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Sunday Business (London, England)
Financial UK newspaper now turned into a magazine called The Business. It provides news and analysis of global business and finance.
Articles from August 11, 2002
3G Business Brief
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HARD-PRESSED mobile telecoms operators who face a collective bill of more than E100bn (?n) to roll out third-generation (3G) networks in Europe on top of the E100bn they have already paid for licences want the rules relaxed in this high-stakes poker...
A&L Ready to Raisebuyback to [Pounds Sterling]300m
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ALLIANCE & Leicester, the mortgage and savings bank, is to provide shareholders with a welcome surprise by increasing the amount of capital it plans to return to them by at least 50% to ?m (E480m) via a share buyback programme. Industry sources...
Airbus Struggling to Place 40 New Planes
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AIRBUS faces being left with a surplus of new aircraft as leasing companies struggle to place an estimated 40 jets due to be delivered to customers next year. Airbus is under pressure to help find a home for the aircraft, mainly narrow-body A320...
Allianz Holds Talks over Kleinwort Break-Up
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ALLIANZ, Germanys biggest financial services group, has sounded out a number of international banks interested in acquiring part or all of its investment banking business, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Senior banking sources in Frankfurt and...
All out of Excuses over Subsidies
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THE $118bn US farm bill adopted in May gave the European Union the perfect excuse to delay cuts to its own, more costly, farm subsidies. So imagine the unhappy faces among the farm protectionists in Brussels when the Americans turned around and...
AMERICA Has Suddenly Discovered Corporate Governance
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AMERICA has suddenly discovered corporate governance. In the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals and with this weeks deadline for companies to swear their accounts are accurate the campaign to clean up corporations is leading to tough new...
Americans Work Hard While Europeans Play Hard
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Netherlands. About six weeks is now the annual norm across Europe. On top of all their days off, Germans typically are now out sick for 10 days each year, unheard of two decades ago. The divergence between the US and European economies goes beyond...
Analyst Picks: Let the Share Buyer Beware
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THERE is a long list of crimes hanging around tech analysts necks right now. Merrill Lynchs former star analyst, Henry Blodget, was caught red-handed doing what we all secretly feared analysts were doing pushing dodgy stock. Or, in his words, stock...
AS a Former Texan Oilman with Patriotic Roots as Deep as a Hometown Gusher, It Is Only Natural for President Bush to Push for a Self-Reliant Energy Policy That Excludes Pesky Foreigners
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AS a former Texan oilman with patriotic roots as deep as a hometown gusher, it is only natural for President Bush to push for a self-reliant energy policy that excludes pesky foreigners. Last May he set out his stall in a giant volume whose front...
Banks Throw [Pounds Sterling]1.75bn Credit Line as Vivendi Sets Up Its Disposals
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VIVENDI hopes to be able to announce an E2.8bn (?5bn) short-term credit line when its half-year results are released on Wednesday to enable it to continue trading until it can start to realise funds from a planned disposal of assets, to be announced...
British Energy Expected to Cut [Pounds Sterling]50m Dividend in Half
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BRITISH Energy, the UKs largest electricity generator and nuclear operator, has heightened fears it will have to slash its dividend payout amid mounting losses after being blighted by the shutdown of a nuclear plant in the southeast of England....
Bush on Fast Track to Trade Talks
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HAVING won fast-track trade authority from congress, President Bush claims he will now lose no time in starting long-stalled free-trade talks with Singapore and Chile while sizing up his options in troubled trade relations with the European Union...
Businesses Count Cost of Ken's Congestion Charge
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Its been a rough fortnight for London motorists. Two weeks ago, the High Court dismissed a bid by Westminster Council and the Kennington Association to block mayor Ken Livingstones scheme to charge drivers ? day to drive into central London from...
Carlton Faces Junk Rating as ITV Revenues Flop
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FALLING audiences and a further weakening in advertising revenue threaten a fresh crisis for ITV, Britains biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster. Carlton Communications, the second-largest shareholder in the ITV network and owner of the lucrative...
