Sixth signing for West Ham January 30, 2014 WEST Ham manager Sam Allardyce has completed his sixth signing of the January transfer window after midfielder Abdul Razak signed a short-term contract yesterday. The Ivory Coast international made five Premier League appearances for Manchester City before joining Anzhi Makhachkala last summer. Razak made his last appearance for the cash-strapped Russian club in a 4-1 [...]
Amur Minerals set to benefit from new Russian tax breaks January 29, 2014 AMUR Minerals, the Russian nickel and copper explorer, yesterday said that newly implemented tax breaks would boost its revenues by $100m (£60.4m). The Russian government reduced the mineral resources extraction tax and the profits tax from the start of January, which Aim-listed Amur Minerals said has benefitted their Kun-Manie mine in the south of Russia. [...]
The grave crises facing Putin’s Russia lay bare its fundamental weaknesses January 28, 2014 CHAOS in Kiev must feel uncomfortably close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian parliament yesterday annulled laws that sought to clear the streets of protesters against Ukraine’s increasingly authoritarian pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine’s prime minister and government have quit, and the country stands perilously on the edge of deeper conflict – prompted initially [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 24 January 2014 January 23, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES China is top gold consumer for 2013 China has overtaken India as the world’s largest gold consumer thanks to soaring purchases of jewellery, minted Panda coins and small gold bars. According to the Thomson Reuters GFMS gold survey, Chinese demand reached 1,189.8 tonnes last year, a 32 per cent year-on-year jump and a [...]
Severstal sales up four per cent January 23, 2014 Russian steel miner Severstal yesterday celebrated “healthier market conditions” as it announced a four per cent annual rise in consolidated sales of steel to 15.1m products in its operational results for last year. The Moscow-listed company, whose global depository receipts – known as GDRs – are traded on the London Stock Exchange, said the “overall [...]
2 more gold miners slash production – What will 2014 bring for them? January 23, 2014 Last year gold prices tumbled 28 per cent – the worst fall in thirty years – and the slump in the price of the yellow metal is hitting this year’s output. Production costs are flooring and, in response, miners around the world have slashed costs, delayed new work and hedged. Today, two Russian gold miners – [...]
Why Madeira deserves to be saved from obscurity January 21, 2014 Bottle.opener@cityam.com Call it a busman’s holiday but I have just had a sunny week in Madeira, sampling the delights of… Madeira. I was lucky enough to meet Chris Blandy, the seventh generation of the Blandy family to run the Madeira Wine Company (MWC), the mainstay of the island’s remaining wine industry. Madeira is the most [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 16 January 2014 January 15, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Payday lenders to create database After repeatedly saying that it was impossible to create a database for payday loans the UK’s largest payday lenders are clubbing together to set one up. Wonga, Quick Quid, Mr Lender and ThinkFinance have all signed up to provide information to a real time credit-reporting system run by [...]
Why Poland’s recovery from communism has lessons for Britain now January 15, 2014 POLAND was the only EU country to avoid a recession during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Polish GDP is now 36 per cent higher than it was in 2005. To put this in context, the comparable figures for the UK and Germany are 5 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. By any standard, the [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 15 January 2014 January 14, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Cameron shelves migration report David Cameron shelved a government report on EU migration, after Theresa May, home secretary, failed to provide evidence to support her case for imposing tighter curbs on immigrants. May, whose department was responsible for drafting the report, said last month there was “abuse of free movement” and that some [...]