Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Business Matrix: Saturday 23 February 2013

 

Saturday 23 February 2013 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

EU to offer reduced Libor-fixing fines

The European Union is hoping to wrap-up its investigation into the Libor-fixing scandal by offering banks the chance to settle with reduced fines. US and UK regulators have so-far hit Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS for a combined $2.6bn (£1.7bn) for manipulating the inter-bank lending rate. The EU's Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia wants to conclude his own investigation into the benchmark rates before his term ends in 2014.

M&C revenues dip in top three cities

The international hotel group Millennium & Copthorne has said it had got off to a slow start this year with revenues per room down in all three main cities – Singapore down 10.2 per cent, London down 9.6 per cent and New York down 1.6 per cent. In 2012 M&C's profits fell 15 per cent to £158m but this largely reflected a one-off boost from land sales the year before. Mr Kwek said the group would improve returns this year by upgrading many of its 100 hotels.

Caution urged by Volkswagen

Volkswagen turned cautious on its outlook amid the shrinking European car market yesterday even as it posted record €11.5bn (£9.9bn) profits for 2012. Shares in Europe's biggest car maker fell more than 6 per cent on the Frankfurt bourse after it said its goal for 2013 was to just match the profit achieved last year. The company also warned of "ongoing uncertainty in the economic environment".

Vianet alert as profits look short

The company which claims to be able to measure the perfect pint left investors in need of a stiff drink yesterday after a profit warning sent its shares slumping 16 per cent. Vianet, whose beer monitoring technology is used in one in three British pubs, blamed pub sell-offs and contract delays as it braced the City for disappointing profits. The shares skidded 19p lower to 97.5p.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in