PTT beats Shell offer for Cove in bidding war May 23, 2012 THAI energy giant PTT yesterday trumped Shell’s offer for Cove Energy with a £1.22bn bid. The board of Cove recommended the new offer – equivalent to 240p per share – leaving Shell to decide on whether to try to outgun PTT. Cove has an 8.5 per cent stake in massive gas finds offshore northern Mozambique and [...]
PTT trumps Shell’s bid for Cove May 23, 2012 Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production has trumped Royal Dutch Shell’s bid for Mozambique-focused explorer Cove Energy by offering £1.22bn ($1.9bn). The move shows the growing international interest in East African gas finds. Cove management said just hours ahead of a deadline for investors to accept Shell’s bid, it now backed PTT’s 240 pence per share [...]
Britain must embrace 30pc tax revolution to boost growth May 21, 2012 IT is time for Britain to make a vital choice. Our economy is stagnant, with unemployment at horrendous levels, crippled by excessive public spending and a punitive tax system. There are two options. We can either tweak the status quo – try to keep a lid on spending, reform bits of the public sector and [...]
Britain must embrace 30pc tax revolution to boost growth May 20, 2012 IT is time for Britain to make a vital choice. Our economy is stagnant, with unemployment at horrendous levels, crippled by excessive public spending and a punitive tax system. There are two options. We can either tweak the status quo – try to keep a lid on spending, reform bits of the public sector and [...]
Tax reform can drive recovery, say think tanks May 20, 2012 CUTTING and simplifying taxes would significantly boost the UK economy, according to a report released this morning that urges the government to adopt a comprehensive plan for growth. Taxes should be reduced to no more than one third of national income by the end of the decade, according to the 2020 Tax Commission, a group [...]
At last – this Tax Commission has a practical way to fix the UK system May 20, 2012 THE 2020 Tax Commission, and its final report out today, isn’t the first call for substantial reforms to create a more efficient tax system. We found 53 earlier reviews. But taxes are still dysfunctional, and the last substantial change for the better was Nigel Lawson’s 1988 Budget and its sharp cuts in marginal tax rates. [...]
It’s austerity all right – but not of the kind we actually need May 14, 2012 IT has long been a theme of this column that the government and its critics alike have exaggerated the extent of the government’s belt-tightening. The coalition is doing this to try and reassure the bond markets while seeking to minimise the hit to the public sector; the opposition because it wants to blame the recession [...]
Here’s the real Plan B for Britain: We need a competition revolution May 14, 2012 NO ONE can dispute that the UK economy needs more growth. It seems that the coalition’s essential austerity measures are not enough. But despite its cheerleaders, the usual Plan B, based on debt-financed infrastructure spending, won’t make any difference to growth – while denting confidence. One such plan suggested £30bn in spending. Over three years, [...]
Mass lay-offs push HSBC cost savings to $2bn May 8, 2012 HSBC beat expectations after cracking down on its cost base in the first quarter of this year, laying off thousands to bring its overall job cuts to 14,000 while keeping its revenues steady. Excluding the effect of an accounting loss on its debt, the bank’s underlying pre-tax profits rose from $5.5bn in early 2011 to [...]
Exillon gets boost as fuel output increases May 8, 2012 OIL explorer Exillon yesterday reported a 55 per cent jump in production for the three months to the end of April alongside above-average selling prices for its fuel. Production at the FTSE 250-listed firm averaged 11,448 barrels per day compared with 7,386 bpd in the equivalent period last year. In April, Exillon hit an all-time [...]