Will Thomas Cook ad offer take holidaymakers to a happy place?

Thomas Cook has come up with a truly valiant wheeze to make a virtue of its recent solvency wobble. A new promotional campaign from the debt-laden tour operator seeks to put a positive gloss on the borrowing crisis, which last week briefly cast doubt over whether the 170-year-old company would survive long enough to take some 5 million or so UK holidaymakers on summer breaks next year.

"We've been delivering great value for 170 years – 2012 will be no different," reads a new poster in all its high street shop windows. "Guaranteed: £170 off any of our summer 2012 holidays." That's 170 years … £170 off – Geddit?

It is not unusual for Thomas Cook, as with its rivals, to tempt customers into early bookings with bold promotional claims this time of year. But there is no doubt – in theme at least – that this latest promotional campaign is a little unorthodox. (Don't get too excited, however: the small print says the offer applies only if there is a minimum spend of £1,200 per booking)

Goodness knows Thomas Cook had to come up with something. Bookings were said to be down 30% in the UK last week, and insurance group Northern & Western had briefly withdrawn cover on Thomas Cook products. Elsewhere, rival group Tui was taking out whole page ads in newspapers gleefully declaring: "Another holiday company may be experiencing turbulence, but we're in really great shape."

It is perhaps a blessing that Thomas Cook does not trade under its corporate name outside of the UK, so bookings in other countries have not been shaken as badly. David Cameron may have described it last week as "an important and iconic British brand", but in truth the UK only generates about 10% of profits for the firm.

What a mess. Shareholders are unhappy, lenders are unhappy and staff are unhappy. Let's hope incoming chairman Frank Meysman, who takes over from the curiously absent Michael Beckett on Thursday, can quickly appoint a new chief executive to rebuild support among all stakeholders.

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MPs push UK bank bosses to boost lending to small firms

'How to get banks lending to small businesses?' was the question dominating the Treasury select committee's grilling of bank bosses on Wednesday and is also on the mind of the chancellor, who used his conference speech last month to promise a new set of measures to get money flowing. He used the phrase "credit easing" (CE) and described it as "another form of monetary easing".

The expectation is that George Osborne will use next week's autumn statement to provide a bit more clarity about what this CE might look like – but it's also thought that a lot of work is still under way about how to get this scheme going.

One idea put forward was for the banks to put all their small business lending into a separate subsidiary, or special purpose vehicle (SPV), that could have some sort of guarantee from the government – AAA-rated, of course. That vehicle would then be able to borrow money more easily on the markets.

The aim would be to reduce the cost of borrowing for banks, which, theoretically, should in turn reduce the cost of loans to small businesses, which argue that they are being charged more to borrow than bigger businesses.

The latest Bank of England survey of agents – its eyes and ears up and down the country – reports that credit terms for small businesses are indeed tightening.

But the idea of using an SPV-style arrangement now seems to be receding. Other ideas on the table include setting up a separate fund, similar to the European Investment Bank, which could help direct lending to firms.

No decision has yet been taken, but Osborne will not want the Treasury to end up guaranteeing non-performing loans which then hinder his deficit reduction programme.

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European Stars flock to Berlin for European Film Awards

European Stars flock to Berlin for European Film Awards

The 24th European Film Awards returned to Berlin on 3 December. An impressive line-up of European filmmakers joined by German actresses and actors as well as other colleagues presented the individual awards.

The 1,000 guests – winners, nominees and EFA Members – gathered at the Tempodrom where German comedy star Anke Engelke lead through the evening as the show’s host. Among the guests this year: the German State Minister for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann, the Austrian Minister for Education, Arts and Culture Claudia Schmied, EFA President Wim Wenders and the recipients of the honorary awards Stephen Frears and Mads Mikkelsen.

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European Commission will propose Creative Europe and Erasmus for All programmes on the 23 November

On Thursday 23 November, the European Commission will announce its detailed proposal for 'Creative Europe', the new programme for the cultural and creative sector and 'Erasmus for All', the new programme for education, training, youth and sport.

Both programmes are part of the Commission's proposal for a multi-annual budget for 2014-2020.

