Businesses fear impact of hung parliament April 26, 2010 COMPANIES are worried about the impact of a hung parliament on their businesses, a study has revealed. The British Chambers of Commerce said that 65 per cent of a poll of 300 businesses were either “concerned” or “very concerned” about the prospect of a hung parliament. It found that most businesses feared a VAT hike [...]
Dividend payments down at UK firms April 26, 2010 BRITISH companies paid out less in dividends in the first quarter of the year than they did a year ago, new figures have revealed. A total of £13.6bn in dividends was paid during the first three months of 2010 – down 2.5 per cent compared with a year ago, according to Capita Registrars. Paul Taylor, [...]
Bank of Ireland confirms €3.4bn rights issue April 26, 2010 BANK of Ireland has unveiled plans to raise €3.4bn (£2.9bn) in order to help it recover from financial crisis The lender said it would launch a rights issue to try to shore up its position. The bank, the Republic of Ireland’s largest, said it hoped to raise the rest of the money by placing shares [...]
Carphone Warehouse raises profit forecast April 26, 2010 CARPHONE Warehouse has raised its full-year profit guidance for the third time in six months after a surge in demand for smartphones. The group said it expected strong growth for the rest of the year, particularly with its joint venture with Best Buy Mobile business in the US. It said it expected net profit for [...]
‘I’ll quit the Super Six’, vows beaten champ Froch April 26, 2010 DEFEATED Carl Froch has threatened to pull out of the Super Six tournament if his next fight is switched from Nottingham to Berlin. The 32-year-old claimed he was the victim of an unjust points verdict when losing his WBC super-middleweight title to Mikkel Kessler in his home country, Denmark, on Saturday night. With that, the [...]
Raina ensures Chennai are the Kings of the IPL April 26, 2010 THE Chennai Super Kings were crowned Indian Premier League champions last night after securing a 22-run victory in the final against the Mumbai Indians. Batsman Suresh Raina was the hero, hitting an unbeaten 57, while skipper MS Dhoni struck 27 as the Super Kings rallied to 168-5 from their 20 overs. Sachin Tendulkar led the [...]
Dan’s the man to break GB’s European duck April 26, 2010 WORLD silver medallist Daniel Keatings led team-mate Louis Smith to a superb one-two as Great Britain’s gymnasts enjoyed their finest hour in the European Championships at Birmingham. Keatings, 20, edged out Olympic bronze medallist Smith to take pommel horse gold with a score of 15.600 and become Britain’s first ever male European champion. “Louis had [...]
Clegg won’t prop up Gordon Brown April 25, 2010 GORDON BROWN’S chances of clinging to power received another blow yesterday, when he was warned the Liberal Democrats would refuse to prop him up if he finishes third in the popular vote. Some opinion polls suggest that Brown could come third in terms of votes but still win the most Commons seats, thanks to a [...]
US close to Wall Street reform bill April 25, 2010 WASHINGTON could pass a bill to crack down on Wall Street within days as the US securities watchdog’s case against Goldman Sachs adds impetus to the case for financial reform. Senators said Democrat and Republican agreement on a sweeping overhaul of the financial system was “very, very close”. After months of arguing vehemently against new [...]
UBS-US deal in bonus row April 25, 2010 THE Swiss economy minister has urged the country’s parliament not to conflate the need for UBS to pass private clients’ details to the US with the emotive question of bankers’ bonuses. Switzerland’s government meets on Wednesday to discuss the UBS deal, which would see 4,450 secret bank accounts handed over to American tax investigators. At [...]
