Stalemate for mining giants Xstrata and Anglo American June 25, 2009 A TIE-UP between Xtrata and Anglo American “remains unattractive for Anglo shareholders,” sources familiar with the talks said yesterday, a day after Xstrata published details of the merger in a bid to convince shareholders of the merits of the deal. “The Anglo board has firmly rebuffed Xstrata’s proposal,” one industry expert added. Xstrata upped the [...]
HAPPY RETURN FOR BIRTHDAYS June 25, 2009 CLINTON Cards, the greeting card chain, has bought up 196 Birthdays stores a month after it put the business into administration. Under the terms of the deal, which will save around 1,450 jobs, Clintons will discharge £3.25m of the debt owed to it by Birthdays. It will pay a further £0.25m in cash to administrator [...]
Smashin’ fashion June 25, 2009 FROM the dashing chaps in clean-cut whites back in the Twenties to the short skirts (plus frilly knickers) of the ladies’ game in the Seventies, tennis – and Wimbledon in particular – has always been a source of sporting fashion statements. It went through a bit of a lull when the most noteworthy look was [...]
Record start at StanChart June 25, 2009 STANDARD Chartered has enjoyed record income and pre-tax operating profit so far this year, the bank said yesterday in a trading update, as it announced it had cut 2,500 jobs. The bank, which focuses on emerging markets, said income growth had been boosted by a strong performance in wholesale banking, although income in consumer banking [...]
Steelmaker Corus to cut 2,000 British jobs as demand nosedives June 25, 2009 Europe’s second largest steelmaker Corus said yesterday it was planning to cut a further 1,922 jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, alongside axing another 123 staff in the Netherlands. Of the jobs to be cut in Britain, some 800 will go from Corus’ engineering steel sites in the northern English towns of Rotherham and Stocksbridge, while [...]
Speed Ticket looks ideal for the Plate June 25, 2009 THE NORTHUMBERLAND Plate is traditionally one of the most open and competitive handicaps of the season and tomorrow’s renewal certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front. There are six runners currently vying for favouritism and at least 12 runners priced between 8/1 and 14/1. It will therefore be no surprise that only two favourites have obliged [...]
THE INSIDER June 25, 2009 COULD tomorrow be the day? It’s almost two years since WINKER WATSON won the 2007 July Stakes, but since then, he hasn’t troubled the judge once. However, the combination of a drop in trip, a new partner in Adrian McCarthy and most importantly, the added assistance of blinkers, means that I am prepared to give [...]
Why Murdoch’s MySpace is going back to its roots June 25, 2009 WHEN Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace for $580m (£319m) back in 2005, most people thought he had gone crazy. A few years later when Microsoft snapped up a 1.6 per cent stake in rival Facebook, giving it a notional value of $15bn, all was forgotten; Murdoch had been right all along, picking up a mass market [...]
Lions have a mountain to climb to top kicking kings in Second Test June 25, 2009 SOUTH AFRICA vs. BRITISH LIONS SECOND TEST – TOMORROW, 2PM – SKY SPORTS 1 THE CURRENT incarnation of the Lions squad may be the first to have gone unbeaten against provincial opposition on a tour since 1989, but that does not really tell the full story of a month of mixed success in South Africa. [...]
Svanberg of Ericsson will be BP’s chair June 25, 2009 BP named Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg as its new chairman yesterday, in a surprise appointment which ended the British oil major’s lengthy search for a successor to Peter Sutherland. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said the firm would benefit from Swedish Svanberg’s experience in emerging markets and in dealing with governments. Svanberg, who will [...]
