Adecco surprises with a loss August 11, 2009 SWISS recruitment group Adecco surprised the market yesterday with a second-quarter net loss of €147m (£126m), compared to expectations of a €29m net profit, and announced a new round of cost-cutting. Adecco, the world’s largest recruiter, said that the loss was driven by impairment charges of €192m on goodwill and intangible assets. It added that [...]
International Power is boosted by strong sales in Asia and Oz August 11, 2009 ELECTRICITY producer International Power said yesterday it made a pre-tax profit of £579m, up from £2m in the same period from the year before, boosted by sales in Asia and Australia. The company said operating profit for the six months to 30 June was up 12 per cent to £555m, beating analysts’ estimates. “All divisions [...]
Container ship firm to get lifeline August 11, 2009 THE owners of Hapag-Lloyd are preparing to throw the German container shipping company a financial lifeline. Shareholder consortium Albert Ballin and German tourism group TUI Hapag’s former parent, are gearing up to provide it with another €420m (£360m) after giving €330m in July. It is still undecided whether TUI will inject further cash or take [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 11, 2009 VODAFONENomura said that Vodafone’s European assets declined 2.7 per cent faster than its main rivals in the June quarter and the underperformance has increased over the past year. The broker is concerned that its forecasts assume a sudden return to stable revenue share next calendar year. It fears this is too optimistic and retains its [...]
AIRSPACE INQUIRY August 11, 2009 A US safety board is set to examine whether New York airspace regulations need tightening after a small plane collided with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River last week, killing nine people. The National Transportation Safety Board is “going to be looking at the operations in this airspace,” Debbie Hersman, the board’s chairman, said. [...]
HSBC returns lost 8.55m August 11, 2009 HSBC has reunited more than 5,000 customers with £8.55m in lost deposits since September last year, the bank said yesterday. The bank launched the campaign in 2008 in a bid to return more than £38.8m in 40,000 accounts that had lain untouched for 15 years. Under government regulations coming into force later this year, money [...]
Alpha denies capital increase August 11, 2009 Alpha Bank, Greece’s third-largest lender, has denied that it is planning an imminent increase of its share capital. The bank said it was “constantly monitoring economic developments”, but said in a stock exchange filing that reports of a capital-raising were “totally inaccurate”. Chairman Yannis Costopoulos told shareholders in June that the bank was not planning [...]
Bank’s forecast to be very downbeat August 11, 2009 THREADNEEDLE STREET’S latest growth and inflation forecasts published today are widely expected to be downbeat about the prospects for the UK economy, pointing to a weak recovery and the potential for further expansion of quantitative easing (QE). In light of last week’s monetary policy decision and worse-than-expected second quarter GDP data, economists expect the Bank [...]
UK signs deal with Liechtenstein over tax data disclosure August 11, 2009 THE UK has signed a landmark deal with Liechtenstein to aid the recovery of tax revenues from British people with bank accounts in the tiny mountainous principality. HM Revenue and Customs reached an agreement with the Liechtenstein authorities to encourage 5,000 Britons to hand over data on an estimated £3bn stashed in secret accounts. UK [...]
Greenhill and Evercore bosses raise $300m by flogging company shares August 11, 2009 BOSSES at investment banks Greenhill and Evercore Partners have taken advantage of rocketing markets by selling off tranches of their company stock, raising $300m (£182m) in total. The top four staff at Greenhill have raised $142m and the top three staff at Evercore have raised $18.3m, according to filings. Goldman Sachs benefited after bookrunning both [...]