Berlusconi projected to seize Senate win February 25, 2013 Senate projections are in: Rai: Berlusconi 31 per cent, Bersani 29.5 per cent, Grillo 25.1 per cent, Monti 9.6 per cent Sky: Berlusconi 31 per cent, Bersani 29.7 per cent, Grillo 26 per cent, Monti 8.2 per cent The euro heads back down against the dollar: (Source: Yahoo! Finance) The [...]
Italian markets positive as voting closes February 25, 2013 Voting has closed in Italy, and Sky has released instant polls (not exit polls) that show the centre-left clearly in the lead as we predicted earlier: Bersani 34.5 per centBerlusconi 29 per centGrillo 19 per centMonti 9.5 per cent While the outcome is not yet certain and will largely depend on voting in Lombardy, markets [...]
Private equity firm Doughty mulls listing cable ties maker February 24, 2013 CABLE ties manufacturer HellermannTyton yesterday emerged as the latest company to be eyeing a float on the London Stock Exchange this year. Doughty Hanson, the private equity firm which acquired HellermannTyton in 2005 for around £300m, has hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to work on the listing, Sky News reported yesterday. The news comes [...]
Yarde miles better than England star Ashton, insists Exiles coach February 24, 2013 LONDON Irish boss Brian Smith insists wing Marland Yarde is better than Chris Ashton and should be playing for England after he lifted London Irish away from the Aviva Premiership drop with a 30-19 win over London Wasps. Fellow England wing hopeful Christian Wade crossed in the first half to cancel out a Shane Geraghty [...]
Competition body slams audit firms February 22, 2013 THE COMPETITION Commission will this morning find that the Big Four accountancy firms have too much control over the industry, and call for measures to encourage Britain’s largest companies to change auditor regularly to boost competition. In its long-awaited provisional report, the commission is expected to find no evidence of collusion, but will raise concerns [...]
London’s new issues market is thawing, but slowly February 22, 2013 Not so long ago I asked an investment banker in London how long he and his colleagues had deliberated before deciding to float a Salford-based materials technology company called Luxfer in New York. “About 30 seconds,” he said, quickly and pointedly. But then this was October last year and the new issues market in London [...]
Plans to force firms to switch auditors don’t go far enough February 21, 2013 BANKS, ratings agencies, now auditors: the firing line of financial sub-industries being dragged kicking and screaming into a post-crisis world continues to lengthen. As soon as tomorrow, the Competition Commission will pave the way for an overhaul of the Big Four accountants with a proposal to enforce mandatory rotation of their major audit clients at [...]
Sky splashes out with a deal for Disney movies and new channel February 21, 2013 BSKYB has inked a deal with Disney that will see the Hollywood giant’s films shown on a new channel as well as open up its catalogue of historic films to on-demand viewing. The deal will tighten Sky’s grip on exclusive film rights by giving it first access to new titles such as Iron Man 3 [...]
Ministers pour cold water on RBS share giveaway proposals February 17, 2013 CONSERVATIVE ministers yesterday dismissed claims that they are ready to privatise RBS by handing shares to the public before 2015, despite Lib Dem backing for the plan. Reports over the weekend suggested the coalition was willing to sell off the bank’s shares to the public at a discount or even give them away ahead of [...]
Lib Dems may vote with Labour on mansion tax February 17, 2013 VINCE Cable yesterday suggested the Lib Dems could join Labour and vote in favour of a so-called mansion tax on £2m homes, saying it was an “an idea whose time has come”. However the business secretary was forced to talk down internal party suggestions for a wealth tax on personal items such as jewellery, saying [...]