Rapid responses December 13, 2012 Bankers respond [Re: British Bankers’ Association mulls merger in hunt for cash, yesterday] The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has not been directed by its members to seek to merge with any other trade association. At its recent meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve the budget for 2013, which accommodates the expected loss of income [...]
London finishes the year with a last minute flotation flurry December 12, 2012 Weather permitting, Veysel Aral and his team will be at the offices of the London Stock Exchange on Monday morning to celebrate a coup. For Aral has become the latest of an elite batch of chief executives who have managed to float their companies on the London Exchange’s main market this year Aral runs Kcell, [...]
Renault sells off its remaining stake in Volvo in £1.2bn deal December 12, 2012 FRENCH carmaker Renault yesterday said it was selling its remaining 6.5 per cent stake in truckmaker Volvo as it seeks to cut debt and boost its financial stability. The sale of the block of 138.6m Series A shares is being made via an accelerated book building, Renault said. Goldman Sachs is the sole bookrunner for [...]
Heathrow’s November traffic up 3.1 per cent year-on-year December 11, 2012 PASSENGER traffic at London’s Heathrow airport rose 3.1 per cent on the same month last year, Heathrow, the British airport operator formerly known as BAA, said yesterday. Of the 5.4m passengers who passed through the London hub last month, passenger numbers to China rose 12.9 per cent, with Brazil and Russia also delivering good growth, [...]
Polymetal buys Olcha deposit December 11, 2012 Russian gold producer Polymetal yesterday acquired the Olcha gold-silver deposit licence, which covers 2.5 square kilometres in the Far East of Russia, from junior stock market listed Ovoca Gold in exchange for 775,000 ordinary shares in Polymetal. Chief executive Vitaly Nesis said yesterday that the acquisition of the deposit marks a “natural extension” of its [...]
Jaguar signs deal to build a Saudi plant December 11, 2012 JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has signed a preliminary deal to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, extending its expansion in fast-growing markets having already started work on a plant in China. The British luxury marque, owned by India’s Tata Motors, signed the deal to look at the possibility of making 50,000 Land Rovers a year [...]
Sberbank on track for growth December 11, 2012 Russia’s Sberbank expects that its 2012 net profit under local accounting standards will total at least 340bn roubles (£6.9bn), the bank’s chief executive officer German Gref told reporters yesterday. The state-controlled lender last month reported a 12 percent increase in RAS net profit for the first 11 months of the year to 332.3bn roubles. In [...]
Heathrow passenger traffic up 3.1 per cent year on year in November December 11, 2012 London airport Heathrow this morning posted a 3.1 per cent jump year on year in traffic figures in November, as 5.4m passengers passed through the airport over the month. Heathrow reported that its load factor – showing how full the average flight was – came in at 72.8 per cent. Passenger numbers to Europe were [...]
Business warns of threat to the capital from tax and caps December 10, 2012 TAX RATES, immigration caps and hand-wringing over airport capacity are causing London to suffer in a global race for competitiveness, according to the latest studies of financial centres around the world. A report from business group London First, seen by City A.M., shows that while the UK’s capital remains one of the world’s most attractive [...]
What the other papers say this Morning December 10, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Warning on cost of shares for rights George Osborne’s “shares for workers’ rights” initiative could end up costing Britain £1bn a year in lost revenues, the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned, at the same time as the government battles to clamp down on tax avoidance schemes. The long-term potential cost of the [...]