The Times cites an internal review at mining group ENRC which recommended the firm to dismiss 20 of its senior staff for fraud and discipline more than 60. “The alleged wrongdoing at the FTSE 100 miner included employees using company money to buy a guesthouse, a farming business and a horse farm, according to a leaked document,” the paper says.
Telecoms giant Vodafone is to increase UK capital expenditure by over 50% this year to nearly £1.0bn due to the launch of its 4G mobile serves and the integration of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, reports the Financial Times.
AB Foods’ Primark division is to take its “cheap chic” fashion to France after opening a flagship store later this year in Marseilles. The Telegraph.
The Guardian reports that the next annual general meeting of retail group Wal-Mart will be met by protestors which include a survivor of the deadly Bangladeshi garment factory fire and former child labourer. The protests, which will call for a shake-up of top management, follow the company’s refusal to sign a safety agreement in Bangladesh, which has drawn the support of other big retailers.
PwC has said that retailers have been hit the hardest by a growing tax burden, which has risen by almost two-thirds since 2005, writes The Independent. The accountancy firm says that the UK’s big retailers are now facing a total tax rate of 59%, compared with 39%among the rest of the 100 large companies it surveyed.
Hopes for a recovery in the jobs market have been stoked after a record surge in new positions being made available by employers in May, according to The Independent. Citing the Reed Job Index, the paper writes that there were 8.0% more opportunities on offer in May than the month before, with new positions growing by 17%.
“Wells Fargo’s chief executive has warned the Federal Reserve against forcing banks to hold more long-term debt, a measure that central bank officials believe will help end the phenomenon of institutions judged ‘too big to fail’,” the Financial Times says.