Twilight eclipses movie rivals July 4, 2010 The latest “Twilight” movie sailed past the $100m ( £65.8m) mark during its third day at the North American box office, and was forecast to approach a record-breaking $200m by the end of the US Independence Day holiday weekend, according to weekend estimates say. “The Twilight Saga: The Eclipse,” knocked “Toy Story 3” from the [...]
Obama gives $2bn for solar energy July 4, 2010 US president Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said two solar energy companies will get nearly $2bn (£1.3bn) in US loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs. The US Energy Department offering includes $1.45bn in loan guarantees to Abengoa Solar to help it build Solona, one of the largest solar [...]
Warburg, maker of the modern City July 4, 2010 WITH a tan topped up over the weekend by a stay on a Greek island and his TV don’s hair – which looks like a tame version of Melvyn Bragg’s – a crisp white shirt, relaxed manner and a gentle Scottish accent, Niall Ferguson is without doubt a smoothy-chops. He’s also one of the best-known [...]
CITY GOES RURAL IN A PASSION FOR SPEED July 4, 2010 CITY petrol-heads were out in force over the weekend, among 175,000 visitors to the Goodwood Festival of Speed at Goodwood House outside Chichester. Among the business visitors to the F1 racing event were Arnauld Bamberger of Cartier, Audi’s Peter Duffy, BlackRock’s James Charrington, and Alfa Romeo/Fiat Group’s Richard Gadeselli. They turned out to watch top [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 4, 2010 THAT 4 July feeling clearly caught on in London last week as a gaggle of hungry City boys went to town this week at the diner-style Blues Kitchen in Camden. To start, they ploughed their way through piles of crispy onion rings and ribs washed down with creamy passion fruit and peanut-butter chocolate milkshakes. For [...]
Bank of China to launch £5.7bn rights issue July 2, 2010 BANK of China plans to raise up to 60bn yuan (£5.7bn) through a rights offer, it said. The bank proposed that shareholders get up to 1.1 rights per 10 shares held, it revealed in a statement. “All the proceeds to be raised from the rights issue … shall be applied towards strengthening the capital base [...]
US LOSES 125,000 jobs in June July 2, 2010 THE US lost 125,000 jobs last month, official figures have shown. It was the first time jobs were lost on a month-on-month basis this year. The figures from the Department of Labour reflected the departure of 225,000 temporary employees who had been working on the census in May. The private sector created 83,000 jobs. US [...]
Eurozone unemployment steady at 10pc July 2, 2010 EUROZONE unemployment held stable in May at ten per cent, compared with the downwardly revised figure in April in the first sign of an improving labour market thanks to economic recovery. The unemployment rate was revised down from 10.1 per cent to 10.0 per cent for April, and stayed there in May. Some economists had [...]
Pets at Home profit surges by 36pc July 2, 2010 BRITISH pet products retailer Pets at Home reported a 36 per cent increase in annual profit – fuelled by new store openings and an 8.8 per cent rise in sales from existing shops. The firm, bought in January by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for about £955m made a pre-tax profit of £54.24m in [...]
Brit Insurance rejects improved Apollo bid July 2, 2010 LLOYDS of London insurer Brit Insurance has rejected an improved takeover proposal from US buyout firm Apollo Management. However, it indicated that it was open to further offers. A possible revised offer of £10.50 per share, up from an original bid of £10 “undervalues the company,” and is not an acceptable basis for takeover talks, [...]