BP to sell Malaysian interests for £236m September 1, 2010 BP is to sell its ethylene and polyethylene operations in Malaysia to Petronas for $363m (£236m) in cash, continuing a disposal programme as a result of the huge financial cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The oil giant said that it would sell its 15 per cent stake in Ethylene Malaysia (EMSB) and [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown sees profit surge in record year September 1, 2010 BROKER Hargreaves Lansdown has seen pre-tax profit up 18 per cent while assets under management also surged. The company’s figures, covering the year to the end of June, showed growth in every category as it emerged strongly from the recession. Pre-tax profit was £86.3m while total assets under administration rose by 47 per cent to [...]
Game up for Tomkins as buyers target UK August 31, 2010 ONE of the City’s largest investors warned foreign predators not to view UK companies as easy pickings yesterday after Tomkins became the latest name to fall to an overseas bid. Standard Life Investments (SLI) made an angry intervention after shareholders in Tomkins, the former “buns-to-guns” group, voted to accept a £2.9bn offer from a consortium [...]
Fed warns of sluggishness August 31, 2010 US POLICYMAKERS warned of increasing risks to economic growth in the minutes of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting released yesterday. “The softer tone of incoming economic data suggested that the pace of the expansion would be slower over the near term than previously projected,” the minutes said. The Fed decided to reinvest the [...]
David Miliband: The least bad option August 31, 2010 ONE of the stories of the summer has been just how far the Labour party is moving to the left, as its leadership candidates appeal to grassroot members and trade unionists angry at the perceived betrayals of the Blair years. With the coalition’s honeymoon long since over, and the Lib Dems’ popularity in freefall, who [...]
Potash:BHP was unethical August 31, 2010 POTASH said yesterday its suitor BHP Billiton has been “inappropriate and highly unethical” by cold-calling many of its customers while embroiled in a hostile takeover deal. BHP, the Anglo-Australian mining giant, earlier this month launched a $38.6bn (£24.1bn) hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp, the world’s largest fertiliser company. Potash said in a letter to [...]
US lending drops but profit up August 31, 2010 US banking showed signs of improvement in the last quarter, as firms posted their biggest profit in almost three years despite a fall in lending and a jump in the number of at-risk institutions. The $21.6bn gain in the three months to 30 June was aided by lenders covering fewer expected loan losses, said the [...]
Amazon explores TV project August 31, 2010 Online retailer Amazon has made a move into television, with the American firm working on a project to provide unlimited shows over the internet for paying subscribers. Reports last night put NBC Universal, Time Warner and Viacom in the frame as potential partners. The new service would compete with firms like Netflix that allow subscribers [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 31, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES DEMOCRATS FACE MIDTERM MELTDOWN Barack Obama’s Democratic party faces a series of dramatic defeats at every level of government in Washington and beyond in the November midterm elections, according to leading analysts and opinion polls. The University of Virginia’s widely monitored Crystal Ball will today forecast sweeping setbacks on Capitol Hill and the [...]
Blair memoir warns against move to Left August 31, 2010 TONY Blair has blamed Gordon Brown for Labour’s loss in the last election, claiming in his long-awaited autobiography that the party veered too far to the left. His memoir, A Journey, which hits the shelves today, also reveals the former Prime Minister’s thoughts on why Labour lost the election in May, the much-criticised Iraq war [...]