News

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

Yell gets the go ahead for fundraising

November 2, 2009

YELLOW Pages publisher?Yell was yesterday given the green light by creditors over plans to refinance its massive £3.8bn debt mountain. The deal enables Yell to press ahead with a rights issue worth at least £500m. The company’s shares have been extremely volatile in recent weeks, after the firm was forced to extend its deadline three [...]
Commerz hit by Dresdner merger costs

November 2, 2009

COSTS associated with absorbing rival Dresdner Bank pushed losses at Germany’s Commerzbank to €1.05bn (£947m) in the third quarter. Germany’s second biggest bank reported a €900m charge in relation to the acquisition of Dresdner and €650m in writedowns associated with its Eurohypo real estate unit. Eurohypo is being slimmed down by Commerzbank ahead of a [...]
Study says customers want personal touch from their high street banks

November 2, 2009

MORE than a fifth of banking customers have moved banks over the past two years due to dissatisfaction with the way they were treated, showing the importance of customer service in turbulent times. According to a YouGov study for the Deloitte, the amount and accessibility of branches, along with face-to-face interaction, remains a key consideration [...]
PERNOD’S PRINGUET PUSHES AHEAD

November 2, 2009

PERNOD Ricard, the world’s second biggest drinks maker, yesterday said its first quarter sales fell 6.3 per cent to €1.65bn, (£1.49bn). But Pernod chief executive Pierre Pringuet (pictured) said he would use the first signs of recovery to target profit growth for the full year. He added he would consider selling assets for an attractive [...]
Brokers at ING call on Tesco to snap up Ahold

November 2, 2009

MARKET talk that Tesco should snap up Dutch rival Royal Ahold resurfaced yesterday, after analysts said that such a deal would boost the retail giant’s US presence. Broker ING yesterday issued a note entitled “Buying Ahold would actually make sense for Tesco”. ING said that a potential £13.5bn bid would be easily financed by Tesco’s [...]
BURNING RUBBER

November 2, 2009

BRIDGESTONE yesterday said it would stop supplying tyres for Formula One racing cars when its current contract runs out in 2010. The decision by the Japanese manufacturer, who has been the sole supplier for the car chase since 2007, to quit F1 follows a host of other high-profile companies, including Japan’s Honda and Germany’s BMW, [...]
BA workers to vote on Xmas strike action

November 2, 2009

BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA), the ailing flag-carrier, was dealt another blow yesterday after the Unite union said results of a ballot on strike action would be announced mid-December. The decision to kick off the vote next week came after thousands of cabin crew met at Sandown racecourse yesterday to thrash out a response to BA’s cost-cutting [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS SKY TOO DOMINANT IN THE PAY-TV MARKET?

November 2, 2009

CHRIS CORNELL LLOYDS PRIVATE BANKING“Sports-wise they have definitely got too much power, to the detriment of the game, I think. It would make more sense from a viewer’s point of view if they were to wholesale premium content, though there is then an element of penalising Sky for its success.” ALISON FISHER CHARLES TAYLOR ADJUSTING“I [...]
C4’s Lygo paid more than the Prime Minister

November 2, 2009

STATE-OWNED Channel 4’s director of programmes Kevin Lygo was paid five times more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year. The former comedy scriptwriter was the highest paid public sector worker, receiving £1.1m in the 2008/2009 financial year, compared to Brown, who earned just over £193,000. Lygo’s package was made up of a salary of [...]
Nat Ex investor demands new Stagecoach debate

November 2, 2009

NATIONAL EXPRESS’ largest shareholder, the Spanish Cosmen family, is sounding out other investors at the ailing transport company for their appetite to restart takeover talks with Stagecoach. Merger talks between debt-laden National Express and rival Stagecoach fell apart last week, with the former saying it would raise money via a cash call instead. It is [...]