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09/09/2010
| business | Barratt cautious on outlook as it cuts losses
Barratt Developments said concerns about the economy and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported better-than-expected full-year profits yesterday.
Boardrooms under fire on gold-plated pensions
The TUC will today attack bosses for enriching themselves with pension pots averaging £3.5m at a time when staff retirement benefits are being slashed. Its research – analysing the pensions of 329 directors from 102 of Britain's top companies – will also show that the highest-paid directors in each company have pension pots worth an average £5.26m, providing an average annual pension of £298,503.
Business Diary: A career in comedy awaits
Amongst the many improvements Twitter can claim to have brought to modern life is the provision of a medium through which our MPs can demonstrate they're actually real people with a sense of humour (or smart alecks with too much time on their hands – you decide). So to Labour MP Tom Watson and his hilarious tweet on the appointment of HSBC chairman Stephen Green as a government Trade minister. "Blimey," says Watson. "When Mr Osborne said he'd take on the bankers, I didn't know it meant he'd make them ministers."
Charity shops boosted by recession – but we sell best stuff online
Economy shrinks amid warnings of 'double-dip'
The British economy shrank last month and an already faltering recovery will slow sharply over the coming months, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), one of the nation's most respected and accurate forecasters.
Foster's rebuffs A$2.7bn bid for its wine business
Foster's has rebuffed an indicative bid for as much as A$2.7bn (£1.6bn) for its Treasury Wine Estates wine business in a move that nonetheless raised speculation that the entire group could ultimately soon find itself under new ownership.
Goldman Sachs fined £17.5m by FSA over fraud investigation
Goldman Sachs is to pay an estimated £17.5m fine to the UK's Financial Services Authority, after admitting that it should have told the regulator it was under investigation for fraud in the US.
Goldmans M&A expert to join GSK
Glaxosmithkline has appointed Goldman Sachs' leading European mergers and acquisition (M&A) banker, Simon Dingemans, as its finance director.
Greek eonomy shrank 3.7 per cent as consumption slumped
Greece's austerity-hit economy shrank at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, a faster pace than previously thought, as consumption slumped. Household spending eroded at a record annual clip of 4.2 per cent in the quarter.
Halifax sees rise in house prices
House prices rose for the second month in August, according to the mortgage lender Halifax yesterday, confounding expectations for a fall.
KPMG called in over Connaught
KPMG was formally appointed as administrator at the embattled social housing group Connaught last night, a day after shares in the FTSE 250-listed company were suspended.
Minerva defeats rebel investor
Minerva's largest shareholder, KiFin, has failed in its attempt to oust the property group's chairman and chief executive despite a high-profile campaign in recent weeks.
Obama rejects demands to extend Bush-era tax cuts
Barack Obama dismissed a cacophony of voices calling for Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy to be extended beyond the end of this year, setting up a showdown with the Republicans that could define the mid-term election campaign.
Strike averted at Virgin Atlantic
The threat of strikes by Virgin Atlantic pilots has been averted after a dispute over days off was resolved.
Top Mecom investors move to oust founder Montgomery
The three largest shareholders in the European publishing group Mecom have moved to oust its founder, David Montgomery, a former editor of News of the World.
Vodafone loses £1.7bn tax challenge in Indian court
An Indian court has thrown out Vodafone's challenge to a tax ruling that could leave the mobile phone giant 120bn rupees (£1.7bn) out of pocket.
The Business On... John Paulson, President, Paulson & Co
The hedge fund manager with the Midas touch?
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| business - comment | David Prosser: Connaught's catalogue of woe began at home
Outlook The problems of Connaught have prompted warnings that many more companies may be pushed over the edge by public-sector spending cuts. But while the private sector inevitably will take a hit as the Government pares spending, to blame the demise of Connaught on austerity measures would be to let the company off the hook far too easily.
David Prosser: The secret world of directors' fat cat pensions
Outlook It is hardly surprising that the TUC is feeling miffed. The trade union movement has spent more and more of its time in recent years defending the pensions of members from employers seeking to cut the cost of retirement plans. Yet its own research – including the survey it publishes today – repeatedly shows that the very same directors responsible for closing down company pension schemes continue to feather their own nests with generous retirement benefits.
David Prosser: Which way will the MPC jump?
Outlook Another month, another meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee – and, in all likelihood, another announcement of no change to the policy on interest rates and quantitative easing. Chances are that the minutes of the latest meeting will reveal that the committee remains torn between its nervousness about an anaemic recovery and its worry that inflation remains too high.
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News courtesy of Independent.co.uk
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