Cazenove Admits Flotation Plans Will Be Reviewed
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CAZENOVE, the top City investment broker, will not seek to raise new capital even if it defies sceptics and floats on the London stock market next year as planned. Directors are now admitting that the flotation plan may have to be reviewed. The...
Chinese Puzzle for the Taiwanese Tiger
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THE political flare-up between China and the breakaway is-land of Taiwan last week threatens one of the less publicised but steadily growing business relationships in Asia. For more than half a century, Taiwan has lived a precarious existence...
COMPANIES Would Be Taxed on Gains They Have Not Realised under New Rules Proposed by the UK Treasury
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COMPANIES would be taxed on gains they have not realised under new rules proposed by the UK Treasury. Ministers want a regime in which capital gains are taxed as income, a switch that could seriously affect cashflows. One of the proposed changes...
EXACTLY Why Alan Greenspan Has Been Recommended for an Honorary Knighthood for His "Outstanding Contribution to Global Economic Stability" Is by No Means Clear
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EXACTLY why Alan Greenspan has been recommended for an honorary knighthood for his outstanding contribution to global economic stability is by no means clear. But its timing could scarcely be more embarrassing. There has been anything but stability...
Football Falls Flat as TV Money Dries Up
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obody obliged us to pay so much for players and we knew that the toy was going to break if we pursued this suicidal policy. This frank admission of how close European football is to financial meltdown and how it is the architect of its own downfall...
FTSE 100 Pension Deficits Centre on 10 Companies
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HALF the UKs FTSE 100 pension deficits are concentrated in just 10 companies, according to figures in a survey by UBS Warburg. The UBS analysis of all 88 FTSE companies with a final-salary scheme, called FRS 17 One Year On, shows the average shortfall...
Germany's Banks in the Firing Line
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IF there was any hope of German banks performing well in the near future, Commerzbank has dashed them. The countrys third-largest bank warned last Thursday that it would not meet its 2002 profits target unless market conditions improved. The...
Gilead Profits from Own Balm
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LAST Wednesday, the market opened to strong echoes of the previous morning. The Dow was up 180 points, then dropped down. Buying interest was uneven and the early session advances encountered resistance after computer buy programmes ran their course....
How Financial Crisis Soured the Beautiful Game
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certainly scale down their offer. Hot on its heel of Kirchs failure came the collapse of the UKs ITV Digital. The failure of the English Nationwide League clubs, the level just below the Premiership, to attract TV subscribers in sufficient numbers...
Hutchison Set to Wage Price War on UK Mobile Operators
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HUTCHISON 3G is to launch a sweeping attack on Britains mobile-phone operators by undercutting their existing voice tariffs when it starts its new service this year. The move by the new entrant into the UK phone market will put further pressure...
IN CONTRAST to the Gloom Surrounding the Support Services Sector, Environmental Consultant RPS - with a Market Capitalisation of [Pounds Sterling]200m - Recently Announced Better Than Expected First-Half Results
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IN CONTRAST to the gloom surrounding the support services sector, environmental consultant RPS with a market capitalisation of ?m recently announced better than expected first-half results. Almost as important as the reported figures, however,...
Is It Safe to Go Back into Tech Stocks?
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ITS time to think about buying tech stocks. We write these words with trepidation. After all, there are no visible signs of improving tech demand. Cisco Systems chief executive officer John Chambers said last week he feels more cautious about...
JAMES Champy Is Chairman of the Perot System's Consulting Practice but Is Best Known as a Chief Architect of the Re-Engineering Movement of the 1990s
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JAMES Champy is chairman of the Perot System's consulting practice but is best known as a chief architect of the re-engineering movement of the 1990s. Re-engineering The Corporation, the 1993 book he co-authored with Michael Hammer, was on the New...
Jobless Pledge Returns to Haunt Schroder
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SIX weeks before Germanys general election, the news could hardly be worse for the incumbent chancellor, Gerhard Schroder. All the fanfare and voter handshaking that accompanied last weeks launch of the final phase of his re-election campaign...
