A tarnished outlook for base metals September 26, 2010 UBS SHOCKED short-term traders on Friday when it issued a report calling time on copper’s upside. Spread betters should take note of the conditions facing industrial metals and consider switching to precious ones. UBS’s research says that the global environment in the fourth quarter will not sustain the big mining companies’ Antofagasta and Kazakhmys’ current [...]
More than Voho, darling: Vauxhall is in for an overhaul September 23, 2010 SANDWICHED between the South Bank and the Battersea waterfront, it was never going to be long before Vauxhall took off. Until now Vauxhall has traded on two cards: “Voho” – Gayer Soho – and housing London’s politicos. However, this week’s launch of St George Wharf, more commonly known simply as The Tower, is a sign [...]
When experiments go wrong… July 22, 2010 Film SPLICE Cert: 15 Rhys Griffiths A CONTEMPORARY morality tale, this horror thriller pushes topical science controversies – stem cell tinkering, genetic cloning – to nightmarish extremes. Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) are superstar genetic engineers. Endowed with great scientific talent but seriously lacking in common sense, the pair cross ethical boundaries like [...]
Why Britain needs to save far more July 20, 2010 THERE is no better way to kill a dinner party discussion than to bring up the subject of pensions. Just ask your friends when they expect to retire, and how much they hope to earn when they stop working. The usual answer – apart from the lucky few who still enjoy final salary schemes – [...]
Spreading success, little by little July 11, 2010 WILSON Moleni is on his first trip to the UK. And what a first visit it is: he is dining with royalty, meeting dignitaries and briefing journalists. Not bad for a man who grew up among Malawi’s poorest, and who (most of the time) had just enough food to continue to go to school. Moleni, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 9, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES REGULATORS TELL US BANKS TO HOLD FUNDS US regulators have told banks not to increase dividends or buy back shares until political and economic uncertainty surrounding the industry dissipates, in a move that will delay by months the return of capital to shareholders. Some investors in financial stocks argue that winners of the [...]
The A-Team meets James Bond in this gung-ho mercenary adventure February 3, 2010 FIRE FORCE BY MATT LYNN Headline, £12.99 by Jeremy Hazlehurst YOU’VE got to hand it to Matt Lynn, he can certainly write a first line. “Until you’ve sat down to a game of poker inside Africa’s most brutal jail, you don’t really know what it’s like to sweat,” begins his second novel. No man, surely, [...]
Campari’s chief is taking a breather before returning to the M&A trail October 25, 2009 Having forked out a cool $2bn (£1.2bn) on 16 separate acquisitions over the past 15 years, it is no wonder that Campari – the world’s sixth largest drinks firm – is now calling for a temporary halt to the spending. Its chief executive, Bob Kunze-Concewitz, recently struck a cautious note due to the downturn that [...]
Bond says no to M&S role October 1, 2009 ASDA chief executive Andy Bond yesterday ruled himself out of the running for the top job at high street retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S). Bond said: “I am not interested. I am not going to M&S. End of story.” M&S has said it will appoint a new chief executive next year, with Sir Stuart Rose [...]