Sub-postmasters warn on Royal Mail sale
Sub-postmasters have called for Royal Mail privatisation to be delayed, despite an attempt by the head of the Post Office to reassure them that the network of branches has a…
Essar Oil to trade fuel for Chinese loans
©Dhiraj Singh The son also rises: Prashant Ruia is the second generation to lead the family-run group India’s Essar Oil, a division of London-listed Essar Energy, is set to announce…
Actavis to buy Warner Chilcott for $5bn
Actavis sought to fend off takeover threats by purchasing Dublin-based rival Warner Chilcott in a $5bn deal designed to turn it into the world’s third-largest generic drug company by sales.…
Ryanair: options extra
The average ticket price last year on a Ryanair flight was about the same as the cost of 20 cappuccinos. More precisely, it worked out at €48, up 6 per…
Shine is coming off Brazil for investors
The exit of a senior bureaucrat little known outside his country would not normally worry international investors. But Nelson Barbosa’s resignation as Brazilian finance secretary for “personal reasons” last week…
Aim groups look to fringe funding schemes
A fringe of little-known financial institutions offering cash via complex funding schemes has been attracting more business from Aim-quoted companies – as conventional sources of finance remain closed off. But…
Sifma chooses top Republican as chief
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association appointed Judd Gregg, the former Republican senator, as the chief executive for the Wall Street lobbying group. Mr Gregg, who retired from the…
Tunisia has finally turned up the heat on the Salafis
©AFP Until recently, hardline Salafis in Tunisia held on to the belief that the country was a land of da’wa (preaching), not a land of jihad. The Islamist-led government elected…
FirstGroup shares plunge on rights issue
©Bloomberg The fallout from last year’s West Coast mainline fiasco was the “final straw” that forced FirstGroup to launch a heavily discounted rights issue on Monday, according to its chief…
Tumblr founder pockets millions from deal
©AFP David Karp may not have a high school diploma, but the 26-year-old has an enviable bank account. The shaggy-haired chief executive and founder of Tumblr has agreed to sell…
Iran’s carpet weavers return to the loom
Many Persian carpet weavers who had abandoned the profession in recent years because the business was no longer profitable have been setting up looms again as a surge in demand…
Greenpeace sounds alarm on oil groups
In December 2011, an offshore drilling platform called the Kolskaya was being towed through the Sea of Okhotsk to Sakhalin Island in Russia’s remote far east. The conditions were brutal.…
Nationwide tests water on raising capital
©Bloomberg Nationwide Building Society is finalising plans to become the first mutual to raise capital via a new instrument whose creation was recently approved by EU legislation. The UK’s biggest…
Danone targets China with Mengniu deal
©Bloomberg Cartons of milk from the Mengniu company. Danone is to take a small stake in one of China’s biggest dairy producers Danone is hoping it will be third time…
El Sewedy leads way for Egypt
For decades, one Egyptian company slowly built up its brand and bucked the odds, exporting its products across the world and growing while contemporaries languished. Now El Sewedy Electrometer, a…