Lastminute: Here Comes the Sun
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Lastminute.com is moving ever closer to profitability. Last weeks third-quarter results showed losses, before goodwill, amortisation and taxation, of ?(e6.4m), down from ?m (e8.48m) in the previous quarter and from ?m (e14.8m) for the same period...
LAST Week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Moved to Provide Yet Another Bail-Out in Latin America with a $30Bn Rescue Package for Brazil
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LAST week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) moved to provide yet another bail-out in Latin America with a $30bn rescue package for Brazil. The move followed US Treasury secretary Paul ONeills visit to Brazil in an attempt to rebuild bridges...
Lazy Europeans: Never Have So Many Worked So Little
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WE LANG cannot say he feels burned out as he embarks on the first of two three-week vacations he has planned this year. The 34-year-old supervisor at Eberspaecher AG, which makes car-heating systems, knocks off work each day at 3pm in the course...
Maybe Something to Do with "Buddies" or "Special Friends". or "Goodwill Hunting"
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ONCE a month, IT manager Annette Vancil sits down with a more experienced divisional director and thrashes through whatever management headaches are bothering her. We tend to pick a couple of topics and talk through them, looking at how to approach...
Moose Jaw Dishes Satellite to Watch TV Via the Phone
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THIS time next year, residents of Moose Jaw, Canada, could be watching TV programmes delivered to their homes not via airwaves, satellite or cable but by the phone lines that traverse the Saskatchewan prairie. Thats if a pilot programme fired...
More BA Long-Haul Flights Set for Switch to Heathrow
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Business travellers flying long-haul with British Airways this winter will become even more familiar with Heathrow than before as the national carrier continues to cut costs by switching more of its services away from Gatwick and into the west London...
Nokia and Vodafone Are Facing $1Bn Options Threat to Earnings
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NOKIA and Vodafone, the worlds biggest mobile phone manufacturer and operator, could see more than $1bn wiped from their earnings if they account for the value of the share options with which they reward employees. Nokia has outstanding share...
NORWAY'S Wilhelmsen Has Become the World's Biggest Shipper of Cars after Leading a $1.5Bn Purchase of Hyundai Merchant Marine of South Korea
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NORWAYS Wilhelmsen has become the worlds biggest shipper of cars after leading a $1.5bn purchase of Hyundai Merchant Marine of South Korea. Saturdays deal gives a five-year exclusive right to ship all cars exported by Kia and Hyundai Motor. ...
October Election Will Be Key as Brazil Rallies on $30Bn IMF Loan
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THE International Monetary Funds record $30bn cash bail-out of Brazil last week provided welcome relief to the countrys battered markets, but concerns remain over what may happen after Octobers general election. Brazils stocks and currency surged...
Old School Ties in a Tangle as Top Two at City's Most Secretive Broker Fall Out
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ULTURALLY, Cazenove is pretty similar to Lazards, David Verey declared last year when the City financier crossed Moorgate from the top-notch merchant bank to the even higher-notch London stockbroker. Each has a group of people who treat one another...
ONCE a Knight, Always a Knight but Twice a Night. as the Old Joke Goes
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ONCE a knight, always a knight but twice a night... as the old joke goes. Now Jeffrey Sterling isthree-times-a-knight. The P&O chairman was last week made a Knight of the Royal Victorian Order for organising the Queens jubilee weekend. But what...
Premiership Teams Face [Pounds Sterling]400m Drop in Income
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FOOTBALL clubs in the English Premiership face at least a ?m (e620m) drop in their income from television rights when they are next negotiated in two years time. Rupert Murdochs BSkyB wants to keep the pay-TV contract but not at any price and...
Prime Position for Epic
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THE UK government is committed to spending billions on education over the next three or four years, some of which will go to e-learning. One beneficiary will be Epic Group, which develops online training courses for government and large companies...
'Profit' and 'Dot.com' No Longer Mutually Exclusive
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THE clock is running out on Britains dot.com Cassandras. Or at least for those who have made sport out of bashing all the failed e-commerce companies with taunts of I told you so. Sure, erstwhile worldbeaters on both sides of the Atlantic, like...
