Lobbyists bid to turn RBS, BP and Shell annual meetings into green referendums
British companies spearheading the drive to exploit the Canadian tar sands will come under renewed assault this week from an increasingly vocal group of shareholders and environmentalists who are planning to turn the forthcoming BP, Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland annual meetings [...]
Big base-salary increase likely to inflame shareholders after bosses at rival banks waive bonuses
HSBC, Britain’s largest bank, is expected to abandon plans to boost the pay of its chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, by as much as 40% ahead of its full-year results tomorrow.
A revolt by investors looks likely to force the bank’s board to jettison [...]
Official GDP figures for fourth quarter of 2009 revised up to 0.3% from 0.1%
Britain’s escape from recession was stronger than previously thought in the final three months of last year, as the services sector bounced back.
The economy grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, rather than 0.1% as previously estimated, the Office for National Statistics [...]
Papandreou’s trip comes after Athens raised tensions between the two countries – at loggerheads over Greece’s soaring budget deficit – by bringing up second world war reparations
Greek prime minister George Papandreou is to hold crunch talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel next Friday.
He will visit Berlin at the invitation of chancellor Angela Merkel, his office [...]
‘Significant increase’ in bad debts from HBOS as impact of rescue takeover of mortgage-lender continues to hurt taxpayer-supported bank
A “significant increase” in bad debts drove Lloyds Banking Group to a £6.3bn loss last year as the impact of the rescue takeover of HBOS continued to hurt the taxpayer-supported bank.
The impairment charged ballooned to £24bn from [...]
SuperGroup shrugs off concerns after New Look and Matalan drop IPO plans and wins blue-chip backing for listing
SuperGroup, the fashion company behind the fast-growing Superdry label, insisted today that it was full steam ahead with its stock exchange listing despite speculation that some City fund managers had balked at the price tag being proposed.
The institutional [...]
A Hong Kong jewellery company has paid the highest price on record for a rough diamond to snap up London-listed Petra Diamonds‘ rare stone discovered at its South African Cullinan mine last autumn.
Petra’s Aim-listed shares are up 1.75p, or 3%, at 60.5p after it announced the “507 carat Cullinan Heritage” was sold today for $35.3m, [...]
Anger as bonuses paid – even though taxpayer-owned bank lost at least £3.6bn last year
Loss-making Royal Bank of Scotland inflamed the row over City pay today by revealing that more than 100 of its top bankers were awarded bonuses of at least £1m last year.
Even as the bank insisted its £1.3bn bonus pool was the [...]
Fears grow after industrial investment slumps and leading investor warns that pound could become a ‘basket case’
Fears of a double-dip recession and a sterling crisis in the run-up to the election were raised last night amid news of collapsing investment in British industry and a warning from one of the world’s leading financiers that the [...]
Energy secretary Ed Miliband calls for more price cuts from British Gas and its rivals after 58% leap in annual profits
The government has called on British Gas to immediately cut its prices after the country’s biggest energy supplier recorded a 58% surge in annual profits to nearly £600m.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, led a chorus [...]
