City briefing

Lenders win dual rate cases


Thousands of home owners hoping for compensation from their mortgage lenders were dealt a blow yesterday when the ombudsman ruled in favour of Halifax and Cheltenham & Gloucester.

The ombudsman rejected claims that Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, had acted unfairly by keeping some existing fixed rate and standard rate mortgage holders on higher rates of interest while offering cut-price loans to new borrowers.

If customers did not ask to switch to cut-price rates when they were first available and widely publicised, they were not entitled to compensation, the ombudsman said.

A similar ruling was made agaionst C&G customers who had complained about its "dual rate" system but waited until after the rates had been abolished to do so.

The issue of dual rates came to a head last year when the ombudsman found in favour of a Halifax customer who was denied access to favourable new rates when he moved to a capped rate deal.

Lenders view the latest rulings as evidence that the ombudsman draws a line between customers who applied for compensation while dual rates were still in operation and those who complained later.

Halifax and C&G said they had paid out compensation to everyone with a legitimate claim. Halifax has paid £12m to 30,000 borrowers.

Ladbrokes bets on league deal


Ladbrokes has signed a three-year deal with Premier League football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool to provide betting services to fans. The bookmaker will provide betting services to the league's top three teams of last season following the four-year deal with Manchester United in May. The company, which is forecasting a record season for football betting, said it would provide betting facilities at the clubs' football grounds, as well as through their websites.

Vivendi misery deepens


Downgrades from analysts at UBS and Deutsche Bank caused a 12% drop in Vivendi Universal's share price yesterday - its third successive day of losses on the Paris bourse.

Vivendi has said it will sell US publisher Houghton Mifflin but reports in France yesterday suggested the group would sell all of its publishing assets.

$10bn boost for Boeing


Boeing, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, has won a $9.8bn contract from the US air force, safeguarding 7,000 jobs in Long Beach, California where the transport planes are built. Boeing has laid off almost 30,000 workers since the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Corus starts sell-off


Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus yesterday took the first step towards pulling out of the aluminium sector, as it agreed a £108m deal to offload its stake in a Canadian smelter.

The group in March announced plans to quit the aluminium market to ease its debt burden and focus solely on steel.

Proceeds from the sale of its 20% stake in the Aluminerie Alouette smelter in Quebec will be used to cut borrowings. Corus expects to sell the remainder of its aluminium interests by the end of the year, raising £1bn.