Radstone Riding on War Roll
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UK-listed Radstone Technology is a world leader in developing the rugged embedded-computer systems needed for weapons such as smart bombs and UAVs (unmanned airborne vehicles). In todays uncertain international climate, that means it has an expanding...
Royal &Amp; Sun Gravedigger Finds Himself in a Hole
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THE problem with holes is the deeper theyre dug, the harder it is to climb out. Royal & Sun Alliance chief executive Bob Mendelsohn is so far down that hes out of sight. The insurers long-suffering stakeholders could be forgiven for wanting...
Royal Bank Hit by Fears of Spanish Sale
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FEARS that Spanish bank Santander Central Hispano (SCH) is preparing to sell a large portion of its 8% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland will go on undermining the Scottish banks shares despite the $30bn bailout for Brazil. Some of Royal Banks...
Setback for BAT as US Duty Soars
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STEPS by the Californian state government to impose a threefold increase in excise duty on cigarettes threaten to inflict a painful blow on the revenues of British American Tobacco (BAT), the UKs biggest tobacco group. The proposed jump in Californias...
Shelling out over a Broken Nest Egg
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INVESTORS who bought in at the top of the market could be waiting more than five years to recover their initial investment, as leading fund managers predict more sluggish growth. Those who invested in an average UK fund two years and five months...
SHERWOOD International Is One of the World's Leading Suppliers of Software and IT Services to the Insurance Industry
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SHERWOOD International is one of the worlds leading suppliers of software and IT services to the insurance industry. After several years of strong growth, buoyed by acquisitions, Sherwood had a tough year in 2001, but interim results announced last...
Shining Brightest through the Gloom
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SHORTLY after 4pm last Monday, Sir John Bond stepped out on to Level 28 of the glass and steel headquarters of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBCs Hong Kong arm, designed by Lord Foster. There to present the interim financial...
Sir - Stop Press: Deadlines Can Stunt Creative Thinking (the Business, 4/5 August)
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Sir Stop press: deadlines can stunt creative thinking (The Business, 4/5 August). Stop press again: lack of deadlines can stunt business growth. I refer, of course, to recent research by Opodo, an online travel agency, on UK working hours. It...
THE Circumstances Surrounding the Deeply Embarrassing Departure of David Verey from Cazenove Remain Obscure
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THE circumstances surrounding the deeply embarrassing departure of David Verey from Cazenove remain obscure. Nobody has yet been able to provide an adequate explanation, least of all Verey himself or Cazenove. When Verey went to work in Tokenhouse...
THE No-Frills Airline Formula, Where Leg Room and Meals Are Sacrificed in Favour of the Cheapest Possible Fare, Has Proved a Soaraway Success
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THE no-frills airline formula, where leg room and meals are sacrificed in favour of the cheapest possible fare, has proved a soaraway success. Last week, the pile em high, sell em cheap strategy resulted in record passenger numbers, a new airline...
THE Recent Visit to Moscow by Head of OPEC Alvaro Silva Underlines the Problem Facing the Oil Cartel as Weak Demand Signals the Need for Either an Unpalatable Round of Quota Reductions among Members or a Sharp Fall in the Oil Price, Probably to about $18 a Barrel
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THE recent visit to Moscow by head of Opec Alvaro Silva underlines the problem facing the oil cartel as weak demand signals the need for either an unpalatable round of quota reductions among members or a sharp fall in the oil price, probably to...
The Recession Has Landed
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CUT through the dissembling and social inclusion waffle emanating from the Scottish political elite: the harsh, inescapable fact is that Scotlands economy is now in formal recession. That senior Scottish executive officials could not bring themselves...
THERE Is Only One Reason Why We Should Worry That Britain's Manufacturing Industry Is Declining at the Fastest Rate for 20 Years - and That Is Because the Service Sector Is Failing to Fill the Gap
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THERE is only one reason why we should worry that Britains manufacturing industry is declining at the fastest rate for 20 years and that is because the service sector is failing to fill the gap. It is not only that Britain, having invented the...
