Cobham jettisons pension costs to Goldman arm Rothesay Life August 15, 2013 DEFENCE contractor Cobham yesterday offloaded £280m worth of staff pension costs to Goldman Sachs’ insurance business Rothesay Life. Cobham’s pension plan, which has a £49m blackhole, will swap UK government bonds and cash for an insurance policy from Rothesay to cover the risk of rising pension costs. The deal means 43 per cent of the [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 15 August 2013 August 14, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Court stops €3.2bn German cable deal The €3.2bn purchase of Kabel Baden-Württemberg by Liberty Global has been blocked by a German court, casting doubt on the latest attempts to consolidate the country’s cable industry. Liberty agreed to buy Germany’s third-largest cable operator for €3.2bn in March 2011. John Deere boosted by farming John [...]
A tropical triathlon paradise August 11, 2013 Tempted to give it a tri? Laura Williams discovers you could do a whole lot worse than St Lucia I USUALLY associate triathlons with unflattering wetsuits and cold, murky water, so it was welcome news that the Caribbean island of St Lucia will be hosting its first ever triathlon in November. Forget shivering changeovers – [...]
All smiles on the Teardrop isle August 4, 2013 British Airways’ new Colombo route will help open Sri Lanka up to a new generation of tourists, says Lisa Young EARLIER this year British Airways’ only Sri Lankan Boeing 777 pilot landed one of the company’s jets in his home country for the first time in 15 years. Touching down in Colombo, the capital of [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 26 July 2013 July 25, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Berkshire Hathaway derided for deal Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has been branded “foolish” by an insurance executive for blindly following underwriting decisions taken by Lloyd’s of London rivals. An unusual deal that Berkshire has struck with the insurance broker Aon is likely to “end in tears”, warned Richard Brindle, founder and chief executive [...]
Rolex wins title of consumer superbrand for a second year February 24, 2013 LUXURY watch-maker Rolex has come top of an annual chart of consumer “superbrands” for the second year running, leaving Apple and Microsoft trailing in second and third place, a poll published today shows. The iPad and iPhone-maker jumped 16 places to clinch second place, missing out on the top spot to Rolex. Over 2,900 British [...]
Paradise found at Canyon Ranch February 24, 2013 Newsreader Emma Crosby finds Canyon Ranch is the perfect antidote to the punishing daily newsbeat IT’S 7AM and the thermometer is already pushing 80 degrees centigrade. I’m cycling in what must be one of the most stark but beautiful places on Earth, the Sonora desert in the foothills of the Rincon Mountains in Arizona. My [...]
IAG’s Iberia endures first day of strike action at its Madrid hub February 18, 2013 STRIKING union workers clashed with police at Madrid’s Barajas airport yesterday on the first day of a week-long strike over more than 3,800 pending job cuts at British Airway’s sister airline Iberia, part of London-listed IAG. More than 80 Iberia f lights were cancelled as workers at the carrier began a series of five-day walkouts [...]
FTSE funds help raise £1bn for infrastructure February 18, 2013 A HOST of FTSE 100 retirement funds yesterday revealed they had raised £1bn to plough into the UK’s creak- ing infrastructure as inf luential investor Edmund Truell called on government to do more to boost building investment. Pension schemes run by BAE Systems, BT, Lloyds TSB and British Airways are among ten schemes launching a [...]
US airlines clinch $11bn mega-merger February 13, 2013 THE WORLD’S biggest airline will be unveiled this morning after the boards of American Airlines and US Airways voted late last night to merge the two businesses in an $11bn (£7bn) deal. The combined company will have 1,500 aircraft, $39bn (£25bn) in annual revenues and employ more than 100,000 people. US Airways chief executive Doug [...]