UK’s over-taxed public is running out of patience April 1, 2012 EXORBITANT: that is the only way to describe the cripplingly high levels of Air Passenger Duty (APD) now facing everybody flying from the UK. The era of cheap flights which had done so much to make international travel accessible to the vast majority of the public is coming to a sorry end: the tax on [...]
Tullow Oil to ditch BAML as its broker February 2, 2012 TULLOW Oil, the FTSE 100 oil explorer, yesterday parted company with its long-standing corporate brokers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and RBS Hoare Govett, appointing Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley in their place. BAML’s position had been precarious ever since the bank parted company with corporate broker Andrew Osborne in November. Osborne, whom Tullow described [...]
BarCap’s mandate on $5bn float shows its growing clout February 2, 2012 BARCLAYS Capital’s claims to be one of the major players in the world of equity capital markets will only have been enhanced by its inclusion as one of the book-runners in Facebook’s $5bn flotation. It is the only UK-based bank on the list and that alone can act to reinforce the view that it picked [...]
FTSE bounces off lows after good US data February 16, 2012 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 closed off intraday lows yesterday as upbeat US economic data brought some cheer to an otherwise gloomy macro outlook, helping oil stocks pare losses, while banks and miners sagged as Greece’s debt crisis rumbled on. London’s blue chip index closed down 6.78 points, or 0.1 per cent at 5,885.38, bouncing off an [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 24, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES WATCHDOG TO PROTECT IRRATIONAL INVESTORS Investors cannot be counted on to make rational choices so regulators need to “step into their footprints” and limit or ban the sale of potentially harmful products, the head of the UK’s new consumer protection watchdog said yesterday. In his first big interview since starting work last autumn, [...]
Virgin complains to regulator over IAG deal February 17, 2012 Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission about IAG’s purchase of Lufthansa’s British unit bmi, saying competition on some European routes would diminish and that fares would increase. Late last year, British Airways (BA) owner IAG agreed to buy bmi for £172.5m, seeing off rival bidder Virgin in the race to [...]
FTSE flat as ECB pours in more funds February 29, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat this morning with investors awaiting another injection of cash from the European Central Bank, aimed at propping up the Eurozone. The ECB is expected to pump about 500bn euros (£422bn) into the Eurozone’s financial system to fight the region’s debt crisis, enabling banks to tap as many of the ultra-cheap, [...]
Honeymooning for one in the Maldives April 1, 2012 GOING on holiday alone is one thing. Going on holiday alone to the world’s foremost couples’ destination is rather another. I wasn’t off to backpack around the villages of the Himalayas or go down and out in Bangkok and Hanoi, bumping into new people and places every five minutes. No: I set off on a [...]
FTSE hits six month high January 23, 2012 The FTSE 100 hit a six month closing high, driven by increases in bank and commodity stocks and investor optimism regarding the Greek debt crisis. The index closed up 0.9 per cent at 5,782.56, the highest closing mark since July 29 2011. Banks benefited from French Finance Minister Francois Baroin’s declaration that a deal with [...]
Lufthansa closer to sale of BMI Regional January 22, 2012 GERMAN airline Lufthansa has moved a step closer to selling its bmi Regional and bmibaby brands, the parts of the business that were not included in the sale of their parent company to IAG last year. Lufthansa has found a buyer for bmi Regional, which operates from airports including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford and [...]