WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
DISEASE SENDS SALMON PRICES LEAPING
Salmon prices are jumping after the collapse of the Chilean industry through fish disease caused a sharp decline in global supply. Wholesale prices for Norwegian-produced Atlantic salmon have risen 20.6 per cent since the start of the year , says Statistics Norway. That has extended a year-long rally in prices, which have risen 32.5 per cent to NKr37 a kilo. Industry analysts expect the surge to feed through to what people pay for salmon steaks and fillets.
BBC TO LAUNCH MOBILE APPS
Mobile phone owners will soon be able to watch live BBC news reports and World Cup football, listen to radio and catch up on iPlayer shows thanks to a fresh set of BBC phone applications. BBC news and sport apps will first be available for the iPhone, with more later in the year for Blackberry, Android and Nokia devices. All the apps will be available free of charge to licence-fee payers.
BANK CHIEF CHAMPIONS CASE FOR FIXED PAY
One of northern Europe’s leading bank executives has questioned the commercial rationale for bonuses and championed the case for fixed salaries in the industry. Pär Boman, chief executive of Sweden’s Handelsbanken, said bonuses risked creating a “mismatch” between short-term incentives and long-term performance.
DARLING OVERRODE RBS TOXIC LOAN FEARS
Alistair Darling overrode a warning from the Treasury’s top civil servant that a government-funded plan to insure Royal Bank of Scotland’s survival by underwriting £282bn of toxic loans could cover legally tainted assets.
THE TIMES
COUNCILS’ CONSORTIUM WILL CUT INSURANCE COSTS
A group of 18 district councils in the South West of England have joined forces to buy their annual insurance in a pioneering first that could save them hundreds of thousands. The co-operative, which includes eight councils in Devon and two national parks, aims to buy all its cover from an initial group of 15 insurers.
INSIDER DEAL PROFIT HANDED OVER IN ENVELOPES FULL OF CASH
A former partner at Cazenove, the Queen’s stockbroker, was given his share of the profits from an insider-dealing scam in envelopes full of cash at a racecourse, a court heard yesterday. Malcolm Calvert, 65, a Cazenove equities marketmaker until he retired in 2000, is standing trial on 12 counts of insider dealing, which he denies.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
STANFORD INVESTORS SUE CARIBBEAN BANKS TO RECOUP LOSSES
Investors caught up in the fall out from Allen Stanford’s alleged $7bn (£4.45bn) “Ponzi” scheme are attempting to sue a number of Caribbean banks, the Caribbean financial regulator and the Antiguan government to recover money they argue is rightfully theirs. A small group of investors have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking compensation for the “unlawful seizure” of the Bank of Antigua.
PRIVATE EQUITY NEEDS TO IMPROVE ITS COURTSHIP
Investors neither wanted nor were ready for the wave of private equity flotations being pushed through, according to brokerage house Collins Stewart. As a result, buy-out firms will now have to “step back” and reappraise how they woo back disgruntled British fund managers.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
SWEDEN FLAGS NORDEA BONUS SHAKEUP
The Swedish government will propose that senior executives at Nordea forgo bonuses in a shakeup of the remuneration system at the Nordic region’s largest bank, a minister said Wednesday. “We do not believe that variable payments are a good way to reward executives,” said financial markets minister Mats Odell.
DROP IN AD SPENDING HITS PUBLICIS’S NET
Sales and profits at French advertising company Publicis Group fell last year as companies cut their marketing expenditure, but the company said it expected a rebound in revenue this year as global economic conditions improve. The world’s third-largest ad company by sales said in a statement yesterday that net profit fell 9.8 per cent to €403m.