Dexia wants a sale agreed by end of July July 24, 2013 TROUBLED Franco-Belgian lender Dexia yesterday revealed it had called off talks to sell its asset management arm, and set a new deadline of 30 July to reach an agreement. The nationalised bank said it terminated talks on 15 July and now wants to reach a deal by Tuesday. It is trying to sell the unit [...]
RBS fined £5.6m for wrongly reporting millions of trades July 24, 2013 CHAOS at RBS in the takeover of ABN Amro led to the bank making errors in the reporting of tens of millions of wholesale transactions, the Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday. Between November 2007 and February 2012 the bank wrongly reported 44.8m transactions and failed to report a further 804,000. The FCA concluded RBS did [...]
Hedge fund in £400m deal for Northern Rock’s bad assets July 24, 2013 NORTHERN Rock’s so-called bad bank has sold £400m of unsecured personal loans, government agency UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) announced yesterday. The better performing loans are going to OneSavings Bank, a lender that is backed by US hedge fund JC Flowers. And the lower quality loans are going to Marlin Financial Group. The combined deals cover [...]
MPs propose tax to eliminate profit on high frequency trading of shares July 24, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT should investigate introducing a financial transactions tax pegged at the average profit on a high frequency trade, according to a report released today by MPs. In addition, asset managers should be forced to spend a set part of their commission on long term investment research, according to the business, innovation and skills select committee. While the [...]
EasyJet shares take off after better forecast July 24, 2013 EASYJET shares rose as much as seven per cent yesterday after the low-cost airline lifted its profit forecast for the year. The FTSE 100 firm said revenues were up 10.5 per cent at £1.14bn in the three months to the end of June, prompting the company to raise its earnings outlook for the year to [...]
Bottom Line: Airline’s allocated seats prove well-suited to corporate flyers July 24, 2013 AS WELL as yet another profit upgrade, EasyJet yesterday unveiled its new cabin crew uniforms. Long gone are the vivid polo shirts; some of the sober grey suits in the range could almost, almost pass muster in the Square Mile. The City has in recent days sent shares in EasyJet up and down more often [...]
Heathrow Airport profits soar as it asks to charge customers more July 24, 2013 HEATHROW Airport yesterday said its underlying earnings rose 18 per cent in the first half of the year, as it squared up to the aviation regulator about its investment plan. Europe’s busiest airport said it will only spent £3bn on upgrades over the next five years if it can secure a deal with the Civil [...]
Electra takes hold of Park Resorts July 24, 2013 Private equity firm Electra Partners yesterday took a controlling stake in UK caravan park operator Park Resorts after refinancing the company’s debts. The British firm, which has an investment trust listed on the London stock exchange, will now own 54 per cent of the holiday business, which is based in Hemel Hempstead. The rest will [...]
Omega-3 producer sold for £225m July 24, 2013 Norwegian company TRYGG Pharma, a joint venture between biotech firm Aker BioMarine and private investment firm Lindsay Goldberg, yesterday agreed to sell its Omega-3 production business Epax to US chemical company FMC Corporation for $345m (£225m). The sale will allow Trygg Pharma to focus on developing its pharmaceutical programmes. As part of the deal, Trygg Pharma and [...]
HS2 opponents lose new appeal July 24, 2013 CAMPAIGNERS against the High Speed 2 rail link yesterday lost their latest attempt to block the project – but the judges have given them permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected all seven grounds argued by three group of objectors to the £42.6bn scheme, upholding an earlier High Court [...]
