Regulator toughens up on listing rules November 5, 2013 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has beefed up its listing rules to provide greater protection for minority shareholders. The regulator confirmed shareholders in premium listed companies are to be given additional voting rights and greater influence over decisions. David Lawton, the FCA’s director of markets, said: Active engagement by all shareholders is essential to make [...]
The end is near for Norway’s housing boom November 5, 2013 Norway's prolonged housing boom may be coming to an end according to Capital Economics. The London-based consultancy believes that a total collapse in house prices is unlikely, but the slowdown in the housing market suggests the economy may deteriorate more than had been expected. Annual Norwegian house price inflation fell from 8.4 per cent to [...]
Shake up at Imperial Tobacco as chairman steps down November 5, 2013 Imperial Tobacco Group has announced that non-executive chairman, Iain Napier, will retire on 5 February 2014. Mark Williamson currently the deputy chairman and senior independent director will be his replacement. Non-executive director, Michael Herlihy, said: Mark's extensive experience has been a great asset to the Group since he became a Non-Executive Director in 2007 and [...]
SAC Capital to plead guilty to insider trading and pay $1.8bn November 4, 2013 Wall Street giant SAC Capital is expected to plead guilty to insider trading later today, and to announce that it will pay a total of $1.8bn (£1.1bn), the largest settlement of insider-trading probe in history. A sum of just $1.2bn had been expected. SAC will pay a fine of $900m and forfeit a further $900m. [...]
Seven things you wouldn’t hear from any chief executive who isn’t Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary November 4, 2013 “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new and cuddly Ryanair press conference.” So began Michael O’Leary’s attempt to paint his airline as a consumer-friendly service as he revealed the firm’s disappointing first-half results. Here are some extracts from the notoriously outspoken boss’s press conference this morning: “Our website is inferior, it’s way behind the likes [...]
Blackberry shares crumble in pre-market as Fairfax deal collapses November 4, 2013 Shares in tech giant Blackberry are down nearly by nearly a fifth in pre-market trading as the smartphone maker has announced that an offer of purchase from a Fairfax-led consortium is off, along with the departure of its chief executive Thorsten Heins. Now Blackberry will raise around $1bn (£630m) from institutional investors and former Sybase [...]
Twitter to close books a day early after float sees strong demand November 4, 2013 After many considered the float undervalued, Twitter has hiked its range from $17 to $20 up to $23 to $25 a share. That brings up the company's value from $11bn (£6.9bn) to $17.4bn (£10.9bn). Now the company will close books a day early due to high demand, according to Reuters sources. At that previous range, [...]
Kellogg will cut seven per cent of staff by 2017 with “Project K” November 4, 2013 Cereal company Kellogg has announced plans to dramatically reduce staff numbers – cutting numbers by seven per cent by 2017. The four year program – dubbed "Project K" – is expected to generate a significant amount of savings. The company will take a charge of $1.2bn (£0.75bn) to $1.4bn (£0.88bn) in order to do reduce [...]
Eurozone growing at last but could be outstripped by a three-legged tortoise, says analyst November 4, 2013 The Eurozone may have returned to growth but at a painstakingly slow pace, which will make a full recovery a distant prospect, according to RBC Capital Markets. The improvement in the labour market has been revised away and the high value of the euro is causing problems for the area. The European Central Bank (ECB) [...]
Why EU plastic bag rules may have disgusting consequences November 4, 2013 Use of plastic bags in the European Union exceeded 10bn in 2010 – and it's easy to see why. The ubiquitous carrier bag is cheap and functional, but many are worried about the side effects of so much plastic waste. Several EU countries have already employed policies to curb their use. Now all other member [...]
