Baugur tycoon faces $2bn lawsuit from Glitnir team May 12, 2010 JÓN Ásgeir Jóhannesson, the Icelandic retail tycoon who once held stakes in House of Fraser and Hamleys, has been served with a $2bn (£1.3bn) lawsuit by the liquidators of failed bank Glitnir. Jóhannesson, who owned swathes of the UK high street through his now-collapsed firm Baugur, is accused of conspiring with Glitnir’s chief executive and chairman [...]
Basel bank trading rules are delayed May 12, 2010 THE European Union and the United States said they will work on setting a common date in 2011 for tougher new bank trading book rules, signalling the first scheduling slippage in a global drive to make the financial system less risky. “Both sides agree that within their respective legal systems and in coordination with the [...]
Disaster prone first quarter pushes premiums up 19pc for insurer Beazley May 12, 2010 LLOYDS of London insurer Beazley said premiums rose 19 per cent in an action-packed first quarter. Premiums hit $438.2m (£295.5m) in the three months to March. The firm was hit by a series of disasters. It said it will pay out between $55m and $75m for losses incurred in the Chilean earthquake, with market costs [...]
Prudential closes in on FSA approval for cash call May 12, 2010 PRUDENTIAL is close to satisfying the City watchdog on plans to buy Asian insurer AIA for $35.5bn (£24bn), and is understood to be waiting on clearance from the UK Listing Authority. Prudential’s move to raise $21bn to part-finance its purchase of AIA hit a snag last week when the Financial Services Authority (FSA) blocked the [...]
City jobs fall on election uncertainty May 12, 2010 CITY vacancies dipped last month in the run up to the general election, according to recent data by Morgan McKinley, as the number of candidates increased by over 10,000. The number of newly available jobs in the financial services sector fell by 12 per cent during the month of April to 5,569 marking a u-turn [...]
Avoid the Greek plague May 12, 2010 COMPASS is the perfect choice for those fearful of contagion from the Greek crisis. Its Rest of the World Division saw EBIT increase 45 per cent to £87m, while the UK and Ireland, which saw revenues drop six per cent, account for just 12 per cent of total revenue. With just a seven per cent [...]
Contract wins give Compass fuel for growth May 12, 2010 COMPASS, the world’s biggest caterer, yesterday said a succession of new contract wins and an improvement in operating margin were behind a 14 per cent increase in first-half pre-tax profit. The group, which counts Chelsea Football Club, London’s O2 arena, the Bank of England and the US Senate among its clients, said it had delivered [...]
First Group margins hit by big fuel hikes May 12, 2010 TRANSPORT giant First Group warned yesterday its margins had been hit by soaring fuel prices and cut backs in public spending. It led to a slump of 19 per cent in full-year profit – down from £326m in 2009 to just £264m. The cost of petrol alone hit the Aberdeen-based company for more than £90m, [...]
IBM to double profit by 2015 May 12, 2010 IBM said it expects its profit to roughly double to more than $20 a share by 2015, helped by growth in emerging markets as well as the company’s push into high-margin technology services and software businesses. IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano told an annual investor briefing yesterday that the company expects earnings per share (EPS) [...]
Tullow Oil poised to snap up Heritage Oil assets May 12, 2010 TULLOW Oil is poised to acquire a $10bn (£6.74bn) development project in Uganda as the exploration company awaits approval from the authorities. The group said it expected Ugandan approval to buy assets from Heritage Oil in the next few weeks, allowing it to develop in east Africa. Once the deal with Heritage has closed, Tullow, [...]
