BP hit with bumper bill in Texas December 20, 2009 Oil giant BP has been ordered by a US court to pay $100m (£62m), to 10 contractors who complained about being exposed to a toxic substance at BP’s Texas City refinery. Each received $10m. One hundred workers were hospitalised by fumes in 2007, but the oil firm denies responsibility. It is the same site where [...]
HUMAN LIE DETECTOR BOOSTED BY CITY COMPANIES ON THE WARPATH December 20, 2009 WE ALL know businesses are rather jumpier than usual given the difficult ride they’ve had over the course of the recession, but I hear some are taking truly unprecedented steps to counter risky office behaviour. Darren Stanton, who calls himself a “human lie detector”, tells me he has seen a surge in requests from corporates [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK December 20, 2009 THESE four diners evidently had something to celebrate when they popped for a £1,929.15 dinner at Beauberry House, the country house restaurant in leafy Dulwich Village, at the weekend. They started their three-course meal with oysters, crispy squid and trout, washed down with a bottle of Dom Perignon 1982 champagne, before moving on to wagyu [...]
CBI: Subdued 2010 and rate rises in spring December 20, 2009 A SUBDUED 2010 lies ahead for the UK economy and, despite a brighter outlook for the following year, the economy will not have reached pre-recession levels until the end of 2011, the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) will say today. Annual GDP growth for 2010 will be 1.2 per cent, compared with the 0.9 per [...]
WHAT IS YOUR FORECAST FOR THE BRITISH ECONOMY IN 2010? December 20, 2009 MELISSA KIDD | LOMBARD STREET RESEARCH Our central forecast for GDP growth in 2010 is 1.4 per cent. We expect quite a strong fourth quarter of 2009 as consumers bring forward spending ahead of the VAT increase. But we then see subdued growth through much of 2010 with interest rates hitting 1.5 per cent by [...]
Mining mergers set to continue into next year December 20, 2009 Consolidation among AIM-listed mining companies will continue next year, according to Ernst & Young (E&Y), following a rapid recovery in stock values in the sector during 2009. Mining stocks on the junior market nearly tripled in value this year, according to an index of shares monitored by E&Y. Its Mining Eye index gained 173 per [...]
HSBC Shanghai plan to boost expansion December 20, 2009 HSBC is poised to become one of the first foreign companies to list on the Shanghai stock exchange, returning to its Asian roots. The bank wants to raise its profile in China as it opens more branches and considers taking stakes in Chinese lenders. It first announced in May last year that it wanted to [...]
The timing of withdrawal of fiscal stimulus is crucial December 20, 2009 How will the markets look once central banks start withdrawing their massive stimulus packages? This is what everyone wants to know, especially after the US Federal Reserve last week indicated that they would start this exiting process early 2010. Lothar Mentel, chief investment officer of Octopus Investments says that we should not be too worried [...]
Call for probe into collapse of Flyglobespan December 20, 2009 SCOTTISH finance secretary John Swinney has called for an investigation into the failure of collapsed airline Flyglobespan. The Edinburgh-based business went into administration on Wednesday leaving thousands of passengers stranded and 550 staff facing redundancy a week before Christmas. Swinney said that a probe into the failure should look at the role of credit card [...]
THOMAS OWNERS HIT THE BUFFERS December 20, 2009 THOMAS the Tank Engine looks set for new owners, as debt-laden media group HIT Entertainment may be forced to sell its most profitable brand to lenders in order to avoid breaching its banking covenants next year. The group, which also owns Bob the Builder and Barney the Dinosaur, revealed debt of $470m (£291m) in July [...]
