Ball wants bumper ITV pay packet September 20, 2009 Former BSkyB chief Tony Ball is locked in talks with ITV over the remuneration package he has been offered to succeed Michael Grade as chief executive at the broadcaster. Ball is understood to be demanding a pay deal worth up to £30m, including share options back-dated to when he was first touted as a candidate [...]
Julius Baer spurns ING unit September 20, 2009 Julius Baer has looked at the private banking assets Dutch bank ING is putting up for sale but is not interested for the moment, the Swiss bank’s chief executive said yesterday. Boris Collardi told an Italian newspaper that the bank was not close to a deal for the units, but said his firm would remain [...]
Pepsi’s Michael White retires September 20, 2009 Veteran Pepsi executive Michael White is retiring from the company by the end of the year. The 57-year-old vice chairman, board director and head of international businesses, was described by chairman and chief executive Indra Nooyi as her “closest partner” in running the snack and beverage giant. White has played a major role in key [...]
CLEGG’S HOME TAX September 20, 2009 Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has unveiled plans to hit million-pound home owners with a tax system overhaul. He said yesterday the rich in society had benefited from rising property prices and dodging taxes. He wants to tax those in high-cost homes and put the money towards tax cuts for low and middle income homes.
Songbird wins founder stake September 20, 2009 Canary Wharf founder Paul Reichmann has dumped his stake in Canary Wharf, marking the end of his 22-year chaotic involvement with the Docklands site. Songbird Estates on Friday said that it had upped its shareholding from 60.8 per cent to 69.3 per cent. Reichmann originally owned the stake, but Songbird purchased it from Commerzbank after [...]
Kraft boss to jet into London to begin the charm offensive September 20, 2009 Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft’s determined chief executive, is set to jet in to London this week in a bid to convince institutional shareholders to support the group’s proposed takeover of British confectionery firm Cadbury. Rosenfeld, ranked as the sixth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine for the past two years, will hold a [...]
Public sector spending cut to hit industry September 20, 2009 THE PUBLIC sector will be the first target for government spending cuts, but the private sector will be hit by knock-on effects, the CEBR will warn in a key report published today. Public spending cuts are a certainty, the business body’s chief executive Douglas McWilliams will say, whatever the results of an election. “Our estimate [...]
October earnings season crucial for market rally September 20, 2009 SO THE FTSE 100 is on course for its best quarterly performance since inception back in 1984. From June it has rallied nearly 22 per cent with some of the strongest and perhaps most surprising gains coming in the last couple of weeks. Surprising because we entered September with warnings ringing in our ears that [...]
Rolls-Royce in fight for F-136 US engine deal September 20, 2009 ROLLS-ROYCE, the aerospace company, is lobbying in the US to stop funding from being pulled on its major F-136 engine deal. The contract for the engines, which are for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, could be lost because of defence spending cuts laid out by President Obama earlier this year. Rolls-Royce has been developing [...]
Tiffany upbeat despite downturn September 20, 2009 Luxury jewellery chain Tiffany remains upbeat about trading prospects during the crucial Christmas holiday period but said its flagship New York store was still not in positive territory. “We are reasonably optimistic about the holiday season,” the firm’s president James Quinn said at an economic forum in Dublin. Trading remains difficult for the firm as [...]
