-----Business News
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Crash! Biggest fall in shares since Sept 11
Published: 22 January 2008
Stock market slide continues
Published: 22 January 2008
The stock market slide showed no signs of easing in London today after the FTSE 100 Index tumbled 3% lower in early trading.
Public borrowing smashes forecasts to hit record high
Published: 22 January 2008
FSA to investigate comparison sites
Published: 22 January 2008
The Financial Services Authority is to launch an investigation into the fast-growing comparison site market, in response to renewed calls from the insurance industry for the FSA to begin regulating the sector.
Sports Direct predicts difficult six months ahead
Published: 22 January 2008
Sports Direct added to the high street gloom yesterday by warning that the retail trading environment would become "increas-ingly difficult" over the next six months.
Nationwide becomes the latest lender to raise mortgage rates
Published: 22 January 2008
The cost of borrowing money is continuing to rise this month, despite a cut in the Bank of England base rate at the start of December and a sharp reduction in Libor, the rate at which banks lend to each other, over the past few weeks.
Record £16bn trusted to building societies
Published: 22 January 2008
Building societies reaped the rewards of the Northern Rock crisis last year by attracting a record £16.1bn of savings inflows – almost double the £8.3bn in 2006.
Treasury insists on £5bn Rock asset buffer in bond issue deal
Published: 22 January 2008
Potential bidders for Northern Rock are scrambling to revise their proposals after the Government unveiled a string of conditions for it to guarantee a massive bond sale to fund a private sector deal.
Scottish Widows halts property fund transfers
Published: 22 January 2008
Scottish Widows yesterday became the latest fund manager to close the door on withdrawals from its commercial property funds, as growing numbers of nervous investors continued to shift their money out of the sector.
The City: 'Getting drunk won't help. There is more to come'
Published: 22 January 2008
Cold rain was falling on an overcast London yesterday but the City was feeling the heat from mid-morning when the FTSE 100 index started to slip into freefall.
Dolcis goes into administration
Published: 22 January 2008
Dolcis, the shoe shop chain, announced it has gone into administration after failing to secure new funding.
Vale holds takeover talks with Xstrata
Published: 22 January 2008
The Brazilian mining giant Vale do Rio Doce has confirmed it has held preliminary takeover talks with the Anglo-Swiss company Xstrata, which analysts said could lead to a deal worth more than £50bn.
BP follows Shell with pensions holiday
Published: 22 January 2008
The oil giant BP has become the latest major company to freeze contributions into its pension fund, following in the footsteps of its main rival, Royal Dutch Shell, which sparked controversy when it revealed it was taking a so-called "pensions holiday" in October last year.
Northern Rock: Should Branson be allowed to profit at our expense?
Published: 21 January 2008
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, stood up in the Commons today in the hope of mapping a way out of one of the sorriest messes in British banking history.
£70bn wiped off shares as FTSE plunges
Published: 21 January 2008
More than £70 billion was wiped off the value of blue chip shares today as the London market suffered its worst one-day fall since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
BHP Billiton prepares hostile Rio bid
Published: 21 January 2008
BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining company, is in the final stages of preparing a £65bn hostile bid for its rival Rio Tinto, after securing an agreement from seven of the world's largest banks to lend it the additional $70bn (£36bn) it needs to finance the deal.
Bid talk surrounds Friends Provident as JC Flowers builds new stake
Published: 21 January 2008
JC Flowers, the private equity group which until recently was in the running to make a bid for Northern Rock, has built up a stake of almost 2 per cent in the troubled life assurer Friends Provident, sparking speculation that it may be considering a takeover bid for the company.
Sale of Virgin Radio back on the agenda as potential suitors line up
Published: 21 January 2008
SMG's plans to offload Virgin Radio appeared to be back on track this weekend, after the group confirmed it had received several approaches for the station from potential bidders.
Steve Richards: Terrified of nationalisation, Brown heads for a nightmare
Published: 21 January 2008
It seems Gordon Brown is determined still to find a buyer for Northern Rock, with Virgin the most likely new owner. Evidently, Mr Brown cannot bear the prospect of even a temporary nationalisation. Although he insists all options are open he cannot yet utter the words "state ownership". Instead, he is frantically trying to secure a sale, apparently seeking a convoluted deal involving Richard Branson, the sale of bonds and a lot of finger-crossing.
House prices fall for third consecutive month but agents see signs of recovery
Published: 21 January 2008
House prices are continuing to fall, although the new year has seen a moderation in the rate of decline, according to the latest data from the online estate agency Rightmove.
Public finances are a mess and will get worse, says ITEM club
Published: 21 January 2008
Fresh research using the Treasury's own model of the economy suggests that the public finances will "deteriorate quite rapidly" in the wake of the credit crisis.
Forth Ports flings down gauntlet as Babcock buys on
Published: 20 January 2008
Hands challenges music industry to find new ways to sell
Published: 20 January 2008
Guy Hands, the boss of Terra Firma, the private equity group that has just taken over EMI, has accused the music industry of ignoring its customers.
Between a Rock and a hard place: sale or State?
Published: 20 January 2008
Non-executive directors 'aren't in it for the money'
Published: 20 January 2008
Tales of boardroom greed apppear to have been greatly overdone, at least where part-time directors are concerned. Most non-executive directors are motivated by the desire to make a difference, according to a survey of FTSE 100 company secretaries by the executive search firm Whitehead Mann.
