Shareholders pump £400m emergency funding into BAA 2008-05-11 06:01 - Shareholders of UK airport operator BAA have been forced to pump an emergency
£400 million into the airport operator as credit crunch turmoil dashed hopes
of re-financing £10 billion of debt by the summer.
Hunter attempts to stop Dobbies rights issue 2008-05-11 06:01 - Scottish billionaire Sir Tom Hunter today took another shot at Tesco after
beginning legal action to block a £150 million rights issue planned by
Dobbies Garden Centre, which is majority owned by the supermarket giant.
Centrica joins with EDF in British Energy deal 2008-05-11 06:01 - Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is hammering out last-minute details of a
joint venture with EDF, the European energy giant, which will see the
British owner join EDF’s bid for British Energy.
Tempus: Power shortage 2008-05-11 06:01 - British Energy’s ageing nuclear reactors have a reputation for breaking down
at inopportune moments so it seemed fitting that an auction for the company
entered its final stages today amid a haze of uncertainty.
Tempus: Off the boil 2008-05-11 06:01 - It is tempting to conclude from today’s trading update from Aga that the
former engineering conglomerate has disposed of its better half.
Tempus: A wily Fox 2008-05-11 06:01 - HMV urged shoppers to “get closer” to films, music and video games in its
pre-Christmas marketing campaign last year and that injunction appears to
have paid off.
Microsoft appeals €899m fine from EC 2008-05-11 06:01 - Microsoft has lodged an appeal against a record €899 million (£713 million)
fine handed out in February by the European Commission for defying sanctions
imposed on the company for abusing its dominant position in the software
market.
Diageo to sell 50% of Dublin’s Guinness brewery 2008-05-11 06:01 - Diageo, the world’s largest producer of alcoholic drinks, today admitted it
will sell half of Guinness’ historic home in Dublin and cut 250 jobs as part
of a £520 million investment plan.
Credit crunch fails to produce the feared economic catastrophe 2008-05-11 06:01 - So the sky did not fall in. While the Chicken Littles of the world economy,
led by Gordon Brown, George Soros and Warren Buffett, may still repeat
mechanically the IMF’s surprising judgment that the world - especially
America - faces its worst financial crisis since the 1930s, their hearts are
no longer in it. Mr Brown, after last week’s election woe, can no longer
blame the world economy for his political failure. Mr Buffett, having
speculated against the dollar for years and declared that credit derivatives
are financial weapons of mass destruction, has finally begun to find
attractive opportunities to invest his money and told his shareholders last
week that the worst of the credit crisis was probably over. Mr Soros, in his
forthcoming book, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets, states
unequivocally: “We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which
has not been seen since the Great Depression.” But after making $3 billion
for Quantum Endowment Fund by anticipating last year$’s bear markets, he is
now hedging his bets, as is only to be expected from the world’s most
successful hedge fund manager. “I may well be proven wrong,” he told The New
York Times last week, adding that he might yet again turn out to be “the boy
who cried wolf”.
