Sainsbury wins shoppers over with coupons November 14, 2012 J SAINSBURY boss Justin King said the supermarket’s Nectar data and coupon-at-till scheme would give it the edge over rivals ahead of another competitive christmas, as it reported a rise in half-year profit. Britain’s third largest supermarket beat forecasts with a five per cent rise in first-half profit to £373m, driven by convenience store growth [...]
Glencore and Xstrata deal edges closer to approval November 14, 2012 THE £56bn mega-merger between Glencore and Xstrata is edging closer to reality, after shareholders look set to give it the go-ahead. Qatar Holding, Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, was last night reported to be on the verge of approving the bid from Glencore, although Qatar itself refused to comment. The reports came as investment bank Macquarie also [...]
Man United nets record income after growing sponsorship cash November 14, 2012 MANCHESTER United last night announced record revenues, allowing the football club to pay down some of the debt that has bedeviled it since 2005. The team play away at Norwich City this weekend but yesterday’s trading update was issued in the very different world of Wall Street, following the club’s August IPO on the New [...]
CEO blamed for MF Global November 14, 2012 BLAME for the collapse of derivatives broker MF Global lies with former chief executive Jon Corzine, according to a US congress investigation released today. It concludes poor management decisions were to blame for the October 2011 failure of the firm, which left $1.6bn (£1bn) of customer funds missing. MF Global collapsed after disclosing it had [...]
Facebook shares stage shock rally November 14, 2012 FACEBOOK shares closed up 12.6 per cent yesterday, stunning Wall Street, as hundreds of employees were able to sell their stock for the first time. The latest in a series of share “lockup periods” expired flooding the market with 800m shares owned by staff and early investors. But the $22.36 closing price was still well [...]
AG Barr agrees to £1.4bn tie-up with rival Britvic November 14, 2012 AG BARR, the Scottish Irn Bru-maker, and rival Britvic yesterday revealed the terms of an all-share merger that will create one of Europe’s largest soft drinks companies with more than £1.5bn of annual sales. The new company will be called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks and will be run by AG Barr’s chief executive Roger White, [...]
Banks and a brave industry boss square up to claims firms November 14, 2012 BRAVERY is not a quality conventionally attributed to the bosses of business lobbying groups but step forward, John Cridland. The CBI director-general’s decision to lob a grenade into the row over payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling is in danger of splitting his body’s membership. Cridland’s argument that there should be a time limit on compensation [...]
Barclays set to reveal 42 Libor names as legal row over care home’s derivative gets personal November 14, 2012 DOZENS of Barclays’ staff could be drawn into the Libor-fixing row, as their names are likely to be published as part of the legal battle with Guardian Care Homes (GCH). GCH claims it was mis-sold an interest rate swap product, and that by fiddling its Libor submission Barclays unfairly influenced the interest rate on which [...]
Maths graduates blamed for poor loan risk management November 14, 2012 MATHS graduates confused bank bosses with extremely technical and detailed risk analysis, leading to a misunderstanding of banks’ positions and contributing to the financial crisis, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards heard yesterday. “There was a feeling that we understood risk, but it was an illusion created by an influx of people with different skill [...]
Icap warns of toughest time in over 36 years November 14, 2012 ICAP boss Michael Spencer yesterday warned markets were facing their toughest period for 36 years after the interdealer broker issued a stark profit warning due to falling trading volumes. The company, which was relegated from the FTSE 100 in September after six years on the index, saw pre-tax profits slump by a quarter and revenues [...]
