CentreForum says equity could fill small business funding gap February 14, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT must slash financial taxes and cut red tape to allow small firms to fill their funding gaps by going public, a think tank said yesterday. Ending the tax and regulatory bias toward debt finance would be a massive step toward narrowing the £59bn funding gap faced by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), [...]
ING profits dip on tough year of restructuring February 13, 2013 DUTCH finance group ING yesterday announced it is cutting another 2,400 jobs as it unveiled a disappointing fourth-quarter profit figure. That brings current headcount cuts to 7,400 which the bank hopes will save €1bn (£865m) a year by 2015. The group made €1.434bn in the final three months of the year, up 21 per cent [...]
Santander sees UK growth but bad Spanish loans dent profits January 31, 2013 BANKING giant Santander claimed it has now moved beyond the Spanish housing crash, setting it up for solid growth in the coming years. Profits plunged 59 per cent to €2.205bn (£1.9bn) for 2012, in large part due to bad loan provisions of €6.14bn. But the bank’s UK arm reported gains, seeing post-tax profits rise four [...]
US growth falls off a cliff again January 30, 2013 THE US economy shrank unexpectedly in the final three months of 2012, official figures showed yesterday, taking markets and analysts by surprise. Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve responded by holding interest rates at record lows and continuing to print $85bn (£53.8bn) a month to buy government bonds and mortgage backed securities. Stocks dipped on [...]
There are pitfalls to avoid when filing your tax return January 20, 2013 THE online tax return deadline – the paper return deadline has long since past – is at the end of this month (31 January). The process is a dreaded one, but it is important to get it right. Recently the number of people who are self-employed has been on the rise – but they’re not [...]
Tying the knot can help you maximise your allowances January 20, 2013 WHEN it comes to tax, we don’t often have a lot to cheer about. That is unless you have tied the knot, since married couples and civil partners have some juicy advantages. Planning in advance, and seeking expert advice, can prove an efficient way of maximising your joint tax allowances. INVESTMENT INCOME The income tax [...]
HMV’s demise shows why even giant firms have feet of clay January 14, 2013 SO that’s it, then: HMV has finally gone into administration, the latest, most tragic victim of the revolution that is sweeping away erstwhile giants. This comes just days after Jessops, the camera firm, was liquidated, and after the demise of Comet, the electrical retailer. So who’s responsible? Quite simply, all of us. Consumers are all-powerful, [...]
FTSE mettle is tested by slump in commodities January 7, 2013 AS THE markets settled into the first full week of trading of the year, the FTSE had its 2013 bull run checked, dropping 17 points yesterday. The commodity and miner-heavy benchmark index had been pushed to multi-year highs by the effects of a global risk-off sentiment, with the FTSE breaking the psychologically significant 6,000 level [...]
Vodafone faced with $2.5bn tax demand from Indian authorities January 7, 2013 VODAFONE’S tax dispute with the Indian government has escalated, with the country’s authorities repeating calls for the telecoms giant to pay $2.5bn (£1.6bn) India claims it is owed. The company said this weekend that Indian tax authorities had sent a reminder to Vodafone, demanding it pay the sum, relating to 2007’s purchase of Hutchison Whampoa’s [...]
Worries over fiscal cliff give way to concerns about latest US earnings January 7, 2013 INVESTORS’ fiscal cliff worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way this week. Financial results, starting tomorrow with aluminum company Alcoa, are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter’s lacklustre results. As a warning sign, analyst current estimates are down sharply from what [...]