International
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Japan automakers struggle to secure sales in China this year
Japanese car makers’ sales in China in the first three months of the year have yet to recover fully from last year’s slump, and foreign rivals are capitalising in a market which expects seven per cent growth this year. Mazda Motor Corp. said...
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Spain’s Rajoy calls on Europe for growth policies
Spain’s Prime Minister called yesterday for Europe to adopt growth policies to balance austerity and issued a veiled demand for Germany to boost spending. In a one-hour televised speech to leaders of his People’s Party, Mariano Rajoy also dismissed...
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EU transaction tax seen raising cost of issuing UK debt
A planned EU tax on securities transactions will add billions of pounds to the cost of issuing debt in Britain, hitting companies and government finances even though the country will not impose the levy, a study released yesterday shows. The City of...
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French investigators gain access to ex-minister’s Swiss bank details
France’s former Budget Minister, forced to resign after revelations he held a secret Swiss bank account, has allowed Swiss authorities to pass account details to French judges investigating him for fraud, Geneva’s public prosecutor said...
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EU regulator and bankers to joust over bonus cap
The European Union’s banking regulator will decide over the coming months which bankers should have bonuses capped, raising hopes among lenders that the rules can be eased before they take effect in 2014. The EU approved a law to cap bonuses at no...
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Italy makes huge haul of Mafia assets in green energy case
Italy made its biggest confiscation of Mafia assets in history yesterday including dozens of alternative energy companies worth a total of €1.3 billion, police said. A court in Trapani on the island of Sicily ordered the definitive confiscation of...
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Owner of London Eye planning share sale
Merlin Entertainments Group, the private-equity backed owner of Madame Tussauds and Legoland, is preparing to go public in either London or New York and has been meeting with potential investors, its chief executive said yesterday. The world’s...
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Take-off for Qantas-Emirates deal
Australia’s competition regulator has given Qantas Airways and Emirates final approval to form a five-year global alliance, with special conditions for flights across the Tasman Sea. Under the partnership, Qantas will use Dubai, rather than...
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Iceland offers hard lessons for Cyprus on capital controls
For Iceland, there was a sense of déjà vù when Cyprus’s Finance Minister said capital controls would probably last “a matter of weeks”. Five years after a banking meltdown, the north Atlantic island has just extended its own controls...
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UK banks told to plug £25 billion capital hole
Britain’s banks must raise £25 billion of extra capital by December to absorb any future losses on loans, the Central Bank said, less than investors had originally expected. The Bank of England said yesterday that major lenders should achieve a core...
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UK newspaper readers face online ‘meter’ charge
The Telegraph titles will start charging readers for online access immediately, the group has announced. The daily and Sunday versions are following in the footsteps of The Times and Sunday Times by introducing a paywall for its newspapers’ website.
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Asos sales surge again on strong home demand
British online fashion retailer Asos posted a 37 per cent rise in second quarter sales, buoyed by a better than expected home performance and strong overseas growth. Asos, whose celebrity fans include US First Lady Michelle Obama, said yesterday...
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New French Budget Minister to stick to fiscal course
France’s new Budget Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said yesterday he would stick to his predecessor’s efforts to rein in public spending, insisting there would be no policy change after the sudden resignation of his predecessor over a tax fraud...
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Cyprus pleads for Russian rescue, EU threatens cut-off
Cyprus pleaded for a new loan from Russia yesterday to avert a financial meltdown, after the island’s Parliament rejected the terms of a bailout from the EU, raising the risk of default and a bank crash. Cypriot Finance Minister Michael Sarris said...
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Volkswagen in massive China recall
Volkswagen AG, which sells more cars in China than any other foreign firm, will recall 384,181 vehicles there to fix a long-standing gearbox problem, China’s quality watchdog said yesterday. The recall, which will start on April 2, covers some...
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Metro issues profit warning and plans to revive business
German retailer Metro predicted operating earnings would fall in the coming months, hit by weak consumer spending, a lack of major sporting events and investments aimed at reviving its main cash and carry business. Shares in the company, which also...
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IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s flat searched
French authorities searched the Paris flat of IMF chief Christine Lagarde yesterday as part of an investigation into her handling of a 2008 compensation payment to a businessman supporter of ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, her lawyer said. Police are...
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Air Berlin to ‘rebuild’ in 2013
Air Berlin aircraft are pictured on the tarmac at Tegel airport in Berlin yesterday as the German carrier said it saw 2013 as a year of “rebuilding” after announcing a new savings programme in October year but stopped short of providing an earnings...
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Inditex continues positive trend as net profit rises to €2.4 bn
Zara owner Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, posted a sharp rise in full-year sales and profit as its drive to expand outside austerity-hit Europe continued to pay off. Inditex, famed for the fast-fashion business model that lets it...
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Eurozone factory output shows surprisingly big fall in January
Output at eurozone factories fell more than expected at the start of 2013 and production in France and Germany slipped in the latest sign the bloc is struggling to emerge from recession. Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro...
