HSBC’s unhappy 150th birthday illustrates its growth: Stuart Gulliver on the highs and lows February 23, 2015 In the 1990s, Stuart Gulliver went to what look like extraordinary lengths to hide his bonus – he was paid in a Swiss account, held in the name of a Panamanian company. It looks shady, in light of the latest round of revelations of tax evasion through Swiss accounts. And the extra scrutiny comes at [...]
George Osborne challenges Ed Balls to say sorry over HSBC Swiss tax evasion scandal February 23, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne hit back at Labour over HSBC’s Swiss private bank yesterday, arguing that the wrongdoing took place and the taxman received the leaked documents under Labour, not the Tories, and Lord Green was given an advisory job by Gordon Brown. It comes after a fortnight of Labour accusing Osborne of failing to act [...]
HSBC case: Osborne could include new tax rules in budget February 23, 2015 New measures to tackle tax avoidance look set to be included in George Osborne’s budget next month in the wake of the HSBC tax case. As Osborne made his parliamentary response to the HSBC allegations he clashed with Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor. Balls accused Osborne of negligence, which moved Osborne to claim the government [...]
New Look hires JPMorgan as it eyes £2bn float February 23, 2015 Fast fashion chain New Look has taken a step closer to an initial public listing (IPO), having hired JP Morgan to work on options for a flotation. Reports suggest the retailer, which is currently owned by private equity firms Apax and Permira as well as founder Tom Singh, could be valued at as much [...]
Boris Johnson’s vision of a jetpack future is already here as Martin Aircraft Company takes off February 22, 2015 Looking to the future of London, Boris Johnson could only dream of a Jetsons-style space-age capital. “It may be that by 2020 we will all have learnt to commute with jetpacks, but until then, we need to invest in our existing transport modes,” he said a few years ago. Now, however, it seems the mayor’s [...]
24 Hour Party People? George Osborne and Boris Johnson confirm plans to turn London into 24-hour city February 20, 2015 London is just months away from taking tentative steps towards becoming a 24-hour capital, and the government is already planning the next phase. Chancellor George Osborne and London mayor Boris Johnson this morning confirmed a wider rollout of the 24 hour service across the Tube and Overground lines from 2017. That will follow [...]
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway makes European investment with €400m Devlet Louis Motorradvertriebs purchase February 20, 2015 He may have dumped his stake in Exxon, but Warren Buffett is still motoring. Berkshire Hathaway has splashed €400m (£294m) on a German motorcycle business, the first in what's likely to be a series of deals in Europe where the investment firm has been looking to invest. He had earlier hinted at the deal, which went [...]
Does Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis’ leather jacket make him a hell-raiser, protector or just a fading rocker? Either way, he’s going to have to be a tough guy February 20, 2015 The Holy Grail for most brand managers is to create a powerful identity icon, a shorthand which cuts to the heart of their offer. There are a number of options open to the budding marketer, but the standard fare breaks down into three options, visual – like the Nike tick; verbal – like Audi’s ‘Vorsprung [...]
ECB minutes show “large majority” in favour of quantitative easing February 19, 2015 The first-ever minutes of a meeting of European Central Bank monetary policymakers has shown that a "large majority" of its governing council supported the introduction of a quantitative easing programme. The 9,000 word document shows its governing council was concerned low oil prices would lead to long-term low inflation. This, in turn, raised the possibility [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct on target but sales growth slows February 19, 2015 The figures Shares in Sports Direct rose two per cent in early trading as it announced sales and gross profits had risen across the Christmas period – up 2.6 per cent to £771m and 7.6 per cent to £346.9m respectively. However, that was a slowdown compared to the same period last year, when sales grew 11 [...]