticos’, joining £140m duo Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. But reports in Spain suggested Chelsea had crept in with an 11th hour offer to tempt [...]
Brits rated most gloomy in retail June 11, 2009 The British are the most pessimistic about the future retail environment according to a survey out today on the recession by Datamonitor. Results from the survey conducted on-line between 30-31 May 2009 and based on a sample of 1,200 respondents across Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, reveal 78 per cent of respondents across [...]
The man from Del Monte June 11, 2009 Del Monte Foods yesterday posted a far higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by price increases, volume growth and cost cuts, and offered a strong fiscal-year forecast, sending its shares up 9.3 per cent. The maker of Meow Mix pet food and Del Monte canned fruits and vegetables said that net income jumped 42 per cent to [...]
Roche drug gets WHO backing June 11, 2009 The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to start distributing a further batch of 5.65m courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu from Swiss drug maker Roche Holding. Earlier WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said it was raising its pandemic alert to phase 6, the top of its six-point scale, because of the outbreak of swine [...]
JPM Caz sells Ross’s shares worth 75m June 11, 2009 STRUGGLING entrepreneur David Ross raised around £75m yesterday through the sale of shares in Carphone Warehouse and Big Yellow Group. Sources said that JP Morgan Cazenove sold the vast majority of Ross’s 9.02 per cent shareholding in storage group Big Yellow for around £36m and 2.6 per cent of Carphone Warehouse, which he co-founded with [...]