UFO Info Week-End

All the political parties will be planning their manifestos and we want

“All the political parties will be planning their manifestos and we want to see a clear understanding that business does not need any more legislation,” he said.He said the major issue facing business was the strength of sterling, and he criticised the Chancellor for doing nothing in the Budget to help weaken the currency. “The worry is not just the short-term effect in terms of profits, it is capital investment.”Overseas companies investing in the UK, and UK companies with overseas facilities, are making investment decisions today that are effective three to five years out. I have visited a variety of plants where they say the next investment in machine equipment will cost a lot of money, and so they have decided to put it overseas because they would otherwise not see a proper return.”In two or three years’ time there will be a foreign competitor beating us on productivity because they have made the capital investment,” Mr Jones said.His comments will be seen as a response to Gordon Brown’s speech to the British Chambers of Commerce, in which he urged businesses to improve productivity but made little mention of sterling. Mr Jones said that there were other ways of improving productivity. He said one company was forced to employ two drivers in a lorry travelling between Manchester and Birmingham because the inadequate roads meant it could not guarantee making the delivery without breaking rules on drivers’ hours.”This government is in a good position, with a large majority and a budget surplus, but the £280m for transport in the Budget was woeful compared with what is needed,” he said, adding that he hoped for substantial extra cash in the summer’s comprehensive spending review.His other major concern was the burden of legislation on business. “Each new regulation is a straw searching for a camel’s back,” he said, adding that he wished the Government would back off from imposing regulations.He also urged the Chancellor to suspend the introduction of the climate change levy, which would impose another tax burden on the very manufacturers already suffering from the high pound.Mr Jones has moved the CBI slightly away from the strongly pro-euro stance it maintained under his predecessor, Adair Turner. Soon after taking over, he announced that the CBI would no longer actively campaign for the UK’s membership, saying it was up the Government to take the lead.

This has been seen as the beginning of the end of business’s so-called honeymoon with Labour.. Thomson Travel, the holiday company facing a £1.3bn bid from German travel group C&N Touristica, is not willing to open formal talks on the offer until the predator commits itself to a specific higher price. Thomson Travel, the holiday company facing a £1.3bn bid from German travel group C&N Touristica, is not willing to open formal talks on the offer until the predator commits itself to a specific higher price.
C&N said last week it was willing to listen to Thomson’s argument for more money, but this merely prompted another rebuff of its 130p-a-share indicative offer. Yesterday a Thomson spokesman said: “They have got to come up with a different number first.

They’re not going to get us to talk to them until they first improve the figure that they’ve mentioned.”They have to specific about that. Our position is very clear that 130p offers no basis for talks. Until that number changes, we’re not going to get round a table with them.”The spokesman denied weekend reports that the two sides were secretly talking. However, other sources said the advisers of the two companies were maintaining an informal dialogue.C&N, thought to be reluctant to go hostile, is expected to bow to the pressure this week and raise its indicative offer price. However, it is not expected to go as high as the 170p a share at which Thomson floated in May 1998.

Analysts suggest that 150p a share ought to get Thomson to enter talks that could lead to a firm offer Thomson shares closed last week at 137p.. It’s hard to believe that CDNow, the grand-old-daddy of online retailing, is in trouble. Doom and gloom merchants are already writing its obituary – and some are going as far as to say that its troubles are a foreboding sign for the fate of other online retailers The news is not good. CDNow is reported to have only enough money to keep it afloat until October, so drastic cost-cutting measures are having to be applied throughout the whole company. It’s staggering to think that even such a giant could go into dotcoma.

It’s hard to believe that CDNow, the grand-old-daddy of online retailing, is in trouble. Doom and gloom merchants are already writing its obituary – and some are going as far as to say that its troubles are a foreboding sign for the fate of other online retailers The news is not good. CDNow is reported to have only enough money to keep it afloat until October, so drastic cost-cutting measures are having to be applied throughout the whole company. It’s staggering to think that even such a giant could go into dotcoma.
CDNow has already been through several rounds of funding and with its share price in free-fall, it’s difficult to see from where further investment could come Unless, of course, it considered a buy-out.