BEST OF THE BROKERS May 20, 2010 BAYER Citigroup reiterates its “buy” rating on Bayer. It says that although some risk-aversion in the run up to the release of Xarelto data is likely to remain a feature of the share price performance, it remains positive on this asset and on the stock and believes the current valuation provides an attractive long-term buying [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 20, 2010 KPMG Kathryn Britten has joined the accountancy firm as a partner and chairman of its growing forensic practice. Britten has over 30 years of audit and accountancy experience and specialises in professional negligence and commercial dispute issues. She joins KPMG from rival BDO, where she has been the national head of their forensic accounting and [...]
MAN FROM THE PRU IN SPOT OF PULP FRICTION May 20, 2010 SEASONED investors will be familiar with the mountain of paperwork that traditionally accompanies any City deal, but it does rather take the biscuit when recipients are actually forced to order waste-disposal skips in order to get the documents off their hands. Yet this, ladies and gents, is the position which stockbroker Charles Stanley finds itself, [...]
High Court lifts BA strike ban May 20, 2010 UNITE has won an appeal against a high court order banning a strike by BA cabin crew staff. BA was granted an injunction on Monday after the court ruled that the Unite union had not reported results of its strike ballot correctly to members. But Unite appealed against the decision, and the panel ruled 2-1 [...]
Car production soars by 44pc May 20, 2010 CAR production in Britain jumped by 44 per cent in April compared with the same month last year. A total of 98,290 cars were made in the month as the industry emerged from recession. Commercial vehicle production also rose – increasing 40.8 per cent to 10,777, according to the society of motoring Manufacturers and Traders. [...]
Mothercare raises dividend despite flat profit May 20, 2010 MOTHERCARE posted flat profit for the year but raised its dividend 16 per cent and said it was well placed to drive forward. The group, which trades from over 1,100 stores in 52 countries, said it made an underlying pre-tax profit of £37.2m for the year to 27 March. Group sales increased 5.9 per cent [...]
Dubai World in debt restructure deal May 20, 2010 DUBAI World, the state-owned conglomerate, has reached an agreement “in principle” with most of its bank lenders to restructure debt worth $23.5bn (£16.4bn). It said in a statement it would be left with debts of $14.4bn after the restructuring. Dubai World asked for a six-month delay on debt repayments in a move which shook world [...]
National Grid in £3.2bn rights issue May 20, 2010 NATIONAL Grid has said that it will launch a £3.2bn rights issue. The company’s two for five issue will see 990.4m new shares at 335 pence each. National Grid will use the money raised for a “significant increase in UK capital investment”, it said in a statement. It is also aimed at maintaining the company’s [...]
Osborne unveils company tax cut May 20, 2010 POLITICAL EDITOR GEORGE Osborne yesterday said he would lower the headline rate of corporation tax, but bowed to pressure from his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and promised to protect manufacturing allowances. In his first major speech as chancellor, Osborne said he would use an emergency Budget on 22 June to kick-start a five-year plan to [...]
Markets in chaos after Merkel ban May 20, 2010 MARKETS worldwide were plunged into turmoil yesterday as Germany’s panic move to ban naked shorting triggered fears of a fresh financial meltdown. The FTSE 100 crashed by almost three per cent to 5,158.08, mirrored by similar falls in Paris with the Cac 40 dropping 2.9 per cent to 3,511.67, and Germany’s Dax plunging 2.7 per [...]