Chemring buys 80m company September 16, 2009 Defence group Chemring yesterday spent £80m buying a US engineer which specialises in the controlled explosions used during space missions. Hi-Shear’s pyrotechnics are used to create the small blast which separates spent fuel tanks from rockets, and to blow off the roof of a fighter plane before it launches an ejector seat. Chemring’s energetics division [...]
Alkane Energy’s profits soar September 16, 2009 Alkane Energy, the coal mine methane specialist which gets no renewable-energy subsidy, said yesterday its half-year underlying profits had risen 25 per cent to £1.4m, as it increased production from its current 20 megawatts to a three-years target of 50 megawatts – enough energy to power a small town. The firm is seen as a [...]
BROWN UNDER FIRE OVER SECRET CUTS September 16, 2009 GORDON BROWN’S longstanding bid to downplay the need for swingeing spending cuts was finally exposed yesterday, after leaked documents revealed that his officials had been planning large reductions for many months. The leaked Treasury plans – which were dated just before the Budget and passed on to the Tories – revealed that the government was [...]
Balfour set for cash call September 16, 2009 Balfour Beatty, the engineering, construction and services group, is set to launch a surprise rights issue of around £350m within days, City A.M. can confirm. A team of bankers, including JP Morgan Cazenove and RBS Hoare Govett, have been appointed to work on the fundraising. Balfour, which last month reported a 14 per cent rise [...]
EU leaders in bonus threat September 16, 2009 EUROPEAN leaders are today set to agree plans for greater control over bankers’ pay ahead of next week’s G20 meeting in Pittsburgh. In a statement expected to be endorsed at an EU meeting in Brussels this evening, the leaders will call on G20 countries to stand by commitments “to encourage… a strong link between compensation [...]
Citi debt issue fuels concern September 16, 2009 CITIGROUP yesterday scuppered its own efforts to appear healthy enough to repay $45bn (£27bn) in Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) funding as it took advantage of a government guarantee to issue $5bn worth of bonds. The bank, led by chief executive Vikram Pandit, is keen to show that it can survive without state support, a [...]
Now we know the grim truth about cuts September 16, 2009 EVEN if you already suspected that Gordon Brown’s post-1997 public spending spree had been an unaffordable disaster, yesterday’s leaked Treasury forecasts made depressing reading. Everybody knows that there will have to be major spending cuts and that the current tax base cannot finance our bloated government; the Institute for Fiscal Studies had long since worked [...]
Ireland values bad loans September 16, 2009 THE Irish government will spend €54bn (£48bn) to buy risky real estate loans from the Republic’s banks, finance minister Brian Lenihan said yesterday. The loans are to be transferred into the government’s “bad bank”, the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which will pay a 30 per cent discount on the book value of €77bn. “Nama [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 16, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BURBERRY LOOKS TO WIN OVER FRIENDS ONLINEBurberry, the fashion brand that has gone from classic to cutting edge, is to launch its own social networking site next month. The clothing group hopes the move will deepen its relationship with customers and attract new devotees. Called artofthetrench.com, the site will initially feature users sending [...]
Firms delay tax bills in downturn September 16, 2009 Thousands of UK firms are being forced to strike deals to delay tax bills as they struggle in the recession. More than 200,000 companies have signed up to an HM Revenue & Customs scheme, putting off payments of around £3.6bn in total. The so-called “time to pay” scheme was introduced in last year’s budget to [...]