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Thatcher funeral cost £3.6m: Downing Street

Agence France-PresseApril 25, 2013 14:16
Margaret Thatcher's funeral cost British taxpayers an estimated £1.6 million ($2.5 million 1.9 million euros), with a further £2 million spent on police who would have been on duty anyway, Downing Street said Thursday. Though never likely, back-of-an-envelope newspaper guesses in the run-up to the former prime minister's funeral last week estimated the cost at £10 million. That inflamed far-left activists, angry at the expenditure on the Conservative titan amid the public spending cuts aimed at reining in Britain's budget deficit.

L&G buys rest of Cofunds for 131 million pounds

March 26, 2013 04:30
LONDON (Reuters) - British insurer Legal & General <LGEN.L> has agreed to buy the 75 percent of Cofunds Holdings it does not already own, in a deal valuing the investment fund supermarket at 175 million pounds. Buying the rest of Cofunds using 131 million pounds of L&G's cash reserves will help it reach a goal to expand in the investment platform business, the company said in statement on Tuesday. It expects the deal to conclude within the first half of the year and to boost its own profits by the end of 2014.

Lloyds pays 25 staff more than 1 million pounds each

March 25, 2013 09:30
By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group paid 25 staff more than 1 million pounds each in 2012, a year in which it set aside billions of pounds to compensate customers mis-sold loan insurance. The bank, which is 39 percent owned by the UK taxpayer, said on Monday it paid bonuses worth a total of 365 million pounds in 2012, down 3 percent on the previous year and the lowest of the big four British lenders.

Britain's "bad bank" repays 4 billion pounds to taxpayer

March 25, 2013 05:15
By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's 'bad bank' running down the loans of two bailed-out lenders repaid 4 billion pounds to the government last year, chipping away at a total owed of more than ten times that amount. UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), a 'zombie bank' that does not take new business, owes the government 43.4 billion pounds, down from 48.7 billion when it was created in October 2010.

Soccer-Bottom club QPR's debt soars to 89 million pounds

March 7, 2013 08:30
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers' debts have increased to almost 89 million pounds ($133.99 million), according to the latest financial results published for the Premier League's bottom club. The accounts, which cover the 2011-12 season and do not include the last two transfer windows when QPR invested heavily on new players, show debts rose by almost 33 million pounds.

URGENT ¥¥¥ Royal Bank of Scotland posts 2012 net loss of £5.971 billion

February 28, 2013 03:46
State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland said Thursday that net losses almost tripled to £5.97 billion ($9.05 billion, 6.89 billion euros) in 2012, when it was hit by compensation payouts and a Libor fine. The vast loss after taxation compared with a shortfall of £1.997 billion in 2011, the lender announced in a results statement, adding that 2012 had been a "chastening" year during which it sought to "put right past mistakes". rfj/yad

Britain's MoD under fire for 'wasting' £1.5 billion

February 27, 2013 20:45
Lawmakers slammed Britain's Ministry of Defence on Thursday after it was revealed that between 2009 and 2011 it bought £1.5 billion worth of equipment more than it used. A report by a cross-party committee of MPs identified £3.4 billion ($5.1 billion, 3.9 billion euros) worth of supplies which it said could be sold. The report accused the department of "wasting significant amounts of public money" on accruing consumable supplies such as uniforms and ammunition which have not been used.

Barclays to cut pay by $890 mln over scandals-source

February 27, 2013 11:45
By Steve Slater LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays plans to cut or claw back about 450 million pounds ($680 million) of pay from its staff over a rate-rigging scandal that last year forced out its chief executive and chairman, a person close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Security firm G4S loses £70 mn over Olympics fiasco

February 12, 2013 09:15
British security giant G4S is to lose £70 million ($110 million, 82 million euros) over its failure to provide enough guards for the London Olympics, the company said on Tuesday. The firm had previously estimated that it would lose £50 million over the fiasco, which forced the British government to draft in 4,700 troops at the last minute to help guard the Games.

Modigliani lover portrait sells for £26.9 mn in London

February 6, 2013 18:31
A portrait by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani of his lover Jeanne Hebuterne went under the hammer in London on Wednesday for £26.9 million ($42.3 million, 31.2 million euros), Christie's auction house said. The final price for the 1919 portrait, "Jeanne Hebuterne (Au chapeau)" (Jeanne Hebuterne wearing a hat) was well over the pre-sale estimate of between £16 million and £22 million. A Christie's spokeswoman declined to say who had bought the painting, which shows Modigliani's French muse wearing a black hat and with the swan-like neck typical of his style.
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