Businesses cheer tax relief scheme August 11, 2011 BUSINESS groups yesterday welcomed the government’s plans to support retailers affected by the UK riots, after a programme of tax relief and cash grants was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday. As part of the rescue package, riot-hit businesses will be given relief from business rates and allowed to delay tax payments. They will [...]
Eurozone may cripple global revival August 4, 2011 FOR weeks now, a global market rout had looked inevitable – so the chaos should hardly have come as a surprise when it finally began in earnest in the last couple of days. The fact that the US stepped back from the brink earlier this week provided some short-lived respite; but nobody believed America would [...]
Crisis shows risk can’t be abolished July 27, 2011 IT is going to be a hot summer – and I’m not even talking about the weather. After a brief and irrational lull after last week’s pseudo-deal in the Eurozone, the global sovereign debt crisis is accelerating again, with the row over extending America’s debt ceiling becoming ever more farcical. Gold hit close to $1,630, [...]
Economists lose faith in Greek rescue July 25, 2011 INVESTORS turned against Greece’s latest bailout package yesterday, with Moody’s one of many observers to conclude that despite a new €109bn (£96bn) public bailout and €50bn write-off in private debts, Athens is still insolvent. Greece’s debt is forecast to rise next year, despite the latest rescue, which brings the sovereign’s total official rescue funds to an [...]
Yell shouted down by its shareholders July 20, 2011 YELL Group tanked 13.5 per cent yesterday after seeing its profits and revenues for the first quarter slide. Weakness in its print division continues to hurt the Yellow Pages directories publisher, with revenue falling 11 per cent to £383.3m, and Ebitda down £20.2m to £109m. Print and other directory revenue fell 19 per cent, while [...]
US regulators sue RBS over mortgage securities July 19, 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a second lawsuit from US credit union regulators accusing it of misrepresenting mortgage backed securities that it sold. The latest lawsuit filed by the National Credit Union Administration against RBS Securities Inc seeks over $629m (£391m) in damages, NCUA said in a statement on Monday. The allegations stem from [...]
Mid-sized and large firms see a drop in insolvencies in last year July 18, 2011 MID-SIZED and large businesses have seen their fortunes turn around in the last year, with the number of insolvencies dropping notably. The failure rate of firms that employ 100 to 500 people more than halved last month, compared to a year earlier. The number of insolvencies for firms between 51 and 100 employees was also [...]
Europe’s debt crisis is getting worse July 15, 2011 EMPIRES seem to be going out of fashion. It is not just News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s media colossus, which is in trouble; the Eurozone, a very different political conglomerate, is unravelling in front of our eyes. The next step in its demise will come when the results of the stress tests for Europe’s 91 largest [...]
Europe’s debt crisis is getting worse July 14, 2011 EMPIRES seem to be going out of fashion. It is not just News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s media colossus, which is in trouble; the Eurozone, a very different political conglomerate, is unravelling in front of our eyes. The next step in its demise will come when the results of the stress tests for Europe’s 91 largest [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 14, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LAFARGE IN TALKS TO SELL PLASTERBOARD ARM Lafarge is closing in on the sale of its plasterboard business as the French cement maker pushes ahead with its debt reduction programme and attempts to recover its investment grade credit rating. The world’s second-largest cement company by revenue said on Thursday it had entered exclusive [...]