News

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

Quantitative easing won’t be extended

July 9, 2009

THE Bank of England (BoE) announced yesterday no further expansion of its quantitative easing scheme (QE), surprising markets which had widely expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to boost QE by another £25bn. The Bank left rates on hold at 0.5 per cent for the fourth month running and said that it would review the [...]
Government helps drive up Chinese vehicle sales

July 9, 2009

CAR sales in China jumped emphatically by 48.5 per cent for the month of June, bucking the worldwide trend, the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced yesterday. China recently overtook the US to become the world’s largest car market, and the nation’s thriving industry stands in stark contrast to car markets in the West which [...]
GRINDING DOWN

July 9, 2009

ADMINISTRATOR KPMG yesterday said 10 of the 20 outlets directly owned by coffee chain Coffee Republic had shut their doors with the loss of 66 jobs. The group collapsed into administration on Tuesday after it was hit by consumers scaling back on discretionary spending. KPMG yesterday said it was now in talks with potential buyers [...]
Madoff declines chance of appeal

July 9, 2009

Imprisoned fraudster Bernard Madoff is not going to appeal his sentence. The 71 year old conman is set to serve 150 years behind bars for orchestrating a worldwide investment fraud, with documented client losses for thousands of clients thought to be up to $65bn (£39.7bn). The disgraced financier’s defence attorney, Ira Sorkin, did not give [...]
Netplay does deal with Playtech

July 9, 2009

Interactive TV gambling specialist Netplay has raised £12.8m in a placing of shares discounted by 10 per cent from their closing price the day before, and has signed a five year agreement to supply Netplay games on the Playtech technology platform. Chief executive Martin Higginson said: “This agreement will allow us to deliver our products [...]
Sweden extends aid for banks

July 9, 2009

Sweden has extended its programme of capital injections into banks until February 2010, warning that the impact of the financial crisis is still being felt. Financial markets minister Mats Odell said the government wanted to ensure that companies and individuals have access to secure loans under reasonable conditions. The Swedish government unveiled a 50bn kronor [...]
F1 breakaway still an option

July 9, 2009

Formula One teams yesterday said progress had been made towards ending the sport’s internal turmoil but warned the governing body a breakaway championship remained an option. “We still don’t have an agreement although I would say we are making progress, slowly but steadily,” said BMW-Sauber’s Mario Theissen.
Allen & Overy rakes in 1bn despite crisis

July 9, 2009

LEGAL giant Allen & Overy (A&O) has today revealed it raked in revenues of £1bn over the last financial year, 7 per cent higher than last year, although its profits per partner fell amid a “challenging” business environment. The firm, which in February revealed a 450-job cut to align itself with the shrinking size of [...]
Jarvis extends loan facilities

July 9, 2009

JARVIS, the rail services group, said yesterday it had been granted extended banking facilities until 2011. But the deal with Burdale Financial Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of Ireland and Bank of America, will see its asset backed loan facility reduced to £50m from £60m. Jarvis, which has contracts with National Rail including signalling projects, [...]