Osborne targets budget surplus September 30, 2013 GEORGE Osborne yesterday promised a future Conservative government would attempt to run a budget surplus by 2020, indicating that his party’s commitment to austerity is here to stay. The chancellor told his party’s annual conference in Manchester that, assuming the economic recovery continues, he would seek to ensure the government’s income is more than its [...]
Airbnb doubles bookings June 19, 2012 US home rental site Airbnb said yesterday it had seen a dramatic rise in bookings in the last five months. The number of nights booked on its site has doubled to 10m as the number of properties listed also doubled to 200,000. Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, has highlighted international expansion as the reason for [...]
Connaught debt to reach £100m after bills found November 7, 2010 Collapsed property services firm Connaught’s debts could pass £100m after the administrator KPMG discovered 50,000 additional invoices. Bills for everything from Dairy Crest milk to RBS bank loans have been left unpaid, according to a report by KPMG following Connaught’s collapse in September. Unsecured lenders exposed to the firm’s social maintenance arm will recover at [...]
BG concedes defeat over deal with Australia’s Origin September 10, 2008 BG group said yesterday it would not increase its hostile takeover bid for Australian Origin Energy after the company agreed to a joint venture with American oil giant ConocoPhillips. BG’s offer of A$15.50 (£7.08) a share, which expires on 26 September, will not be extended and is expected to lapse, BG said in a statement. [...]
British banks given access to Vietnam September 10, 2008 HSBC and Standard Chartered have become the first foreign banks to be given permission to set up wholly owned subsidiaries in Communist Vietnam, the country’s state bank said yesterday. The two companies will be allowed to operate as commercial banks for a period of 99 years, according to a statement from the State Bank of [...]
Redrow cuts payout hit by housing slump September 10, 2008 Evidence of the housing market downturn became even more explicit yesterday as housebuilder Redrow announced a halving of profits and a new £450m debt facility to 2011. Shareholders are also losing out on a third dividend, due to an “unprecedented decline in the fortunes of the UK housing market in a very short period of [...]
EDF may face £1.5bn fee for BE takeover September 8, 2008 French energy giant EDF is facing yet another hurdle in its British Energy (BE) takeover bid – a £1.5bn approval fee. Close to finalising the bid, investors Invesco and M&G, which own 21 per cent of the shares, are understood to have pushed for a sweetener at the eleventh hour and will reiterate their position [...]
TUC calls for tax reforms September 8, 2008 The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a new higher-rate tax bracket for those earning over £100,000, putting it on a collision course with Conservative leader David Cameron. The TUC’s statement, made in advance of its annual conference which begins tomorrow in Brighton, contrasts sharply with a newspaper interview given by Cameron at the [...]
Lehman talks continue amid board revamp September 8, 2008 US investment bank Lehman Brothers’ fundraising efforts could take a new twist this week, as talks with Korea Development Bank (KDB) over a $6bn investment look to have slowed. Chief executive officer Dick Fuld has drafted a blueprint for dividing the group into a “good bank” and a “bad bank”, by hiving off the bank’s [...]
London blue chips set for further falls September 8, 2008 Strategist are betting on the FTSE 100 to fall further this week due to mounting concerns over the outlook for the UK economy. Last week marked the blue chip index’s biggest weekly fall for six years leaving it teetering on the edge of so-called bear market territory, defined as a 20 per cent fall from [...]