Post Offices to get £1.3bn of new funding October 27, 2010 The government yesterday unveiled a £1.3bn funding package for the UK’s post office network. The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills said the 11,500 post offices would receive more than £330m a year for four years to maintain and modernise the network. Business secretary Vince Cable said the cash would allow post offices to extend [...]
Royal Mail managers may strike October 24, 2010 Managers at Royal Mail Group will be balloted on industrial action for the first time since 1979 over job losses, the Unite union said this morning. Unite is preparing a ballot for the start of November for 8,535 members working across Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Post Office Limited over the threat of compulsory redundancies. The [...]
Ex BP boss Lord Browne to head advisory board at Stanhope Capital Capital October 24, 2010 FORMER BP chief executive Lord Browne is to head up the newly-formed advisory board of boutique wealth manager Stanhope Capital, it emerged yesterday. Stanhope is believed to be lining up Browne to chair the three-man board and to help it attract investors from the worlds of business and charity and the arts, in which he [...]
Meet the CEO of the most important City firm you have never heard of October 24, 2010 As he saunters into his office in the City, Tim Howell, the chief executive of European settlement house Euroclear, looks cool and collected. He certainly doesn’t look like a man caught in the most classic of all business squeezes – with clients wanting him to improve his services while being adamant they should pay less [...]
Credit Suisse profits latest to be felled by trading fall October 21, 2010 Swiss institution is the latest bulge bracket bank to report a decline in investment banking revenues A SLUMP in investment revenues yesterday passed over from the US banks to Credit Suisse, as the Swiss bank said group income had slumped by 62 per cent over the third quarter of the year. Credit Suisse said net [...]
Xerox beats forecasts but will cut jobs October 21, 2010 OFFICE equipment giant Xerox posted higher-than expected quarterly profit yesterday, but warned it would cut 2,500 jobs over the next year as part of a restructuring linked to an acquisition in 2009. Sales at US-based Xerox climbed 48 per cent to $5.43bn (£3.46bn) thanks to its purchase of Affiliated Computer Services. Without last year’s acquisition, [...]
1,800 jobs go at Nokia amid phone delay October 21, 2010 NOKIA’s new chief executive Stephen Elop put his stamp on the company yesterday by cutting 1,800 jobs, equivalent to three per cent of the company’s workforce, and delaying the launch of a key product after the mobile phone manufacturer posted stronger -than-expected results. It is not known whether UK workers will be affected by the [...]
Bank of America scare hits stocks October 19, 2010 U stocks posted their biggest loss in two months yesterday on fears banks might be on the hook for billions of dollars in souring mortgage bonds. The afternoon selloff hit investors already reeling from an unexpected credit tightening by China and disappointing financial results from Apple and IBM. The biggest scare came on news that [...]
Government wields axe on nearly 200 quangos and plans to merge many others October 14, 2010 ALMOST 200 quangos face the axe as part of government proposals to save millions of pounds while a further 481 face reform, the Cabinet office revealed yesterday. The closures will lead to thousands of job losses and are likely to create a substantial redundancy bill for the government, although it claimed yesterday in the long [...]
Postal service plans unveiled October 13, 2010 THE government unveiled its plans to privatise the Royal Mail yesterday, but independent valuations suggest the business could fetch just £700m. Royal Mail will now almost certainly be swallowed up by a competitor like Deutsche Post or TNT, or bought by a private equity-led consortium. A stockmarket flotation is also being considered, while at least [...]