Spain faces fresh street protests as labour unions call for strike October 7, 2012 THOUSANDS of Spanish workers took to the streets across the country yesterday, in fresh protests against tough austerity measures. Spain’s biggest labour unions staged protests in 57 cities and have threatened to call a strike on 14 November if the government does not hold a referendum on unpopular spending cuts. Some 60,000 people attended the [...]
Manchester Utd and Take That boost £100m Wembley revenue October 7, 2012 WEMBLEY Stadium boosted its turnover to a record of nearly £100m last year, helped by a £3.5m windfall from Take That’s sellout tour and the 2011 Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. The group behind the 90,000-seat stadium posted pre-tax profits of £83,000 versus a £12m loss the year previously. The small profit [...]
McLoughlin set to face MPs over failed franchise October 7, 2012 TRANSPORT secretary Patrick McLoughlin will be grilled by MPs over the collapse of the West Coast rail franchise deal at the end of the month. Louise Ellman, Labour MP and chair of the transport select committee, wants to bring McLoughlin and his permanent secretary back in front of the committee, following their appearance last month [...]
Effects of West Coast fiasco will take years to put right October 7, 2012 OH, to have been a fly on the carriage wall of the Virgin Trains service to Birmingham yesterday. So many political problems to make the Tory faithful green around the gills, mixed in with the swaying of the high-speed Pendolinos and the pungent aroma of the onboard buffet bar. Also feeling a little travel sick [...]
Dividend pay abandoned by more FTSE firms October 7, 2012 THE number of non-dividend paying FTSE firms is creeping back up to historic highs with nearly 14 per cent of listed firms now turning their back on regular payouts, research revealed yesterday. Data from Absolute Strategy Research, a City research firm, shows 13.8 per cent of firms on the FTSE 350 index have shunned dividend [...]
Scardino steps down as vice chair of Nokia October 7, 2012 MARJORIE Scardino, the departing chief executive of Financial Times owner Pearson, is to step down from the board at Nokia after 11 years. Scardino, who will leave Pearson at the end of the year, has been a non-executive director at Nokia since 2001, and vice chair since 2007. She has taken the decision in order [...]
Wonga readies Newcastle sponsorship deal October 7, 2012 SHORT-TERM lending company Wonga.com, led by Errol Damelin, is close to sealing a shirt sponsorship deal with Premier League football club Newcastle United that would see it replace Virgin Money from the start of the 2013-14 football season. Wonga, which already sponsors Championship side Blackpool United and Scottish outfit Hearts, is not interested in a [...]
Proportion of households on benefits soars October 7, 2012 THE PROPORTION of UK households receiving benefits has soared over the past decade, data reveals today, as did the proportion receiving more benefits than they paid in tax. The number of non-retired households receiving any cash benefit barring child benefit rose from 40.3 per cent in the 2000-2001 tax year to 44.6 per cent in [...]
Bank paper suggests smaller banks should hold less capital October 7, 2012 REGULATIONS specifying banks’ capital ratios should be more generous to smaller players, a working paper from the Bank of England suggested yesterday. Bigger, more interconnected banks have a disproportionately large influence on the health of the financial sector, the three Bank economists said, implying they should face regulations requiring disproportionately large capital ratios. This would [...]
All Saints chairman fired by the firm’s private equity owners October 7, 2012 KEVIN Stanford, the chairman of All Saints fashion chain, has been fired from his role after a fall out with the group’s majority shareholders. Stanford was sacked about two weeks ago by Lion Capital, the private equity firm, which rescued the debt-laden retailer for an undisclosed sum last year. Lion Capital, which also owns American [...]
