Watchdog hits ITV hopes September 15, 2009 ITV was yesterday dealt a blow by the Competition Commission, after it said it would retain tight rules on advertising slot prices, ignoring the broadcaster’s pleas to scrap a complex regime on how much it charges advertisers. The ruling is a setback for ITV, which was formed by the merger of Granada and ITV in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 15, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES STANFORD CASE PROMPTS LEGAL CROSS-BORDER CONUNDRUMSThe case against Sir Allen Stanford, the financier accused of operating a $7bn Ponzi scheme, has provoked thorny questions of cross-border jurisdiction and international co-operation. In the latest twist to a complex case, the Montreal Superior Court has decided to bestow control of the Stanford company’s Canadian assets [...]
Adobe snaps up rival for 1.1bn September 15, 2009 Adobe Systems plans to pay $1.8bn (£1.1bn) for fast-growing business software maker Omniture as the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat looks to turn around declining sales. Adobe, which announced the deal as it reported lower quarterly sales and profit, has been struggling over the past year as the recession hurt technology spending and customers declined [...]
Bailout cash repayment unlikely September 15, 2009 A report from The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday cast doubts over hopes that the Treasury could recover money it spent on bailing out the banks. The UK’s bank guarantees are equivalent to over a third of GDP, more than any other country the IMF said. The IMFadded that the government should plan the disposal [...]
Lehman and BarCap fight over $8.2bn September 15, 2009 TRUSTEES overseeing the liquidation of Lehman Brothers have accused Barclays Capital of taking $8.2bn (£5bn) more than it should have when it bought the failed bank’s brokerage business a year ago. In court papers filed in a US bankruptcy court yesterday, Lehman Brothers Holdings claimed “critical changes” were made to the sale in between the [...]
Employers hit out at paternity plans September 15, 2009 EMPLOYERS’ groups the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) yesterday hit out at new plans for paternity rights, saying they will cause an administrative nightmare. The new measure, which will let mums who return to work after six months swap their unused six months over to their baby’s father, [...]
FTSE 250 pension shortfall jumps September 15, 2009 The pension shortfall at FTSE 250 companies had hit £12bn by the end of June, widening from £6bn a year before, a report said yesterday. The shortfall would have been even higher if yields on corporate bonds had not gone up throughout the credit crunch, the data from Pension Capital Strategies and Cazenove said. The [...]
Merkel lashes out at bankers September 15, 2009 German chancellor Angela Merkel has hit out at bankers as she steps up her election campaign. “We must make sure that the bankers of this world can never again get up to such things at our cost,” she said. She also promised to push for “clear rules” for the banking system at the G20 meeting [...]
Tullow and Anadarko in oil find September 15, 2009 UK-listed explorer Tullow Oil and US producer Anadarko Petroleum are set to announce they have established a new oil frontier stretching 1,100km along the African coast. The announcement, which could come today, is tied to discoveries at the Venus well Anadarko has been drilling off Sierra Leone. Venus-B lies at the western edge of a [...]
New Ocado FD indicates an IPO September 15, 2009 Online retailer Ocado is today set to announce a seasoned investment banker as its new finance director, suggesting that the group is heading for an initial public offering (IPO) soon. Andrew Bracey will replace Jason Gissing, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker who once said he’d rather shoot himself than be finance director at a listed company.
