News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

GSKsigns nicotine vaccine deal

November 16, 2009

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and a unit of GlaxoSmithKline yesterday signed a licensing agreement for Nabi’s experimental vaccine to treat nicotine addiction and the prevention of smoking relapse, the firms said, sending Nabi shares up 26 per cent. Nabi will get $40m (£23.7m) upfront and is eligible to get more than $500m in option fees and milestones [...]
Ashley House reports in-line

November 16, 2009

Ashley House, the health and social care infrastructure company, yesterday said it was trading in line with expectations, with revenues and profit significantly ahead of the same period last year. And the company said its pipeline of orders – from which it expects to recognise revenues in the coming two years – has remained robust [...]
Camra gives Ritchie pub support

November 16, 2009

Real Ale campaign group Camra yesterday lent its support to celebrity Mayfair pub the Punch Bowl. Guy Ritchie’s pub in Mayfair is facing threats of closure after several noise complaints. But Camra said that Westminster City Council should consider the role the pub plays in the local community before it rules on the noise complaints [...]
UN hires NAO head to its board

November 16, 2009

The UN yesterday said that it had appointed the head of the UK National Audit Office, Amyas Morse, to its audit board. The United Nations Board of Auditors is an independent body responsible for auditing the UN, including its peacekeeping operations. Morse will replace Phillippe Seguin, First President of the Courts of Accountants of France.
BA PENSIONS CHIEF IS URGED TO RESIGN

November 16, 2009

THE row over British Airways’ retirement scheme intensified yesterday as an independent group of pensioners called for the urgent removal of Roger Maynard as chairman of the trustees. Anger is building over the perceived conflict of interests in Maynard’s chairmanship of both BA’s pension funds – whose huge deficits are potential stumbling blocks in its [...]
Sentance warns on inflation

November 16, 2009

THE UK is moving towards recovery though the Bank of England must be sure not to stoke inflation by leaving monetary policy loose for too long, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Andrew Sentance warned last night. Speaking at Royal Holloway college, Sentance said: “The latest Inflation Report shows that if we do not tighten policy [...]
GMAC chief quits top job

November 16, 2009

THE boss of GMAC, the US lender that has so far taken $12.5bn (£7.4bn) in US taxpayer bailout money to survive the economic crisis, quit yesterday. Alvaro de Molina, chief executive since April 2008, will be replaced by Michael Carpenter, 62, a director of business lender CIT Group, a company that is currently reorganising in [...]
Ray of hope for victims of bubblenomics

November 16, 2009

THERE is much to be learnt from Japan’s disastrous performance since it suffered the mother of all bubbles in the late 1980s. Its woes were originally caused by excessive interest rate cuts in reaction to the dollar’s 51 per cent devaluation against the yen between 1985 and 1987, which hurt Japan’s export industries. Huge amounts [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

November 16, 2009

FINANCIAL TIMES MOBILE MAKERS ACT TO CURB FAKE PHONESThe global mobile phone industry is trying to rein in the rapid worldwide spread of illegitimate handsets by introducing a stricter regime for the allocation of handset identification numbers. The move comes as unlicensed Chinese handset manufacturers have started flooding the world market with exports in a [...]
Merlin lines up Sunderland

November 16, 2009

The backers of theme park group Merlin Entertainments are lining up John Sunderland as chairman ahead of a stock market floatation next year. Merlin’s shareholders, which include Blackstone and Dubai International Capital, have identified the former chief executive and chairman of Cadbury-Schweppes to take the firm public. Merlin Entertainments, which owns Alton Towers, Legoland and [...]