Ex-Labour MP joins calls to end top rate September 7, 2011 LABOUR’S ex-Treasury minister Kitty Ussher will today call on her party to propose alternative fiscal measures to replace the 50p top rate of income tax, such as cuts to tax-breaks on pensions for high-earners, or capital-gains tax on sales of primary residences. And yesterday a Labour party-supporting economist and two former Bank of England officials [...]
YO! Sushi tastes success despite big debt costs September 1, 2011 RESTAURANT chain YO! Sushi has increased sales by a fifth after opening more UK stores and increasing its income from foreign franchises. The firm’s parent company, Sushi Holdings 1, hit sales of £50.31m, up from £41.7m, for the year to 28 November, after increasing its number of branches in the UK by 10 to 54 [...]
Commuters drive profits at Go-Ahead September 1, 2011 GO-AHEAD, the rail and bus company, has posted better than expected profits, helped by a shift to public transport as high petrol prices keep drivers off the roads. The group, whose GoVia joint venture with France’s Keolis operates the South-Eastern, London Midland and Southern rail franchises, said pre-tax profits rose 11 per cent to £97.6m [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BREVAN HOWARD CAPITALISES ON TURMOIL Brevan Howard, the world’s largest macro hedge fund, has made close to $1.5bn over the past three weeks on the back of turmoil in the global markets. In a month in which equity markets worldwide have seen declines of more than 10 per cent, the gain comes as [...]
Sarkozy aims for €11bn in extra savings by 2012 August 24, 2011 Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he will tighten France’s belt to the tune of €11bn (£9bn) next year to ensure it stays on track with deficit targets. The budget savings announcement came after France was forced to scale back its economic growth forecasts for 2012 from 2.25 per cent to just 1.75 per cent. It has [...]
Success of Autonomy is all too rare August 22, 2011 AS success stories go, the tale of Autonomy has everything. Its chief executive, Dr Mike Lynch, began work on the mathematical formulas that underpin the firm’s software in the early 1990s, when he was completing a postdoctoral thesis at Cambridge University. In 1996, he founded Autonomy as a tiny startup, and spent the next four [...]
Facebook share sell-off values firm at $65bn August 15, 2011 INTERPUBLIC Group, the global advertising firm that owns agencies including McCann Erickson, has sold half of its stake in Facebook for $133m (£81m) to an unnamed buyer. Interpublic, which was an early investor in Facebook, is believed to have held a 0.4 per cent stake, which would value the social networking site at about $65bn. [...]
Italy sets out its reforms August 11, 2011 ITALY’S government said it was planning sweeping reforms to balance its budget and stimulate growth yesterday as it fights to convince markets it can manage its huge national debt. Finance minister Giulio Tremonti named changes such as raising Italy’s capital gains tax from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent, selling off state assets and [...]
Stepping into the property market of the new world order August 11, 2011 WITH debt and financial turmoil gripping the economies of Europe, North America and Japan, it’s not hard to look at the rise of India, China and Singapore and sense a coming shift in global power. Recent headlines have been staggering: last year, David Cameron led the largest British trade delegation to India in living memory, [...]
HSBC seals sale of card arm for £20bn August 10, 2011 HSBC clinched the sale of its US credit card business to lending and banking group Capital One for a better than expected $32.7bn (£20bn) yesterday. The deal hives off the capital-intensive credit card division of the bank and leaves HSBC with just its core private and premier banking businesses in the US, part of the [...]