Trio forced to pay £115m for biggest UK Ponzi fraud June 29, 2010 Britain’s High Court has ordered a trio of illegal deposit takers to pay about £115m to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the financial market regulator said yesterday. The three – John Anderson, Kenneth Peacock and Kautilya Nandan Pruthi – were found by the High Court in March to have accepted deposits without FSA authorisation, the [...]
Insurers face investigation of with-profit ops June 29, 2010 THE FSA is investigating two insurers over failings in their with-profits operations and has warned several others to make changes or face possible fines, it said yesterday. Some of the firms did not have adequate governance arrangements for their with-profits funds, while others were not doing enough to help customers understand their policies, the watchdog [...]
Carpetright warns over tough market June 29, 2010 CARPETRIGHT yesterday warned of tough market conditions despite recording a 64 per cent increase in profit. The flooring firm – traditionally seen as the first in and then the first out of recession – also said it would be offering discounts to public service workers in a bid to drum up business. Carpetright made an [...]
Economic gloom rocks US markets June 29, 2010 INVESTORS fled the US stock market yesterday and the S&P 500 tumbled to its lowest level in eight months in a sell-off triggered by a wave of increasing alarm over the global economic outlook. All but one stock in the S&P 500 ended lower as escalating doubts about the stability of Europe’s banks roiled markets [...]
ANALYST VIEWS:?DO CARPETRIGHT’S FIGURES SPELL A RECOVERY? June 29, 2010 KEITH BOWMAN | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The results provide few if any surprises. Profits have recovered in line with the economic rebound in the UK, while currency movements have provided the group’s overseas operations with a favourable tailwind. Furthermore, the group’s move to supply the insurance industry has contributed, albeit in a small fashion. PETER SMEDLEY [...]
Jacques Vert restores dividend as profit rises June 29, 2010 FASHION retailer Jacques Vert swung to a full-year pre-tax profit on higher margins and has resumed paying dividends, sending its shares up 33 per cent yesterday. The company, whose brands include Jacques Vert, Windsmoor, Planet and Precis Petite, said its retail sales for the first nine weeks of the new financial year rose 3.9 per [...]
IHG plans to double size in China market June 29, 2010 InterContinental Hotels, the world’s biggest hotelier, plans to more than double in size in China over the next five years, a move aimed at giving a major boost to its performance. The group, which operates Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands as well as InterContinental,, currently runs 131 hotels in China with a further 146 [...]
BBC will cut gold-plated pension plans June 29, 2010 THE BBC hopes to plug its yawning £2bn pension deficit by introducing sweeping changes to its retirement scheme. The state broadcaster says it could save an astonishing third of the cost of its annual pension payments by introducing measures such as axing its lucrative final salary pension scheme to new employees. The scheme will remain open [...]
Amazon declares war on Apple in e-reader market June 29, 2010 AMAZON has come out all guns blazing in its war against Apple’s all conquering iPad. The Kindle reader producer yesterday slashed the price for its hand-help ebook reader in the US from $259 (£172) to $189 and reductions are expected to reach the UK soon. Amazon is reeling from news that Apple’s new device, which [...]
Google makes compromise in China battle but could still lose its licence June 29, 2010 Internet giant Google said it plans to stop automatically redirecting users of its Google.cn site to its Hong Kong page, in a bid to secure renewal of the company’s Chinese operating licence. Chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog posting that Google would soon stop all redirecting to Google.com.hk. Google shut its Chinese [...]
