WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
CRIMINAL GANGS TARGET INSIDER DEALING
Organised criminals in the UK are becoming increasingly involved in financial frauds including insider share dealing that they see as lucrative and low risk, investigators have warned. A long-term trend of prosecutions in the US has shown the same shift by crime gangs to more sophisticated frauds.
FUNDING CUTS DECIMATE HORSE RACE MEETINGS
The scale of the funding crisis in British horseracing became clear yesterday after the sport’s governing body announced plans to scrap 10 per cent of race fixtures next season.
The British Horseracing Authority said it would publish the 2011 fixture list on September 23, two months late, and that 150 fixtures would be suspended.
US MATCHES INDIAN CALL CENTRE COSTS
Call centre workers are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country’s largest business process outsourcing company. High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the US, particularly among the Hispanic population. At the same time, wages in India’s outsourcing sector have risen by 10 per cent this year.
CARGILL SOUNDS WARNING OF A SLOW RECOVERY
Cargill, the world’s largest agricultural commodities trader, on Tuesday warned that the global recovery had yet to gain traction as it reported a second straight decline in annual profit. As economists debate the merits of government intervention to avoid a double-dip recession, the company said the economic outlook was uncertain.
THE TIMES
HER NAME IS BARBIE… SUPERSPY BARBIE?
Mattel has been accused of spying on rival toy companies for at least 15 years in an escalation of the battle over the popular Bratz dolls. In a filing in the Los Angeles federal court, MGA Entertainment said that Mattel workers, with the approval of executives, infiltrated rivals’ private showrooms to steal product ideas and advertising strategies.
RSA RACES TO REASSURE CITY AFTER ITS BID FOR AVIVA IS SCRUTINISED
RSA was racing to reassure the City after it appeared to have used artificially high profits figures to prepare a £5bn bid proposal for Aviva’s general insurance assets.Leading City analysts raised fears yesterday that RSA had included profits from the RAC roadside recovery business in its bid.
The Daily Telegraph
KRAFT PLANS MELT-PROOF CHOCOLATE BARS
Melting Dairy Milk chocolate bars could be a thing of the past if Kraft Foods has its way. The US group, which owns Cadbury, has begun searching for hi-tech “thin film” packaging for its chocolate bars to “minimise melting” in temperatures of up to 40C.
HOUSE PRICE INDEXES COME UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
The Government has launched a review of housing market statistics following concerns that the different methods used for calculating house prices may be causing confusion. The National Statistician has started the review looking at the “coherence and comparability” of the house price indexes produced by the Communities & Local Government department and the Land Registry.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
RABOBANK’S ASIAN APPETITE GOES BEYOND CHINA
Rabobank sees its tie-up with Agricultural Bank of China as part of a larger strategy to profit from Asia’s growing appetite for foreign food, a senior executive at the Dutch lender said yesterday. Rabobank, an unlisted cooperative bank with an international food and agriculture financing arm, teamed up with AgBank in June, partly to help Chinese food businesses expand overseas.
HOME DEPOT EARNINGS CLIMB 6.8PC
Home Depot’s fiscal second-quarter profit rose 6.8 per cent, helped by a slight increase in foot traffic in stores and share repurchases. But most customers are sticking with inexpensive maintenance or repair projects, which hurt top-line results and is expected to keep sales growth muted in the second half of the year.