No more US deals for RBS November 3, 2005 Sir Fred Goodwin has reiterated Royal Bank of Scotland’s stance on acquisitions in America, saying there are no plans for further deals following last year’s purchase of Charter One Financial. In an interview with news agency Bloomberg in New York, the Edinburgh bank’s chief executive said: “Organic growth is our number one priority (in America).” [...]
Boomtime for Credit Suisse November 3, 2005 Credit Suisse became the latest big bank to report soaring profits on the back of stronger financial markets. The Swiss bank reported a 42 per cent rise in third quarter profits to Sfr1.92bn (£846m) thanks to growth across its investment banking, private banking and asset management divisions. Oswald Grübel, chief executive, called the results “satisfactory”. [...]
Deutsche Telekom to axe 32,000 jobs November 3, 2005 Deutsche Telekom is axing 32,000 jobs in a radical restructuring as the German phone group ruled out making a counter-bid for O2, leaving Telefonica with a clear run at the British mobile phone firm. The job losses, which amount to 12 per cent of the workforce, include 7,000 employees being outsourced. The remaining 25,000 will [...]
Blunkett quits after new allegations November 3, 2005 David Blunkett resigned yesterday as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, following intense criticism of his ill-judged directorship of a DNA company as yet more allegations of financial impropriety emerged. In a statement Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said: “David Blunkett chose to resign because he had reached the conclusion that the position was [...]
Ryanair gambling on giving away its seats November 3, 2005 Fancy a flutter when you fly? Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary says the no-frills carrier is hoping to sign a partnership with a gaming company to introduce inflight gambling in a move which could mean passengers travel for free on Europe’s largest carrier. O’Leary said his bold plan to introduce an airborne Las Vegas could see [...]
BCCI £1bn case ended ‘month late’ November 3, 2005 Judge tells court of his surprise that the Deloitte action against BoE had been allowed to drag on for so long BCCI’S liquidator Deloitte was instructed by the collapsed bank’s creditor committee to immediately halt its action against the Bank of England on 26 September, but only managed to extricate itself from the £1bn litigation [...]
England batsmen fail again November 2, 2005 England will do well to avoid defeat in their opening tour match in Pakistan this morning. They will resume on the final day of three on 39 for six — a lead of just 84 runs. Although the tourists’ bowlers performed well on a misbehaving wicket, England suffered a second successive batting collapse. Andrew Strauss, [...]
Chelsea feel pain in Spain November 2, 2005 Chelsea suffered a first defeat in open play for six months, and damaged their Champions League chances in the process, as Real Betis ambushed Jose Mourinho’s side in Spain. It was a far cry from last month’s reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea went top of Group G with a 4-0 win. The Spanish [...]
Time for England to wake up in Pakistan November 2, 2005 England needed a wake-up call and the alarm bells were pretty loud in their first tour match in Pakistan. But despite a generally awful batting display, Marcus Trescothick’s fine century apart, there’s nothing to get too worried about. Two top-order failures in two days may not have been exactly what Michael Vaughan or coach Duncan [...]
Dial M to turn the wheels November 2, 2005 The new BMW looks fabulous, goes like a dream and costs £80k, but you need a computing degree to drive it. There are few cars that cook tarmac as well as those engineered in BMW’s “M” division, and the new £80,000 M6 is no exception. With a 500bhp V10 stuffed under the bonnet it’s been [...]
