Forth Ports will hear bid as profit is up March 22, 2010 TAKEOVER target Forth Ports is ready to listen to suitor consortium Northstream. The UK’s biggest listed ports operator will be buoyed after its full-year results showed a swing back into black with pre-tax profits of £36.3m. The firm underwent a series of cost cutting measures that offset a loss of £30.7m the year before. However, [...]
Obama’s healthcare bill will not boost drugs sector March 22, 2010 THE US House of Representatives’ approval of the long-awaited and highly contentious Healthcare Reform Bill leaves final ratification to the Senate. Importantly, although costly ($940bn, or £623bn, over 10 years), the key provisions contained within the Reform Bill are not scheduled to become effective until 2014 and between now and then additional regulations will be [...]
Lloyds’ remuneration chairman quits ahead of investor showdown March 22, 2010 The head of the remuneration committee at Lloyds Banking Group will retire in May, sidestepping a potential fight with shareholders over the bonus awarded to the bailed-out bank’s chief executive. Wolfgang Berndt, 67, will step down from the board at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting, Lloyd’s said. He is leaving just months after approving a [...]
Shell snaps up Arrow in £2.1bn deal March 22, 2010 ROYAL Dutch Shell is on the brink of gaining a lucrative foothold in the energy supply chain to China after a £2.1bn bid for Australia’s Arrow Energy was accepted. Shell’s joint bid with PetroChina is now awaiting the green light from Australian regulators after it was unanimously recommended to Arrow shareholders. The firms do not [...]
Absence of bidding war kept price low March 22, 2010 IT’S a funny old world. Yesterday, four Rio Tinto employees on trial in Shanghai admitted taking bribes during iron ore contract negotiations. The trial has strained relations between China and Australia, but it looks as though the pair are ready to do business again. Analysts and lawyers expect Australian regulators to wave through a deal [...]
Regus profits fall but bright outlook ahead March 22, 2010 SERVICED office provider Regus yesterday said full-year pre-tax profits fell 42 per cent as the recession took its toll on small business, and warned its outlook remained unclear. Regus said the UK workspace picture remains hazy as it posted a fall in turnover from £1.077bn to £1.055bn with pre-tax profits of £86.9m compared with £149.2m [...]
Icap to close its full-service cash equities division March 22, 2010 ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, yesterday said it would axe 114 jobs and shoulder a £51m accounting charge from the wind-down of a large part of its struggling cash equities business, scuppering hopes of a sale of the division. Icap is to cut the sales and research portion of its full service agency cash [...]
Insolvencies dip as firms see out storm March 22, 2010 THE number of companies declared insolvent fell last month, research showed today. A total of 1,834 firms went insolvent during the month – 15 per cent down on February last year, according to business information services group Experian. The group said the fall brought the overall rate of insolvencies down from 0.11 per cent to [...]
Home prices hit a record high of £2.2m in London property hotspots March 22, 2010 HOME prices in London’s most upmarket districts have hit a record average of £2.2m, a survey showed yesterday. The most desirable areas in central London saw a 2.4 per cent monthly rise as wealthy foreign buyers circled for the properties. Among the biggest climbers this month was the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea which [...]
New venture for ex-Morgan Stanley man March 22, 2010 JONATHAN Chenevix-Trench, once investment bank Morgan Stanley’s most powerful executive in Europe, has stepped back onto the business radar by setting up an investment company focused on sub-Saharan Africa. Chenevix-Trench formerly spent 23 years at the bank, latterly as chairman of Morgan Stanley International. He left after the promotion he had been coveting – to [...]