Financial News

By Andrew Hurst, European banking correspondent ZURICH (Reuters) - Recent moves by France and Spain to promote companies they view as national champions in the energy industry do not bode well for any prospective foreign bid for a top European bank. "What this is telling us is that pan-European consolidation is on hold until we see the creation of national champions," said Simon Maughan, a banki ...

By Santosh Menon LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in BT Group (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped over 5 percent on Friday on a newspaper report that the country's dominant fixed-line telecoms company could attract a 20 billion pound bid from private-equity firms. The Times newspaper cited an unidentified senior telecoms adviser for a venture capital firm as saying his firm had been "running a slide rule over BT". BT dismissed the report, but it comes in the wake of rising private-equity activi ...

This is Money3 March 2006 BRITONS are collectively set to waste £7.6bn paying unnecessary tax during 2006 - £1.8bn more than they wasted last year, figures showed today. OTHER STORIES Households owe £2.6bn Market report: Friday 10.30 HMV stalker ups the takeover ante Wetherspoon puts pub smoking ban on hold Rank signals slowdown at Hard Rock THE EDITOR'S CHOICE  ...

Ros Snowdon Deputy City EditorTHE UK's biggest insurer, Norwich Union, reported better-than-expected annual profits yesterday and said it was confident of further growth this year.The group, owned by parent company Aviva, is hoping to cash in on pension simplification, which comes into effect next month, by launching a number of new products."We have got a full suite of products including Retireme ...

Evening Standard3 March 2006 DUBAI Ports World's vice chairman has sought to calm security fears over the company's takeover of P&O's US ports operations, saying management would remain the same after the deal. WANT TO KNOW MORE? POLL: What do you expect the level of the FTSE 100 to be at the end of 2006? OTHER STORIES Households owe £2.6bn Wetherspoon puts pub smoking ban o ...

Jane Padgham, Evening Standard3 March 2006 SPIRALLING household bills will hit consumers in the pocket to the tune of £2.6bn this year - equivalent to nearly a penny on income tax, new research shows. CALCULATED RISK: The extra debt burden is expected to hit consumer spending OTHER STORIES Wetherspoon puts pub smoking ban on hold Market report: Friday 09.00 HMV stalker ups the takeover ante Rank signals slowdown at Hard Rock Green's Bhs sale comes to nothing  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 opened slightly higher on Friday as bid talk boosted BT and Cairn Energy, but global inflationary concerns weighed on equities across the world. Mergers and acquisitions activity, actual and speculated, has helped the FTSE 100 climb close to 5,900 points for the first time since June 2001. Shares in BT (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 2.2 percent after The Times reported that several private equity groups are examining a possible 20 billion pounds bid for ...

Sam Fleming, Daily Mail3 March 2006 THE global commodities boom is reshaping the Footsie 100. Five years ago when media and technology shares were all the rage, there were only six mining and oil drilling companies ranking among the top 100 shares on the London Stock Exchange. Today there are ten, and a reshuffle next week is likely to push two more commodities players into the major league. W ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Top shares are seen opening slightly higher on Friday, with little on the blue-chip agenda to offer direction, but stocks like BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) could benefit from resurgent commodity prices. Financial bookmakers see the FTSE 100 share index 4-5 points higher in early trades, having closed 11.1 points weaker o ...

Investor demand for the biggest refinancing of a leveraged takeover in Europe has exceeded the amount needed before most banks have even decided whether to invest, according to people close to the deal. // Investors have offered to lend more than €14bn to TDC to refinance the leveraged buyout of the Danish telecoms operator, showing that appetite for risk assets remains strong despite warnings that credit conditions are turning for the worse. The company is raising up to €8.5bn in senior loans ...