The 'Creative Europe' programme will bring the current Culture, MEDIA 2007 and MEDIA Mundus programmes together under a common framework which will support the cultural and creative sectors with a budget of €1.8 billion (+37%). The focus will be on helping cultural and audiovisual professionals to safeguard and promote cultural and linguistic diversity by making to make the most of the Single Market and to reaching new audiences in Europe and beyond, as well as promoting cultural diversity and contributing to the Europe 2020 objectives for jobs and sustainable growth.

The new programme for education, training and youth would allocate €19.5 billion (+ 70%) over seven years; the increase underlines the priority given to investing in knowledge and skills to support job creation and growth in Europe. The programme would ensure that more people benefit from EU grants to study or train abroad; it would also promote cooperation between governments, educational institutions, businesses and other partners, to support the policy reforms needed to modernise education systems and promote innovation, entrepreneurship and employability.

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Facebook float could value company at $100bn

Social network will cross the critical 500 shareholder mark by end of 2011, which will force it to file financial data with SEC even if it does not choose to raise $10bn in IPO

Facebook, the world's largest social network, is preparing for a public stock offering next spring which could raise up to $10bn, according to sources.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday night that the company is hoping that the IPO, which has been long rumoured, would value the company at around $100bn.

Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman, had discussed a public float with Silicon Valley bankers, but founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had not decided on any terms and his plans could change, the Journal said.

The social network, which now claims more than 800 million members worldwide after seven years of explosive growth, has not selected bankers to manage what would be a very closely watched IPO.

But it had drafted an internal prospectus and was ready at any moment to go for a flotation, the Journal said, citing "people familiar with the matter" – a standard form of words for insiders at the company.

At $100bn valuation, the company started by Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room would have double the valuation of Hewlett-Packard.

A formal S-1 filing could come before the end of the year, though nothing was decided, the Journal added.

A Facebook representative declined to comment.

One matter which could force Facebook's hand is the number of people – especially employees – who have received stock options as an incentive for working at the startup. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says that "a company must file financial and other information with the SEC 120 days after the close of the year in which the company reaches $10m in assets and/or 500 shareholders, including people with stock options".

Google was forced to file for an IPO in 2004 after it passed the 500 shareholder figure. It is unclear how many of Facebook's 3,000 staff are shareholders, but the company said in January that it will exceed 500 shareholders this year, and that in accordance with SEC regulations, it will file public financial reports no later than 30 April 2012. That will be obligatory even if it does not file for an IPO.

Facebook does not disclose its financial results, but a source told Reuters earlier this year that the company's revenue in the first six months of 2011 doubled year-on-year to $1.6bn (£1bn).

If it does debut in 2012, Facebook's IPO would dwarf that of any other dotcom waiting to go public.

Farmville creator Zynga has filed for an IPO of up to $1bn. In November, the daily deals service Groupon debuted with much fanfare – only to plunge below its IPO price within weeks. It is now one of the worst-performing technology flotations ever.

LinkedIn and Pandora, which also floated this year, are now also trading significantly below the levels their stocks reached during their public debuts.

Facebook has become one of the world's most popular online destinations, challenging established companies such as Google and Yahoo for consumers' time and for advertising dollars.

Eric Feng, a former partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers who now runs social-networking site Erly.com, said that the cash Facebook will get in an IPO would allow it to make more acquisitions and refine or work on new projects, such as a rumoured Facebook phone or a netbook.

Having tradeable stock will also allow Facebook to attract more engineering talent who might have been more attracted to the company in earlier days when it was growing faster but now perhaps might be attracted to other companies. "It'll be a powerful bullet for them," Feng said.

Investors have been increasingly eager to buy shares of Facebook and other fast-growing but privately-held internet social networking companies on special, secondary-market exchanges.

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Talks on Greek coalition to start soon - Papandreou

(Reuters) - Negotiations to form a Greek coalition government will start soon, Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Saturday, launching a new push to save the nation from bankruptcy and prevent its crisis from sweeping over Europe and beyond.

Papandreou told the Greek president that the nation had to forge a political consensus to prove it wanted to keep the euro, as European leaders try to persuade the outside world that the currency bloc can overcome its huge debt problems.

"In order to create this wider cooperation, we will start the necessary procedures and contacts soon," he told reporters after meeting President Karolos Papoulias.

Hours after surviving a parliamentary confidence vote, Papandreou said Greece had to avoid early elections, calling for a broad-based government to secure a bailout from the euro zone, the main weapon in Europe's battle against the spreading economic crisis.

