After the Nvidelity comes the Huangover. Jensen Huang joins long list who confused boardroom and bedroom
European insurance industry is braced for pickup in M&A activity April 27, 2010 THE European insurance sector is set for a wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, as companies look for growth opportunities over the next year, Moody’s said yesterday. M&A volume had fallen sharply over the past couple of years, but recent stabilisation of capital markets would provide scope for consolidation, the credit ratings agency added. [...]
Amadeus IPO sees success at €11 a share April 27, 2010 Travel reservations firm Amadeus last night shrugged off a fickle listings market and closed books on a €1.36bn (£1.18bn) initial public offering (IPO) with the sale four times oversubscribed. The IPO priced at €11 per share, above the midpoint of the price range which was set at €9.2 to €12.2 per share when it was [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 27, 2010 BAVARIAN NORDIC Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) has maintained a “strong buy” stance on Bavarian Nordic after the biotechnology group released its first quarter figures. S&P says that the company’s maintained outlook is encouraging. It suggests the IMVAMUNE smallpox vaccine delivery will commence soon as production costs and inventory are up. UBC MEDIA GROUP [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 27, 2010 Linklaters The law firm has appointed Sandeep Katwala as regional managing partner of its emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa practice, effective from 1 May. Katwala succeeds Stuart Salt, who was appointed Asia managing partner earlier this year. He will continue to head up the firm’s India practice, which he has led for the past [...]
Connaught sees interims rise April 27, 2010 Connaught, a support-services firm, posted a rise in first-half adjusted pre-tax profit due to growth across all parts of the business. For the six months ended 28 February, adjusted pre-tax profit was £20.7m, compared with £17.3m in the year-ago period. However, pre-tax profit fell 21 per cent to £10.7m for the firm which provides property [...]
DuPont’s global sales leap April 27, 2010 DuPont said strong emerging market demand and sales of specialty chemicals helped its first-quarter profit to more than double, beating Wall Street expectations, though shares fell 2.6 per cent in early trading as investors took profits. Sales jumped across the globe for DuPont, including in the US, where chemicals had lagged in 2009. In the [...]
Auditors should be scrutinised April 27, 2010 Auditors should be supervised on a EU-wide basis to draw on lessons from the collapse of American bank Lehman Brothers, internal market commissioner Michel Barnier said yesterday. “This conviction is reinforced by the questions recently raised in the context of the audit of the accounts of the American bank Lehman Brothers,” Barnier said in a [...]
Redrow April 27, 2010 NO ONE can deny that Redrow’s management team has engineered an impressive recovery. With the once moribund housing market showing signs of life, the firm says that sales rates per outlet are comfortably ahead of the same period last year. Falling prices and soaring cancellation rates are also showing signs of stabilisation. Unlike some of [...]
Deutsche Bank in record profit April 27, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bank profits jumped by almost 50 per cent jump to €1.8bn euros (£1.6bn) for the first quarter. Germany’s largest lender said its corporate and investment banking arms had recorded record profits. The bank put aside €262m euros to cover bad loans in the first quarter, 50 per cent down on the same period last [...]
Imperial Tobacco sees rise in earnings April 27, 2010 IMPERIAL Tobacco , the world’s fourth-biggest cigarette maker, beat forecasts with a 16 per cent rise in half-year earnings and looked towards a better second half as recovery kicks in. The company, with cigarette brands including Lambert & Butler, West and Gauloises, said on it saw the downturn cut its volumes 3.7 per cent in [...]