Our tax code needs a total overhaul July 19, 2010 LET us hope the coalition is serious about tax simplification. Britain’s taxes are not only far too high; they are also extraordinarily complicated. I was recently talking to a very senior tax lawyer who admitted to me that no single person understands more than a small proportion of our tax code. His views were all [...]
Tube staff vote on strike July 19, 2010 LONDON UNDERGROUND (LU) staff will start voting today on whether to launch a strike which would hit millions of commuters. The dispute between trade union RMT and LU is over job security for ticketing workers who currently face up to 800 job cuts and the closure of 240 ticket offices, according to the union. “LU [...]
Investor warns on green energy July 19, 2010 Neil Woodford, head of investment at Invesco Perpetual, one of the energy industry’s largest shareholders, has threatened to stand in the way of new investments in British renewables unless the UK government ups the amount of returns available to investors and provides greater certainty over the future of its policy. Invesco, which owns more than [...]
Desmond close to Five deal July 19, 2010 Express and Star newspaper owner Richard Desmond has emerged as the preferred bidder to buy RTL Group’s UK channel Five. It is thought that the group has moved closer to securing a deal with Desmond, but nothing has been signed. RTL has been seeking a solution to Five’s monetary problems for over a year after [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 19, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FUND BEARS LEAD THE PACK IN VOLATILE MARKETS Bearish hedge fund managers are making their biggest gains since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Only a handful of hedge fund managers have made money in May and June, when many of the industry’s biggest names were caught out by a sharp rise in market [...]
Revenues at IBM and Texas fail to impress July 19, 2010 IBM’S second quarter revenue missed expectations yesterday despite a growth in its higher-margin services and software units, which bolstered profits. The US technology giant reported a two per cent rise in second quarter revenue to $23.7bn (£15.6bn). IBM’s shares fell three per cent after-hours to $125.60 after closing at $129.79 as analysts on average had [...]
Ocado shifts 80pc of shares as IPO hangs in the balance July 19, 2010 OCADO’S future was finely poised last night, with sources close to the firm’s planned £1bn flotation saying it has only shifted 80 per cent of the shares on offer. The firm maintained it is pleased with the progress and is confident it will sell the remainder of the shares but would not comment on the [...]
Property tycoons the Reuben brothers raise stake in Arena July 19, 2010 Billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben have raised their stake in Arena Leisure to a level just shy of the 30 per cent that would trigger a takeover bid for the British horsetrack operator. The operator of seven UK courses, including Doncaster, Royal Windsor and Wolverhampton, said in a regulatory filing yesterday that the [...]
Gove defends school plans July 19, 2010 MICHAEL Gove, education secretary, yesterday pressed ahead with plans to allow state schools to become academies next autumn, despite claims he was railroading the legislation through parliament. Gove said the plans, which will allow schools to be free from local authority control, would “inject dynamism” into a schools system that has been in “decline” under [...]
CABLE BASHES BANKS July 19, 2010 BANKS are ripping off their customers by not being upfront about the charges they levy on personal overdrafts, business secretary Vince Cable said in a TV documentary aired last night. Cable criticised “hidden” charges levied by lenders in the BBC Panorama programme which allegedly found interest charged on unauthorised overdrafts was as much as 167 [...]
