Aquarius loses as demand drops August 12, 2009 Aquarius Platinum, the world’s fourth-biggest producer of platinum, said yesterday it had swung to a full-year net loss of $45.7m (£27.6m) on weaker metal prices and reduced output. Aquarius said production fell to 455,675 ounces from 500,203 ounces in its last financial year, hit by the suspension of operations at its South African Everest mine [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 12, 2009 MICHAEL PAGEAhead of the firm’s first half results on Monday, Panmure Gordon rates Michael Page a “sell” with a 94p target price. The broker said the current outlook cannot be anything but cautious, making valuation difficult. Rival Adecco’s acquisition of Spring Group makes the chances of it buying Page slim, said Panmure. COOKSONUBS introduced a [...]
ING back to profit but banking suffers August 12, 2009 DUTCH banking group ING returned to the black yesterday, posting second-quarter pre-tax profit of €74m (£63.5m), but saw its banking operations fall to a surprise loss. The financial services group turned around its dismal performance during the credit crunch, which saw it post a €4.3bn loss in the final quarter of 2008, followed by a [...]
Fury over McDonalds’ 2012 exclusivity August 12, 2009 THE organisers of the 2012 London Olympics came under fire yesterday as it emerged that McDonald’s will be the only food brand seen at the event. Other vendors will be present at the Olympic venues but, as official sponsor, the golden arches will be the only brand seen by hungry visitors. The agreement seemingly undermines [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS IT RIGHT THAT MCDONALD’S WILL BE THE ONLY FOOD SPONSOR AT THE OLYMPICS ? August 12, 2009 GEORGE WILLIAMSON WELBECK GROUP“Absolutely ridiculous. The whole ethos for the Olympics is a sporting and healthy environment. To restrict all branding of food to McDonald’s is too much. This is our Olympics and we should want to give it a British feel, not one of a world wide franchise.”NICHOLAS YIALONITES NEW YORK EXCHANGE“It’s not good [...]
Sky Digital Media terminates sales contracts with 23 sports websites August 12, 2009 BSkyB’s digital sales house said yesterday that it will stop selling ads for 23 third-party sports sites as it moves to focus its resources on increasing revenues. The sites due to be terminated comprise mainly of small rugby, gymnastics and niche fan sites, and make up just 1.8 per cent of Sky Digital Media’s (SDM) [...]
TUI warns of poor winter sun demand August 12, 2009 DEMAND for summer holidays is holding up in the recession, Thomson owner TUI Travel said yesterday, but it warned the winter season could be bleak. TUI said that a surge of late-bookings, prompted by dismal British weather, has left the group with fewer summer holidays left to sell than last year. Late summer bookings contributed [...]
HMRC gets access to offshore funds August 12, 2009 HM REVENUE and Customs (HMRC) will be able to access the offshore accounts of UK citizens with accounts at more than 300 banks, after it secured “production orders” forcing lenders to disclose the information. HMRC continued its campaign against tax evasion with the orders, which will also see the 308 affected banks required to pass [...]
Collapse in commodities ends BHP’s record run August 12, 2009 BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, yesterday reported a 30 per cent slide in annual profit excluding writedowns, its first fall in seven years, pummelled by a slump in metals prices and demand. It said there were emerging signs of demand improving in North America, Europe and Japan, but said it was too early to [...]
FT buys digital pension service MandateWire August 12, 2009 THE Financial Times has bought MandateWire, a London-based provider of information on European pension mandates for an undisclosed sum. The digital, subscription-based service analyses 2,000 EU pension funds and sends out details to analysts at fund management groups. An FT spokesman said the deal “further consolidates the FT’s global position with fund management groups, following [...]