The million euro silver lining July 29, 2010 THE final moments of a sports match can be excruciating. Even more so if you placed a heavy bet on one of the teams to win. That was what happened to Conor Foley, an avid rugby fan, when he watched New Zealand lose in a shock defeat to France in the quarterfinals of the Rugby [...]
UBS manages £1bn profit in tough quarter July 27, 2010 SWISS bank UBS said it would resolve tax haven disclosures with US authorities by the autumn as it announced consensus-beating second quarter results and slowing outflows yesterday. The world’s second largest wealth manager is due to honour its agreements with the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission by October. UBS hopes [...]
Heritage must pay full taxes on Ugandan oil deal, says minister July 25, 2010 PETROLEUM explorer Heritage Oil must pay the full amount of tax on earnings from the sale of assets in Uganda before the government fully endorses the deal, the country’s energy minister said yesterday. The Ugandan government said on 6 July it had given Heritage conditional approval to sell its exploration assets in the country to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TARGETFOLLOW SEEKS MPS’ HELP The owner of a large property portfolio that includes the Centre Point tower in London has enlisted the help of his local MPs to stave off administration after loans of more than £200m provided by Lloyds expired on Thursday. Targetfollow, the Norwich-based property developer managed by Ardeshir Naghshineh, has [...]
CGT: the legal implications July 22, 2010 THE initial collective sigh of relief following the chancellor’s announcement of the limited rise in the capital gains tax rate to 28 per cent for higher rate earners has given way to the noise of tapping calculators and the scratching of heads as the number crunchers endeavour to work out exactly who the winners and [...]
Morgan Stanley continues down the road to recovery July 21, 2010 WALL Street lapped up a solid set of second-quarter results from Morgan Stanley yesterday, buoying market sentiment after a disappointing performance over the same period from some of the bank’s peers, notably Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley beat analyst expectations with post-tax profit of $1.4bn (£921m) for the three months to June, swinging back into the [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS July 21, 2010 RBS FREE SEMINAR ON EUROPE TONIGHT Europe has never been far from the headlines and the falls in European stock markets have garnered lots of interest from investors. RBS is holding another free seminar tonight where David Stevenson will be discussing why he feels that Europe and especially Euroland could be looking good value compared [...]
Firms say new tax watchdog needs teeth July 20, 2010 BUSINESSES yesterday gave a warm welcome to the launch of a new body charged with stripping the fat from Britain’s bloated tax code, but warned it would need teeth to take on the Treasury. The chancellor launched the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) yesterday morning, and said one of its first tasks would be to [...]
IG Group smashes profit forecasts July 20, 2010 FINANCIAL trading firm IG Group announced yesterday that pre-tax profits jumped by more than 25 per cent for the year ending 31 May, beating most analyst expectations. Shareholders will also get their slice of the pie after the company announced a 13.5p dividend, which brings the total dividend for the year to 18.5p, a 25.5 [...]
Sweden’s failed Tobin tax experiment July 18, 2010 BAD ideas have a habit of never really going away. There were renewed calls at the weekend for a Tobin tax on financial transactions, a deeply flawed concept which remains popular in influential circles. Supporters should acquaint themselves with an excellent study published in the mid-1990s by the Canadian government’s depository services programme, which remains [...]