FRC changes audit rules September 1, 2011 COMPANIES will have to put their contract for a new auditor out to tender once every decade or explain why they have not, under new proposed corporate reporting rules published yesterday. But the Financial Reporting Council scrapped plans to stop companies printing hard copies of annual reports as part of the overhaul, after opposition from [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES PEERS IN FRESH THREAT TO BILL FOR FIXED-TERM PARLIAMENTS The coalition’s plan for fixed five-year parliamentary terms is in jeopardy, with peers threatening to vote against the legislation in the autumn for a third time. David Cameron and Nick Clegg put the promise in their coalition agreement last year in an attempt to [...]
Banks shun UK to lower their tax September 1, 2011 European banks are looking for ways to move as much of their trade as possible through low-tax jurisdictions to cut their tax bill, it emerged yesterday. The institutions are finding ways to restructure their entities to avoid paying onerous tax rates in jurisdictions such as the UK, tax specialists at Deloitte and PwC told Bloomberg. [...]
Google puts deals on homepage September 1, 2011 Search engine Google has promoted a daily deals offer on its home page for the first time, a rare instance of the internet giant using its prized online real estate for advertising and a warning shot to current market leader Groupon. The pair are vying for advertising dollars from local businesses, such as restaurants and [...]
ECB purchases fail to impress at Spain sale September 1, 2011 SPAIN was the second shaky Eurozone sovereign to see slow demand at a bond auction this week, despite the likelihood of heavy buying by the European Central Banking (ECB) in the secondary market. Following on from Italy’s sale on Tuesday, which saw low levels of buyer interest, Madrid issued €3.62bn (£3.19bn) of five-year bonds, less [...]
Lloyds and RBS may take a £10bn hit from reforms September 1, 2011 TAXPAYERS could see the value of their stakes in part-nationalised banks RBS and Lloyds knocked by up to £10bn by the reform programme proposed by Sir John Vickers, it emerged yesterday. UK Financial Investments told the Treasury and members of the Independent Commission on Banking it feared that the reform plans could make the government’s [...]
YO! Sushi tastes success despite big debt costs September 1, 2011 RESTAURANT chain YO! Sushi has increased sales by a fifth after opening more UK stores and increasing its income from foreign franchises. The firm’s parent company, Sushi Holdings 1, hit sales of £50.31m, up from £41.7m, for the year to 28 November, after increasing its number of branches in the UK by 10 to 54 [...]
Man U posts record profit ahead of IPO September 1, 2011 Manchester United yesterday moved one step closer to its bumper $1bn (£618m) Singapore IPO after unveiling record profits and revenues. It swung to a pre-tax gain of £29.7m, compared with a loss of £79.2m last year. Its total revenue also soared 16 per cent to £331.4m – the first time it has surpassed the £300m [...]
Charter cheers as Melrose sweetens offer to £1.44bn September 1, 2011 CHARTER International moved a step closer to selling out to Melrose yesterday as it agreed to open its books to the investment group in response to a sweetened offer. Melrose raised its cash and share offer for Charter for a third time to 850p, valuing the business at £1.44bn, just days after Charter revealed it [...]
UK HOUSE PRICES IN SHARP SLIDE September 1, 2011 HOUSE prices in August fell at their sharpest rate since October 2010. The decline was the first since April, according to figures released yesterday by the Nationwide building society. The country-wide 0.6 per cent drop – a fall of £2,817, taking the average price to £165,914 – makes houses 0.4 per cent cheaper than last [...]
