Inside Track: Imperial’s Napier under pressure as shareholders rebel October 9, 2013 IT has been a poor week for the UK’s quoted tobacco companies. Even by the standards of a sector used to being the target of political hammerings, the suite of measures passed by MEPs on Tuesday was tough for investors to swallow: a ban on smaller packs, enlarged health warnings and new restrictions on products [...]
CMA painted into a corner October 9, 2013 CONSUMERS need a stronger voice, according to the government, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is being set up to fight their corner. But the new consumer champion’s own voice was lost yesterday as an unforeseen problem got in the way of chief exec Alex Chisholm’s big launch speech last night – redecorating. He was [...]
EDF chief blames green policy costs for driving up energy bills October 8, 2013 THE BOSS of EDF yesterday blamed government policies for raising gas and electricity bills, rather than energy companies reaping increasingly large profits. Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the big six energy supplier, told a conference in London that around half of the increase in bills is due to higher wholesale costs, a quarter is [...]
Our energy crisis, like America’s debt idiocy, is self-inflicted October 8, 2013 IT is easy to laugh at America’s political system, which is once again showing itself to be hopelessly defective as it trundles along towards a possible default. In a development which oozes geopolitical significance, China and Japan, America’s top creditors, yesterday made their displeasure known in no uncertain terms. It is exactly what those of [...]
Our energy crisis, like America’s debt idiocy, is self-inflicted October 7, 2013 IT is easy to laugh at America’s political system, which is once again showing itself to be hopelessly defective as it trundles along towards a possible default. In a development which oozes geopolitical significance, China and Japan, America’s top creditors, yesterday made their displeasure known in no uncertain terms. It is exactly what those of [...]
Energy innovation is stagnating and the implications for growth are stark October 3, 2013 EVERY day seems to bring better websites, cooler startups and niftier smartphones. But there’s one area where technological progress is barely crawling along. Unfortunately, it’s one race we cannot afford to lose. I’m talking, of course, about energy. To get an idea of the problem we face, consider two stories from last week: Ed Miliband’s [...]
Coeure calls for limited national control on bloc’s banking union September 30, 2013 EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) board member Benoit Coeure argued in favour of limiting Eurozone nations’ discretion over new bail-in rules during a speech yesterday. Coeure said: “The degree of discretion national resolution authorities will have in applying the bail-in rules… in my view should be as constrained as possible.” Some leaders have dragged their feet [...]
The US is busy reinventing its future – the rest of the world isn’t so lucky September 29, 2013 I'VE always been a John Steinbeck/ Bruce Springsteen sort of American. I share their common mantra, "Aren't things terrible here, but I wouldn't want to be anyplace else." Being clear-eyed about the US's failings, while remaining romantic about it at heart isn't easy. But America's extraordinary capacity to right its ship – to reinvent itself [...]
Current account swapping edges up on seven-day switch system September 26, 2013 THE FIRST 10 days of the new seven-day switching system saw 35,000 current account customers move to a new bank or building society, the Payments Council revealed yesterday. That is an increase of six per cent on the level of switching in an average 10-day period through 2012. New systems were introduced in an effort [...]
Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad September 25, 2013 THE 42 employees of Firem, an Italian heating systems maker, returned from their August holidays to find the plant where they worked had relocated to Poland. Firem is not the only recent Italian escape act. Italy’s entrepreneurs, facing the second-to-worst business climate in the developed word, on World Bank figures, are leaving. And union power [...]