OPEC reserves rise 4pc thanks to Venezuela July 6, 2010 OPEC’S proven crude oil reserves rose four per cent in 2009 to 1.06 trillion barrels, led by an increase in Venezuela, the group said in its Annual Statistical Bulletin. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also saw the value of its petroleum sales abroad plummet to $575bn (£380bn) in 2009 from the record $1 [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHERE DO YOU SEE THE CITY JOBS MArket HEADING? July 6, 2010 DAVID HALE | QBE INSURANCE “I don’t think there are going to be more jobs in the near future. Companies seem to still be making redundancies, and people are just grateful they have a job at all. It’s people coming back in to the jobs market, rather than moving around.” JASON BRUNTON | FRL RECRUITMENT [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF July 6, 2010 Smartphone retailer eXpansys yesterday agreed to buy two companies controlled by its key shareholder Peter Jones, the BBC Dragon, for £38m in a cash and stock deal. The company said it would fund the acquisition of SIM cards distributor Data Select Network Solutions and online marketing services provider PJ Media by raising £30m through a [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF July 6, 2010 Directors of star-performing oil and gas explorer Rockhopper Exploration yesterday delivered a further vote of confidence in the stock’s potential to continue on its meteoric rise. Aim-listed Rockhopper has been the darling of the junior market recently, having risen almost 800 per cent in value over the past year. Executive chairman Dr Pierre Jungels and [...]
BUSINESS IS BOOMING FOR TABLE DANCE KING July 6, 2010 TABLE-dancing mogul Stephen Less may have made his fortune building up Secrets, London’s largest chain of lap dancing clubs, but he’s certainly no one-trick pony. I hear Less has been a rather busy man of late, broadening his horizons to include no less than four satellite business interests. The first – and most austere – [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF July 6, 2010 Investment banking group Collins Stewart said yesterday it had taken on another non-executive director in the form of Nicholas Page, a former director of Hambros Bank and senior adviser to private equity firm Star Capital Partners. Page held a number of roles at Hambros, including as joint deputy chairman of Hambro Group Investments and managing [...]
New car sales enjoy a 20pc surge in 2010 July 6, 2010 THE car industry continued its steady recovery, reporting a 10.8 per cent year-on-year rise in new registrations. Registrations topped 195,000 in June, the 12th successive monthly increase. The figures were helped by a 25 per cent increase in sales in the fleet market and large-scale orders from businesses. This helped to offset the end of [...]
Car sales: A rocky road ahead for industry July 6, 2010 AT last, there’s something Britain does better than the Germans: selling cars. New car registrations in the UK rose for the twelfth successive month in June, up 10.8 per cent year-on-year – an increase that shouldn’t be sniffed at. The growth is less robust than it was in the first half of the year, when [...]
FSA fines ex Sibir chief for market abuse July 6, 2010 A DAMAGING corporate ruse was finally rumbled yesterday after the City regulator slapped a £350,000 fine on Henry Cameron, the former chief executive of oil company Sibir Energy. Last year, Sibir was embroiled in controversy over debts owed to the company by Russian tycoon Chalva Tchigirinski, one of its major shareholders. Sibir informed the market [...]
Boost for Balfour share price July 6, 2010 SHARES of Balfour Beatty advanced as much as eight per cent yesterday after the British infrastructure giant said its order book was growing despite tighter infrastructure spending from governments throughout Europe. Balfour Beatty also reassured investors that trading has met its expectations so far this year. Its order book is expected to be ahead of [...]