F Telecom set to bid for Le Monde June 17, 2010 Lagardere said it could sell its stake in Le Monde to France Telecom yesterday, raising the possibility the French government could become an indirect owner in one of the country’s most respected newspapers. Lagardere said it wanted to sell its 17 per cent stake and said it had received a notice of interest from France [...]
Eskom in talks to avoid strike June 17, 2010 South Africa’s biggest union and the state-owned power utility Eskom were in last ditch pay talks yesterday, with the workers threatening a strike that could disrupt electricity supply during the World Cup. A union representing about half of the workers at the utility had threatened to strike from as early as today if demands for [...]
Balfour Beatty seeks margin boost June 17, 2010 The head of Britain’s largest infrastructure group, Balfour Beatty, said yesterday it would raise margins at US unit Parsons Brinckerhoff, and strip out overall costs to help offset severe public spending cuts. Tyler said Balfour would invest further in the promising US market this year.
TV purchases boost retail sales in May June 17, 2010 FOOTBALL-CRAZY Britons splashing out on new televisions ahead of the 2010 World Cup gave retail sales a much-needed boost in May. The healthy 0.6 per cent gain last month contradicted the surveys from the CBI and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which pointed to much weaker growth in sales. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) [...]
Rise in US jobless claims and plunge in prices spark fears of growth slowdown June 17, 2010 NEW US claims for jobless aid rose last week while consumer prices notched their largest decline in nearly 1-1/2 years in May, suggesting interest rates will remain ultra low to nurse the fragile economic recovery. Fears that growth could be slowing were heightened yesterday by a report showing factory activity in the country’s Mid-Atlantic region [...]
RBS sells its Kazakhstan units to HSBC for $52m June 17, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland sold its Kazakhstan business to HSBC yesterday to take the part-nationalised bank’s proceeds from a trio of Asian and Middle East assets to $200m (£135.2m) in two days. HSBC, which unlike RBS did not take state help during the financial crisis and consolidated its position as Europe’s biggest bank, said it [...]
CBI: Demand for UK goods weakens June 17, 2010 DEMAND for manufactured goods weakened a little in June but this followed an exceptional improvement in May, according to the latest monthly Industrial Trends survey from the CBI, which was published yesterday. A net 23 per cent of manufacturers said that total orders were below normal in June. This is slightly worse than May’s balance [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 17, 2010 BHP BILLITON Citigroup maintains a “buy” recommendation on BHP Billiton saying the group’s share price has been overly impacted by issues such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Chinese slow down and OECD debt issues. According to Citi, the market has already discounted $55bn in value destruction for BHP, which it believes is overdone. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 17, 2010 Alpha Strategic The hedge fund investment group has appointed Florence Lombard, the former head of the Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima), as a non-executive director. Lombard, 58, was head of Aima in the UK from 1993 until the end of 2008. She then stayed on as an executive director to focus on the relationship with [...]
Orange offers first UK plans for iPhone 4 June 17, 2010 ORANGE became the first British mobile network operator to announce tariffs for the iPhone 4, the latest runaway success from Apple. The operator said the 16GB version of the smartphone will be free on its £50-a-month business tariff with a two-year contract. The 32GB version will set customers back £41.70 on the same tariff. On Orange’s cheapest [...]