"My aim is to immediately create a government of cooperation," he told the president in the presence of reporters before they held talks behind closed doors. "A lack of consensus would worry our European partners over our country's will to stay in the euro zone."

Political sources involved in the dealmaking said negotiations are being led behind the scenes by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who aims to head the new coalition.

FAMOUS FATHER, FAMOUS GRANDFATHER

The sources said Papandreou, a socialist whose father and grandfather were Greek prime ministers, would step aside to make way for Venizelos, the man he beat to his PASOK party's leadership in 2004.

Without saying when he might quit, Papandreou -- who has led

Greece through two years of political, economic and social turmoil -- said he was ready to discuss who should lead the new government which would rule until elections probably early next year.

"The last thing I care about is my post. I don't care even if I am not re-elected. The time has come to make a new effort ... I never thought of politics as a profession," he told parliament before the vote in the early hours of Saturday.

A new coalition is likely to exclude the main opposition party, the conservative New Democracy.

Papandreou said the coalition should aim to ram the 130-billion-euro bailout deal through the assembly, the last financial lifeline for a nation that is due to run out of money in December.

Under heavy domestic and international pressure, the prime minister has backed down on a proposal for a referendum on the euro zone rescue. Greek voters could well have rejected the deal, potentially sinking euro zone leaders' attempts to stop the debt crisis devastating economies such as Italy and Spain.

THINGS MAY TURN UGLY

Greeks, burdened by waves of spending and welfare cuts plus tax rises which have pushed the country into a long recession, expressed disgust at the political wrangling up at parliament.

"I'm sick of politicians in Greece, and feel that things will now turn ugly. If only they could cooperate, everything would be much better," said Tassos Pagonis, a 48-year-old Athens taxi driver. "But will Greece be saved? I'm afraid not. Europeans don't trust us anymore, they will throw us out."

Pagonis expressed a fear widespread in the nation -- that Greece might be forced out of the euro zone to go it alone with a revived national currency. "I hope we don't return to the drachma," he said.

Pensioner Yiannis Vlahos, 83, compared the fates of Greece and Germany, which occupied the country in World War Two.

"When the Germans left we had some hope. They were ruined by World War Two but they worked hard and became the strongest economy. We Greeks haven't learned our lesson, we only steal," he said. "We ourselves hate our beautiful country."

Papandreou's socialist government won with 153 votes in the 300 member parliament, and a rebellion by some dissidents in his PASOK party failed to materialise after he indicated that his term as prime minister was close to an end.

The leaders of France and Germany told Papandreou this week that Greece would not get a cent more of aid if Greece failed to approve the bailout, meaning that the state would run out of money in December.

Newspapers labelled Papandreou's confidence victory as little more than a deal paving the way for a new government without Papandreou. The pro-government Ta Nea ran with "New government now!"

Greece has been racked by torment since soon after Papandreou won power in 2009 and revealed that the real budget deficit was three times bigger than original estimates put out by his conservative predecessor.

International investors took fright, Greece's borrowing costs soared and Papandreou was forced to go cap in hand last year to the only bodies still willing to lend at affordable rates -- the European Union and IMF.

In return they demanded wave after wave of spending cuts, tax rises and pension cuts which provoked widespread protests on the streets on Greek cities, with bloody clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Athens.

FAILING AGAIN

Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JP Morgan Securities Japan, said the main concern was what would happen when international lenders returned to Athens in the coming months to assess the progress of the austerity plan and "find them failing again."

"This is just pushing away the timing of the real problem. Of course it's welcome that Greece didn't blow up today, but it doesn't solve the problem."

Analysts said Papandreou's victory had been Pyrrhic, and many ordinary Greeks said they were disenchanted with Byzantine political wrangling that was not addressing their basic need for jobs and cash.

Sources said Venizelos has won the backing of leaders of some smaller parties to support a coalition that he would head. The leaders of the far-right LAOS party and another centre-right party indicated after Papandreou's speech that they would cooperate in a new coalition.

In parliament, Venizelos said a new government should rule until next February and then call elections.

Opposition leader Antonis Samaras counted his New Democracy party out of the coalition, saying Papandreou had spurned his call for a national unity government. "Mr Papandreou rejected our proposal. The only solution is elections," he said.

(Additional reporting by Reuters Athens bureau; Writing by David Stamp)

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