The shareholder spring must now pounce on fraud May 22, 2012 THE “shareholder spring” has shown investors ferociously protesting about corporate governance, accountability and payouts. But a far deeper financial and reputational time bomb is ticking in many corporations. Today’s Ernst & Young global fraud survey shows the staggering exposure to fraud, bribery and corruption in UK companies. The numbers have risen during the economic downturn [...]
Network Rail is fined £4m for fatal train crash April 4, 2012 NETWORK Rail has been fined £4m for “preventable” safety failings that led to a fatal train crash in Cumbria in 2007. The publicly-funded owner of Britain’s railways was sentenced at Preston Crown Court yesterday for a breach of health and safety law that caused a Virgin Pendolino to come off the tracks on the West [...]
IEA says oil market is starting to turn a corner after record highs April 12, 2012 GROWTH in oil supply has outstripped rising demand for the first time since 2009, the International Energy Agency said yesterday, adding that it “detects a turning of the tide for market fundamentals”. Global supply is expected to grow by 0.7m barrels per day during the year, despite unplanned stoppages in the North Sea and elsewhere [...]
IEA says oil market is starting to turn a corner after record highs April 12, 2012 GROWTH in oil supply has outstripped rising demand for the first time since 2009, the International Energy Agency said yesterday, adding that it “detects a turning of the tide for market fundamentals”. Global supply is expected to grow by 0.7m barrels per day during the year, despite unplanned stoppages in the North Sea and elsewhere [...]
Second quarter brings Imperial back on track March 29, 2012 IMPERIAL Tobacco Group yesterday revealed that sales and growth had bounced back in the second quarter after a less successful first period. Europe’s second biggest tobacco company said net revenues should increase by three per cent in the first half of the year, thanks to improving conditions in Spain, Ukraine and the US. Cigarette volumes [...]
Report: Iran denies Greece oil February 26, 2012 Iran has refused to give Greece a shipment of 500,000 barrels of crude oil in a retaliatory measure against European Union sanctions on the Islamic state’s lifeblood, oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reported yesterday. “Oil tankers that had come to transfer 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil to a refinery in Greece had to go [...]
RAPID RESPONSES April 17, 2012 Kept in plain sight [Re: Plain packaging: a charter for counterfeiters, yesterday] Plain packs are much easier to counterfeit. Slim cigarettes are rarely counterfeited because their pack design is of a non-standard size, and their artwork is difficult to reproduce without professional printing equipment. Plain packs standardise all pack sizes. This will increase the counterfeiters’ [...]
England hooker’s biting hearing set for Tuesday March 22, 2012 ENGLAND hooker Dylan Hartley’s anxious wait to discover whether he faces a lengthy ban over allegations of biting will draw closer to conclusion on Tuesday. That is when the Northampton front row will appear before an independent Six Nations disciplinary committee, who will decide whether to ban him for up to four years. Hartley was [...]
Gulfsands to focus on plans outside Syria April 3, 2012 SHARES in Gulfsands Petroleum fell almost five per cent yesterday as the firm said it was looking away from war-torn Syria to expand its business. The Aim-listed company, whose shares have fallen from a peak of 400p to just 146.5p since the start of last year’s revolutions across northern Africa, stressed that it will hold [...]
A war-weary America forces both parties to reconsider their plan of attack May 2, 2012 HAVING evaded Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, it’s unsurprising that Barack Obama is reminding the public that it was his decision that led to the daring raid which killed Osama bin Laden. With elections in November, that’s all very well. But is this a case of kill overkill? The main controversy surrounds a video [...]