Government may miss deficit target as borrowing rockets November 21, 2012 PUBLIC SECTOR net borrowing soared between October 2011 and the same month this year, official data revealed yesterday, prompting some analysts to predict that the government would miss its borrowing targets for the year as a whole. The public sector borrowed £8.6bn in October, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up [...]
EU budget talks loom as Greek deal delayed November 21, 2012 DAVID Cameron yesterday pledged to veto any new European Union budget that would cut Britain’s annual rebate ahead of today’s EU summit aimed at agreeing a seven-year budget for the bloc from 2014. The Prime Minister’s promise came as it emerged that even if the overall budget is cut, the UK could still pay more [...]
Bank says green regulations are driving up energy prices November 21, 2012 ENVIRONMENTAL regulations increased energy prices, thereby driving up the October inflation figure, the Bank of England’s minutes revealed yesterday, as Bank rate-setters voted 8-1 against more quantitative easing (QE). “The utility suppliers, as well as Ofgem, pointed to increases in network and distribution charges and the costs of complying with environmental legislation as a cause [...]
Osborne rejects calls for banks to be broken up November 21, 2012 BIG banks should not be broken up, as it would damage British society, chancellor George Osborne told an influential parliamentary commission yesterday. He also argued that he was right to adjust Vickers’ recommendations to exempt small banks from some regulations in an effort to stop the rules hurting competition in the sector. Osborne criticised the [...]
Standard Life cuts 139 jobs in restructuring November 21, 2012 STANDARD Life yesterday announced it was cutting 139 jobs as the company moves away from selling life insurance as part of a restructuring plan. The majority of the cuts will hit the firm’s Edinburgh office in its IT, marketing and investment divisions, Standard Life said. It blamed the move on forthcoming regulatory changes such as [...]
Topshop tycoon says retail must raise its game November 21, 2012 ARCADIA yesterday posted a 25 per cent surge in profits as its billionaire owner Sir Philip Green told retailers to stop moaning about the economic downturn and get on with it. “We’ve got to trade. I can’t keep listening to all these people making it up as they go along,” Green said yesterday at his [...]
Adoboli’s ex-trader colleague sets up new betting website November 21, 2012 A FORMER colleague of jailed rogue trader Kweku Adoboli, who worked on the same desk as the convicted trader when Adoboli racked up unauthorised losses of $2.3bn (£1.4bn), is to launch a new business – an online betting service. John Hughes, 30, was one of four traders working on the bank’s Exchange Traded Funds desk [...]
Twinkie maker Hostess Brands allowed to shut November 21, 2012 HOSTESS Brands last night won permission from a US bankruptcy judge to begin shutting down, and expressed optimism it will find new homes for many of its US brands, which include Twinkies, Drake’s cakes and Wonder Bread. US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York authorised current management, led by restructuring specialist Gregory Rayburn, to [...]
New media star is born as DMGT sells Northcliffe November 21, 2012 DAILY MAIL & General Trust (DMGT) yesterday sold off its regional newspaper arm to a consortium led by the former chief executive of the Mirror Group, David Montgomery, in a deal that forms a new British media firm. The firm, called Local World, will consist of Northcliffe’s more than 80 papers, with 36 titles from [...]
Amazon tops web endings complaints list November 21, 2012 INTERNET retailer Amazon has received more complaints than any other party over applications for a new range of web address endings. The US company has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for dozens of web suffixes, such as .app and .book. But as a list of complaints from a 50-strong [...]
