Tanfield hit by funding concerns August 26, 2010 Tanfield Group’s shares nearly halved in value, hitting a seven-year low yesterday, after the troubled electric van maker said it was in talks to sell its shares at a substantial discount to tackle a cash shortage. The company said it expected the fundraising to be structured as an open offer, partially underwritten by certain directors. [...]
Blast from the past as Nadir returns August 26, 2010 A TORY Prime Minister is slashing the budget, Iron Maiden are top of the album chart and now exiled tycoon Asil Nadir is back in the UK. It’s like the 1980s never ended. Nadir, 69, touched down to a media scrum yesterday, accompanied by his glamorous 26-year-old wife, Nur. Tanned, wearing a double breasted suit, [...]
Price hike joy at Kazakhmys August 26, 2010 KAZAKH copper miner Kazakhmys benefited from the rise in commodity prices in the last six months, but warned yesterday cost hikes could catch up and dent future earnings. Underlying profit rose 159 per cent to $696m (£448m)?in the six months to July, though pre-tax profit dropped 5.2 per cent to $631m due to exceptional items. [...]
UK oil firms post mixed results as they aim to widen exploration August 26, 2010 BRITISH oil explorers Premier Oil and Soco International flagged potentially transformational drilling plans for the second half of 2010 yesterday as they unveiled mixed results despite higher oil prices. Soco said its exploration programme, already under way in Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Congo, could quadruple its reserves base, while Premier said drilling plans [...]
Petropavlovsk cuts its gold targets by less than feared August 26, 2010 RUSSIAN miner Petropavlovsk cut its gold production target for the year by less than expected, helping to outweigh disappointing interim results. It cut its gold output guidance by around 40,000 ounces for the year, to 636,500 to 670,000 ounces. Many analysts had already factored in lower production, pushing the shares down 11 per cent since [...]
Glencore moves to divest $5bn of gold assets August 26, 2010 THE WORLD’S biggest commodities trader Glencore unveiled plans yesterday to spin off or list its gold assets, worth up to $5bn (£3.22bn), as it reported a surge in first-half profits due to strong metals prices. Swiss-based Glencore has also dropped the idea of finding a partner for its Prodeco coal assets, a source close to [...]
RIO TINTO BOSS SHRUGS OFF M&A TALK August 26, 2010 RIO TINTO chief executive Tom Albanese told a conference in Brisbane yesterday the future of the mining industry remains volatile, and that Rio will focus on production growth rather than acquisitions. He has already dismissed the idea of bidding against rival BHP Billiton for fertiliser firm Potash, saying:?“I’m a miner, not a farmer”.
Wall Street hails better jobless claims August 26, 2010 REPORTS of shorter jobless queues in the United States gave Wall Street some much-needed cheer yesterday after poor housing market and durable goods figures earlier this week heightened fears of a double-dip recession. Initial jobless claims for state unemployment benefits fell 31,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 473,000 last week, far fewer than the 490,000 that the [...]
London lettings boom as demand pushes up rents August 26, 2010 LONDON’S lettings market remains buoyant with a surge in tenant demand pushing rents in the capital higher. Forty three per cent more chartered surveyors in London reported a rise in demand for property rather than a fall, up from 37 per cent in the first quarter, according to the latest RICS residential lettings survey for [...]
Eurozone loans to households surge in July August 26, 2010 LOANS to European households and businesses grew at the fastest pace in more than a year in July as optimism about the currency bloc’s economic recovery grew, the European Central Bank (ECB) reported yesterday. The central bank said that lending to the private sector increased 0.9 per cent on July 2009, building on a 0.5 [...]