Morrisons and Ocado split over online sales tax July 28, 2013 WM MORRISON and Ocado bosses are heading for a clash over controversial plans to launch an online sales tax. The two companies last week formally completed a £216m licensing agreement that will allow Morrisons to launch an online grocery service by January 2014. However the debate surrounding the mooted tax has put Dalton Philips, the [...]
Olympic summer keeps sports clubs afloat as insolvencies fall July 28, 2013 THE NUMBER of sports clubs and facilities collapsing into administration has fallen by a third in the year since the 2012 Olympic summer, figures out today show. Research from R3, the insolvency trade body, found that the number of companies – from tennis clubs to snooker halls and gyms – that entered into insolvency procedures [...]
Ad executives team up to swap services for new business stake July 28, 2013 ADVERTISING firm M&C Saatchi and a host of creative agencies have banded together in a new venture to invest in start-up businesses. The project, led by London-based firm Squadron Venture Media, will see creative agencies M&C – co-founded by Charles Saatchi – Creature, Karmarama and 101 offer TV advertising advice to start-up firms in return [...]
Inmarsat sees HMRC enquiry July 28, 2013 TAX COLLECTORS are locked in dispute with satellite company Inmarsat over a $65m (£42m) tax benefit it received five years ago. The company said Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs had made enquiries over a portion of a $218.6m tax boost for the year ending 2008. “Management does not believe that a material economic outflow is [...]
Center Parcs bounces back into the black July 28, 2013 CENTER Parcs has returned to profit after a debt restructuring left it nursing heavy losses last year. The holiday and leisure park company said it made a pre-tax profit of £18.6m in the year to April, up from a £47.9m loss a year earlier. Sales rose four per cent to £303.5m.
Deal drought for mining sector as prices plunge July 28, 2013 MINING deals have sunk by a third this year after tumbling commodity prices weakened interest in capital raising and acquisitions, a report out today shows. Mergers and takeovers in the global metals and mining sector – a key component of the FTSE 100 – fell 30 per cent between January and June, the third consecutive [...]
iPhone discounts help Apple in battle for smartphone market July 28, 2013 APPLE is regaining ground in the battle for control of the UK smartphone market after cutting the cost of its iPhone 4, according to research released today. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech found that almost a third of British purchasers chose products running Apple’s iOS software in the three months to June 2013, up five per [...]
EU and China strike solar deal July 28, 2013 THE EU and China headed off an escalation in trade war tension after clinching a deal to cap Chinese solar panel imports. Both have agreed to let China import about half of the EU’s solar demand without imports being subject to tariffs. A price cap of 56 cents has also been agreed in a bid [...]
GKN to swoop on US factory July 28, 2013 FTSE 100 engineering giant GKN is mulling plans to buy a US-based maker of Boeing 747 airplane wings. GKN, formed in Birmingham about 100 years ago as Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds (GKN), is gearing up to bid for Spirit Aerosystems’ wing division, a 3,000-strong factory based in Oklahoma. The deal, which could cost GKN about [...]
Bookies clean up on the birth of Prince George July 28, 2013 BOOKMAKER William Hill has cashed in on the arrival of Prince George of Cambridge, raking in £400,000 from Royal baby name bets. The bookie paid out just a quarter of the takings to punters who correctly wagered that the Prince would be called George. And it seems that the public are already betting on another [...]
