PotashCorp hunts for a white knight August 23, 2010 THIS is shaping up to be a classic takeover wrangle. First came the unsolicited bid – at $39.6bn (£25.5bn), BHP Billiton’s offer is a 20 per cent premium to PotashCorp’s undisturbed share price – which was immediately knocked back. Then came the anguished rhetoric from PotashCorp about the “grossly inadequate” level of BHP’s approach. The [...]
Minerva rebel investor KiFin slams finances August 23, 2010 ACTIVIST shareholder KiFin piled the pressure on property developer Minerva yesterday with a barrage of criticism ahead of a crunch meeting next month. KiFin sent a letter to Minerva shareholders taking a swipe at the firm’s finances, saying: “One does not need to be a rocket scientist to see how hugely over leveraged Minerva is.” [...]
Chrysler will struggle to turn a profit this year, Marchionne says August 23, 2010 CHRYSLER chief executive Sergio Marchionne said yesterday it would be “difficult” for the automaker to turn a net profit for the full year 2010. Marchionne did not offer guidance for Chrysler’s financial performance for either the third or fourth quarter of the year. The third-largest US automaker, which emerged from a US government-supported bankruptcy in [...]
Watchdog to tighten oil checks August 23, 2010 The number of significant oil spills off the shores of the UK rose sharply in 2009/10, according to figures released today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The industrial regulator said there were 85 large unplanned leaks over the past year, up from 61 the year before. The majority occurred in the North Sea. [...]
TRADERS SEX UP THE DULL WORLD OF FOREX August 23, 2010 THE THINGS that bored traders get up to when they get a minute, eh? The Capitalist chances upon an, err, enterprising website set up by a pair of forex traders, who claim to have cracked the conundrum of how to dispense a barrage of information to their peers while simultaneously holding their interest – by [...]
Bovis back in the black but remains wary August 23, 2010 Bovis Homes swung to a pre-tax profit in the first half of the year yesterday, with the housebuilder saying that sales are holding up during the sluggish summer months. “ We have seen a remarkable stability of sales rates week on week, clearly people talk about the summer being quieter than the spring, we’ve seen [...]
City dismisses fears of 8pc rates as rubbish August 23, 2010 ECONOMISTS yesterday rebuffed suggestions by an influential thinktank that interest rates could soar to eight per cent within two years, describing the claim as “complete rubbish”. Andrew Lilico of the Policy Exchange grabbed headlines by predicting a double-dip recession followed by a swift recovery. Lilico said monetary supply would surge in the upturn, fuelling inflation [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF BOVIS’ RESULT? August 23, 2010 CHRIS MILLINGTON | NUMIS SECURITIES I believe the return to profitability is sustainable, unless housing markets drop considerably. Despite Bovis not having as much short term work planned as competitors, it is in a strong position for the future. MARK HUGHES | PANMURE GORDON From a headline perspective the results are a little bit behind [...]
Feinberg takes over BP’s Gulf spill fund August 23, 2010 KENNETH Feinberg, the man appointed to independently run BP’s $20bn (£12.8bn) escrow fund, has pledged to ensure that individual claimants who have suffered financially from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill receive speedy payment in a bid to deter them from entering into lengthy litigation. Feinberg, who is nicknamed the “pay czar”, said his goal [...]
Petrofac gains from Middle Eastern work August 23, 2010 OIL services group Petrofac said it forecast a 20 per cent rise in pre-tax profit for 2010 yesterday, thanks to a strong backlog of work and new operations in the Middle East built up over the last half year. The FTSE 100-listed firm posted revenues of $2.13bn (£1.37bn) for the last six months, which is [...]