Carillion sells off consultancy arm October 12, 2009 Carillion, the construction and outsourcing group, is selling off its consultancy arm Enviros for around £27m as it seeks to pay off debt. Engineering company Sinclair Knight Merz is buying the unit from Carillion, which is valued at around £1.1bn. The sale will help Carillion beat its target of bringing net debt below the half-year [...]
Paddy Power to cross channel October 12, 2009 Paddy Power, the bookmaker, is on course to meet analysts’ expectations of a return to profit growth next year and is looking to move into the French market by June, the firm’s chief executive Patrick Kennedy said yesterday. The Irish firm is set to take advantage of a relaxation of French law due next year. [...]
Lufthansa cost cuts on track October 12, 2009 LUFTHANSA is on course to meet its cost-cutting targets, its chief executive said yesterday. “We are on track in all areas,” Wolfgang Mayrhuber said, as he relaunched the airline’s on-board broadband internet service FlyNet. To safeguard profitability in the downturn, Lufthansa has said it plans to cut €1bn (£936m) of annual costs by 2011. It [...]
Skywest passengers fall in September after slump October 12, 2009 SKYWESTAIRLINES, the Australian budget carrier, said yesterday it had carried 8.55 per cent fewer passengers last month than it did in September 2008. The airline said 30,000 people flew in September, down from 33,000 in 2008, but its load factor – which measures how full its planes are – rose 1.4 per cent to 54.16, [...]
US funds still dominating the industy October 12, 2009 AMERICA’S fund management industry is alive and kicking despite being buffeted by two recessions in the past decade, a leading funds guru said yesterday. Todd Ruppert, chief executive and president of T Rowe Price Global Investment Services, told a conference of asset managers that the US fund industry was gathering strength. He pointed out that [...]
Google lands a new blow on Microsoft with Rentokil Initial email agreement October 12, 2009 GOOGLE yesterday announced its biggest ever email deal with support services firm Rentokil Initial, estimated by analysts to be worth up to $3.5m (£2.2m). The internet giant will replace rival Microsoft, after it secured the contract to provide email to 35,000 of the rat catcher’s employees using its Google Apps product – which includes a [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 12, 2009 BURBERRY GROUPDeutsche Bank raised its target price for Burberry to 620p, with a “buy” recommendation, ahead of the retailer’s second quarter sales update tomorrow. The broker said that expectations appear to be reasonably high, but that it believes that, most significantly, excess inventory will have been cleared through. DUNELM GROUPInvestec said that the recent placing [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 12, 2009 Credit SuisseThe bank has appointed François Roussely as a vice chairman in Europe and Pierre Fleuriot as a chief executive of Credit Suisse in France. Roussely joined the firm in 2005, having previously served as chairman and chief executive of Electricité de France between 1998 and 2004. Fleuriot has over 20 years of experience in [...]
Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg told to repay excessive expenses claims October 12, 2009 GORDON Brown was yesterday told to hand back over £12,400 in parliamentary expenses after making excessive claims for cleaning, gardening and decorating. Downing Street confirmed that Sir Thomas Legg, who is auditing MPs’ claims, had written to Brown ordering him to return £12,415. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was also censured by Legg for claiming [...]
Government must tighten finances by an extra 26bn October 12, 2009 THE government could balance its books by the year 2015/6 via additional fiscal tightening measures equivalent to £26bn in the next three years, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers will claim today. The report will say the government has a responsibility to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing by 2015/6, two years ahead of [...]