London Sports Festival moves from 3×3 basketball success to pickleball at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Yard
US industrial output caught in traffic jam February 19, 2013 US MANUFACTURING output started 2013 with a fall, according to data out yesterday, driven by weakness in car production. Factory production dropped 0.4 per cent in January, Federal Reserve data showed, pushed by the 3.2 per cent crash in car output. The fact that the decline was coming mainly from one sector, combined with upward [...]
Retailers urge Osborne to cut business costs February 19, 2013 THE COST of running a retail business has soared far beyond the increase in sales over the past six years, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned today, as it urged the chancellor to slash red tape and support consumer spending. Retailers’ total operating costs have increased by 21 per cent – a huge £20bn [...]
Xstrata £3.8bn Filipino project gets environmental go ahead February 19, 2013 XSTRATA’S $5.9bn (£3.8bn) mining project in the Philippines has been given the green light by the local environment department, removing a key hurdle delaying work on the copper-gold mine. The Tampakan project has been held up by a 2010 ban on open-pit mining imposed by the provincial government of South Cotabato because of its harmful [...]
RBS considers hybrid selloff February 19, 2013 STATE-BACKED bank RBS is considering selling off a stake in the 316 branches it is being forced to offload, ahead of a larger share listing or sale, it emerged yesterday. Such a move could drum up investor interest in the unit, dubbed Project Rainbow, by showing buyers are prepared to buy into the unit. The [...]
OECD falls into contraction on Eurozone woe February 19, 2013 FALLING output across the Eurozone pulled the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of major economies into decline in the fourth quarter of 2012, the organisation said yesterday. The total output from OECD countries fell 0.2 per cent in the final three months of last year, dragged down by a 0.6 per cent [...]
Novartis scraps £50m payoff for chairman February 19, 2013 SWISS drug firm Novartis yesterday dropped plans to pay its outgoing chairman SFr72m (£50.6m) to stop him going to work for rivals. Daniel Vasella’s golden handcuffs deal was announced on Friday but abandoned after a very negative reaction from shareholders. Executive pay has come under intense scrutiny in the country ahead of next month’s referendum [...]
Lloyds fined for failing to make PPI redress payouts on time February 19, 2013 LLOYDS was yesterday fined £4.3m for failing to compensate 140,000 payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling victims promptly, adding to the £5bn already set aside to cover the scandal. Thousands of those customers had to wait as long as six months for compensation, when it should have taken 28 days, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said. [...]
Drax gears up to total biomass conversion as annual profit falls February 19, 2013 ANNUAL profits dipped at coal fired power producer Drax, as it ramped up its transformation into a biomass-fuelled business. Drax, which runs a coal-fired power station in Yorkshire, said yesterday that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation over the full year fell to £298m from £334m in 2011, although this was in line with [...]
HTC launches high-end phone in effort to take on Samsung February 19, 2013 HTC has unveiled its new flagship handset in a bid to claw back market share from rivals. The Taiwanese firm yesterday launched its HTC One device, promising a host of new features it hopes will attract customers who have abandoned the company for smartphones made by Apple and Samsung. Chief executive Peter Chou, unveiling the [...]
Bailey gets top job in the new bank watchdog February 19, 2013 TOP regulator Andrew Bailey was yesterday named as head of the incoming Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and deputy governor of the Bank of England, posts which give him major new powers over banks. Bailey is currently head of the prudential business unit within the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and used to be chief cashier at [...]
