Royal Mail, the UK’s 360-year- old postal service, intends to hold an initial public offering of a majority stake “in the coming weeks” to help it gain a competitive edge against European rivals.

A shareholder revolt over the pay of chief executive Bob Diamond is set to hit UK banking giant Barclays at its annual meeting later this month.

EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s battle with the airline’s board was dealt a blow today after its bosses won the support of the carrier’s three largest institutional shareholders.

James Murdoch was reappointed as a director of BSkyB at the company’s annual general meeting today.

BP shares came under pressure today as it was reported that staff at the beleaguered oil giant could face manslaughter charges over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Aviva bosses looked to be under growing pressure from shareholders today after the firm’s rejection of a £5bn bid for its general insurance arm.

US raider Kraft could have to pay at least £12.4bn (€14.1m) to succeed in its hostile bid for Cadbury, one of the UK firm's major investors said today.

LATEST figures from the Central Bank show personal debt fell by €563 million in the second quarter of this year while mortgage debt was down €194m.

Former building societies Abbey and Alliance & Leicester are to be merged under a £1.26bn (€1.5bn) deal announced today.

Bradford & Bingley’s major shareholders were today stepping in to salvage the lender’s £400m (€505m) funding plan after a US private equity firm walked away from the deal.

Standard Life reported a 13% lift in UK sales today as the insurer claimed progress in moves to reposition its business ahead of a summer flotation.

The boss of life insurer Standard Life is giving up bonuses of more than £500,000 (€708,328) as a gesture to disgruntled policyholders.

The fate of Marks & Spencer could be decided today as the retailer prepared for a crunch meeting with its institutional and private investors.

The M&S board claimed a major scalp in its drive to persuade investors not to support a takeover proposal from billionaire Philip Green.

BUDGET airline easyJet lost over a fifth of its market value yesterday as it joined rival Ryanair in giving bleak comments on rising fuel costs and a price war.

Standard Life Investments has said it was moving its investment stance on non-British European equities to “heavy” from “neutral, “ expecting good performance by companies.

GALEN founder and former president Allen McClay sold a 6.3% stake in the Northern Irish drugmaker for around £97 million (€147m) yesterday, sources close to the deal said. The sale spurred a drop in its share price.

EIRCOM is being asked by some of its bondholders for more time to consider a plan by the company to sell shares.

Europe’s largest mutual life insurer Standard Life today said it was considering a stock market flotation.

IRISH pension funds increased in value by an average of 12.3% during 2003, according to a survey of pension funds released yesterday.

The average Irish Pension Managed Fund gained 5.7% in the final quarter of the year, bringing the annual return for 2003 to 12.3%.

Greencore has identified its main shareholders in order to dispel any take over rumors following recent heavy trading of its stock.

ITV group Carlton could face the prospect of a shareholder vote to oust chairman Michael Green if he does not agree to go, it emerged today.

BRITISH department store chain and bid target Debenhams Plc said yesterday its sales growth was accelerating, outpacing bigger rivals and lending weight to calls from shareholders for a higher takeover price.

EUROPEAN shares have been on the rack for three successive years and are on course to lose almost a third of their value in the last year alone, indicating the bear market has accelerated.