Google needs to start rewarding its customers November 23, 2009 WHY is Google winning? And what does it tell us about the future?A fortnight ago, Rupert Murdoch told Australian Sky that he would stop Google from indexing all of his content, preventing it from becoming a one-stop aggregator. Murdoch has been saying for a while that he wants to stop his newspapers haemorrhaging cash by [...]
Heritage sells off Ugandan assets to Eni November 23, 2009 HERITAGE OIL, the exploration group, confirmed plans to sell off its Ugandan interests to Italian rival Eni for $1.5bn (£903.2m) yesterday, leaving it free to pull out of an increasingly unattractive Kurdish tie-up. It will sell its 50 per cent stake in two Ugandan oil fields for $1.35bn cash, with a deferred payment of $150m, [...]
SHOULD INVESTORS WELCOME THE HERITAGE ENI DEAL? November 23, 2009 PETER HITCHENS PANMURE GORDON “The deal will detract from the short term appeal of the company as this takes away much of the near term exploration upside that shareholders could have benefited from over the next six months. That being said, the management should be aware of this and will seek to divert some of [...]
Blacks back on track after landlords grudgingly agree to accept rescue deal November 23, 2009 LANDLORDS yesterday accepted a financial rescue plan for Blacks Leisure, saving 4,300 jobs at the beleaguered high street retailer in the process. Although many of them are angry about accepting yet another company voluntary administration (CVA), an overwhelming 98 per cent of landlords voted to accept the conditions offered by Blacks to ensure its survival. [...]
GM close to putting 3bn rescue plan to Europe November 23, 2009 GENERAL Motors will present a €3.3bn (£3bn) rescue plan to European governments for its struggling Opel and Vauxhall brands within days, those involved in talks said yesterday. GM this month backtracked on plans to sell the cars to a consortium led by car parts firm Magna — a deal that involved government aid — but [...]
Boss of truckmaker MAN quits November 23, 2009 Hakan Samuelsson, the Swedish chief executive of German truckmaker MAN, is leaving the company at his own request with immediate effect, the company said in a surprise statement yesterday. “Samuelsson hopes that his decision will help the MAN Group to quickly devote all of its attention to its core business and its further development. He [...]
Rents set to rise for student flats November 23, 2009 Rental growth in the student accommodation sector has remained robust during the downturn, according to estate agents Knight Frank. Rental rates for student houses have recorded growth of five per cent per year over the last six years, compared to 0.6 per cent for commercial property. Substantially higher growth was achieved in key university towns [...]
Terrace Hill restructures debt November 23, 2009 Property developer and investor Terrace Hill Group has arranged a £39.3m debt refinancing after three months of negotiations. The firm, which is active in food store developments and recently fixed £28m of forward financing for a Sainsbury’s store, has agreed £35.1m of the refinancing with an unnamed ‘major European bank’, with a revised maturity of [...]
LSE slaps ERT for recklessness November 23, 2009 HYDER CONSULTING has boosted its international business to nearly three-quarters of total revenues, a move that has insulated it from the worst of the recession in the UK, the company said. Hyder, which specialises in design for infrastructure and engineering projects, yesterday said it would meet annual profit targets as it reported first-half results in [...]
Cost cuts keep profits on the boil at Campbell Soup November 23, 2009 CAMPBELL Soup reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, helped by price increases and easing costs for ingredients such as grain that offset a drop in sales. The world’s largest soup maker also raised its sales and profit expectations for the fiscal year. Sales fell 2.1 per cent to $2.2bn (£1.3bn) from a year ago. Campbell [...]