THE Waning of Europe's Work Ethic Is One of the Most Significant Cultural Changes the Continent Has Undergone in the Past Few Decades; Yet Its Story Remains Largely Untold
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THE waning of Europes work ethic is one of the most significant cultural changes the continent has undergone in the past few decades; yet its story remains largely untold. Along with diminishing respect paid to education, thrift and self-discipline,...
UK Insurance Industry Faces a Fight for Its Life
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Abeleaguered life insurance industry is busy pulling up the drawbridges after Royal & Sun Alliance shares fell by 22% on Thursday. Three consecutive years of decline in the stock markets have left many of them in precarious financial health...
US Braced for SEC Deadline
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AMERICAS credibility clock starts ticking on Wednesday when the top brass from nearly 1,000 of its largest companies must personally certify the veracity of their accounts. By Saturday, only around 120 of the total 947 companies that have to comply...
Virgin Express Forced to Pull Back from Heathrow
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VIRGIN Express, Sir Richard Bransons budget airline, is to withdraw from Heathrow at the end of October, terminating the Brussels-based carriers troubled tenure in Britain and putting an end to no-frills flying at the UKs busiest airport. Its...
Vivendi: Debt Remains the Key Driver
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Vivendi Universal, the French media conglomerate, has never been far from the headlines this year. With its burgeoning debt mountain and consequent need to make disposals, the next six months will be crucial. Now, after its second-quarter sales...
Volatility at Vodafone Is a Ray of Hope
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Up 400 points, down 800; up 700, down 300. The messenger from the FTSE brings a different message every day and it has little to do with market fundamentals. Be careful. Ignore the noise and minuteto-minute commentary and consider the fundamentals....
WESTMINSTER Is Weirder Than the Weather in August
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WESTMINSTER is weirder than the weather in August. How else can we explain this past weeks rewriting of history. Guess the minister who is being referred to here: [He] is acknowledged in Whitehall and beyond as a master of his brief after six years...
WE Used to Have a Democracy in Britain
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WE used to have a democracy in Britain. We elected politicians to make decisions in government. If they did well, we re-elected them. If they did badly, we threw them out. Today, we are building a UK fit for the quangos to rule. More and more...
WHAT'S This?
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WHATS this? A media company promising investors double-digit earnings per share growth by the end of the year? The pledge from the Anglo-Dutch professional publishing giant, Reed Elsevier is an extraordinary one, given the general turmoil in the...
WHICH Financial Company Last Week Reported a 56% Increase in Its Level of Business Transacted during July?
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WHICH financial company last week reported a 56% increase in its level of business transacted during July? Its core product had a 106% increase in volume and its best day ever was as recently as 16 July. It also has a market capitalisation of pound...
WHILE President George Bush Makes Big Noises about Increasing the US Strategic Oil Reserve, Britain Is Already Sitting on 8.25m Tonnes of Oil That It Can Release If a War in the Middle East Disrupts Normal Supply and Drives Up Prices
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WHILE President George Bush makes big noises about increasing the US strategic oil reserve, Britain is already sitting on 8.25m tonnes of oil that it can release if a war in the Middle East disrupts normal supply and drives up prices. Under an...
Who Is Taking an Audit of the Auditors?
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TICK off the items on the corporate shopping list: PC software, paperclips, electricity, auditing services. If the first three seem relatively simple to source and pay for, why does the fourth stand out? Should there be any criteria for selecting...
WITH UK Manufacturing in Free Fall and World Markets in Turmoil, the Bank of England Surprised Nobody Last Week When It Cut Forecasts for Inflation and Economic Growth at the Launch of Its Quarterly Inflation Report
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WITH UK manufacturing in free fall and world markets in turmoil, the Bank of England surprised nobody last week when it cut forecasts for inflation and economic growth at the launch of its quarterly Inflation Report. The Banks central forecast...
WorldCom Banks on Loyalty Factor
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WORLDCOMS bid to emerge from bankruptcy will be tested this week as nervous creditors question whether customers will stick with the company amid renewed accounting concerns and a widening criminal investigation. Prosecutors are also ex-pected...
