Roger Carr, chairman of British confectionery giant Cadbury, described its US rival’s £10.2 billion takeover offer as an “unappealing” and “unattractive prospect”. Last week, US food giant Kraft, which is renowned for brands such as Kenco coffee, Oreo biscuits, Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Toblerone, approached Cadbury with the unsolicited offer, which the maker of Dairy [...]
US food giant Kraft saw its shares fall 5% to $26.7 this morning on Wall Street as investors expressed concern about the group’s takeover approach for British confectionery giant Cadbury. Cadbury rejected the £10.2 billion offer from Kraft, which is renowned for brands such as Kenco coffee, Oreo biscuits, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Toblerone and cheese [...]
87% of new shares offered by Lloyds Banking Group have been bought by the bank’s shareholders. Strong support was expected since the shares were offered at 38.43p – heavily discounted from last Thursday’s closing price of 67.1p. Lloyds announced the cash call in order to replace the £4 billion of preference shares held by the [...]
Shareholders in Lloyds Banking Group are set to grill the bank at today’s annual general meeting. Directors of the bank have faced criticism from shareholders following the hasty takeover of HBOS last autumn, which left the group 43% state-owned. The bank is expected to plunge into a loss this year, following the takeover of HBOS, [...]
Sir Victor Blank has announced he is to retire from the position as chairman at Lloyds Banking Group. Sir Victor’s shock resignation comes as he and chief executive, Eric Daniels, have faced criticism from shareholders following the hasty takeover of HBOS. According to Roger Lawson of the UK Shareholders’ Association: “Almost all of the shareholders [...]
Struggling van maker LDV, owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has been thrown a lifeline by the UK Government after the company has been provided with a £5 million bridging loan, in order to avoid administration and save hundreds of jobs. The bridging loan paves the way for Malaysian vehicle importer and contract manufacturer, Weststar, [...]
Business software company Oracle has said it has “transformed the IT industry” today with its acquisition of Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion (£5.1 billion). Oracle is to pay $9.50 in cash for each Sun share and follows the withdrawal of $9.40-a-share offer for Sun earlier this month after International Business Machines abandoned talks with the [...]
Emergency funding of $20 billion (£13.4 billion) has been provided to Bank of America after it shares plummeted 17.5% yesterday amid speculation that the bank might be nationalised. In return for the cash injection, the bank must adhere to strict restrictions on senior management pay. Bank of America has been one of the strongest in [...]
Shareholders in Lloyds TSB are to vote today on the proposed takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). Lloyds’ shareholders are expected to vote in favour of the takeover, which will create a new UK banking giant called Lloyds Banking Group, which will comprise almost 150,000 staff and 3,000 branches. However, not everyone has been [...]
Credit ratings agencies have added to Bradford & Bingley’s (B&B) woes after the lender has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings from BBB+ status to BBB-, only one notch above ‘speculative grade‘, or informally known as ‘junk’. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the lender from A-2 to A-3. Earlier this week, there were reports that the [...]
Shares in Bradford & Bingley (B&B) rose this morning amid speculation that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been holding talks with potential buyers. In early trading, shares in the UK’s biggest buy-to-let lender rose 15% to 32p. Shares in B&B have lost over 90% in value over the last year. Like other banks, B&B [...]
According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, Lloyds TSB’s takeover of HBOS could result in the closure of up to 700 high-street branches. The £12.2 billion purchase was announced on Thursday amid the turmoil in the stock markets following the collapse of US Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers. According to the Independent on Sunday, [...]
According to Reuters, US investment bank Morgan Stanley is in talks with Wachovia and China Investment Corp (CIC) about a possible takeover or an investment opportunity. Last week, shares in Morgan Stanley plummeted after the collapse of Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers, the rescue of US insurance giant AIG and Bank of America’s takeover of [...]
Former building society, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has sent information to its 564,000 shareholders on the £1.3 billion proposed takeover by Spanish bank, Santander. Roy Brown, acting A&L chairman, is strongly encouraging shareholders to vote for the deal and has warned if the move is rejected by shareholders, the bank would be exposed to the [...]
Shares in Alliance & Leicester (A&L) have rocketed 47% this morning after it has been revealed that Spanish bank Santander has agreed a deal to buy the former building society in a deal worth £1.3 billion. Shares in A&L suffered, particularly last year, after many believed it would follow in the footsteps of Northern Rock [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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