Emerald Energy gets takeover approach July 13, 2009 EMERALD ENERGY, the oil and gas explorer, became the latest company in the energy sector to receive a takeover approach yesterday, but refused to give the identity of the would-be buyer. The group, which has assets in Syria, Colombia and Peru, said talks on the potential cash offer are at an early stage, but would [...]
Geronimo snaps up six pubs from Punch Taverns July 13, 2009 LONDON pub operator Geronimo Inns yesterday snapped up six sites from heavily indebted Punch Taverns for an undisclosed sum. Geronimo Inns, backed by private equity firm Penta Capital, said it plans “a significant capital expenditure programme of £1.5m,” and around 70 jobs would be created as a result of the deal. The six pubs, currently [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 13, 2009 AUTONOMYAnalysts at UBS said that they felt Autonomy’s recent underperformance has been undeserved. The broker sees likely earnings upside and thinks that the bar has been set low enough for Interwoven for guidance to be lifted at some point. It upgraded the stock to “buy: with a target price of 1,475p. SEGROEvolution Securities said that [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 13, 2009 RBC Capital MarketsRBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, yesterday announced the appointment of Dr John Roberts as non-executive chairman of Royal Bank of Canada Europe Ltd (RBCEL), the main European subsidiary of RBC, headquartered in London. Roberts has been with RBC since September 2005, when he joined [...]
German banks pressed to lend July 13, 2009 Germany’s finance minister Peer Steinbrueck has written to the country’s banks to urge them to increase their lending to businesses. Steinbrueck is keen to ensure that a lack of lending does not hamper Germany’s recovery. “Credit institutions in Germany today face a particular responsibility for the overall economy,” he said. “You are, and remain, urged [...]
Retirement review fast-tracked July 13, 2009 The government is to bring forward to next year a review of the retirement age originally scheduled for 2011 due to “changing demographic and economic circumstances”. Pensions minister Angela Eagle said she wanted to give older people “flexible retirement options”. She said many older people would work past 65 if they were allowed to do [...]
Single person household hike July 13, 2009 Britain has seen a massive rise in single person households in the last ten years, creating a mismatch between housing supply and actual housing needs, according to a survey out today by Mosaic. Mosaic also notes one of the biggest changes that has occurred in contemporary British society since 2003 is the rise of the [...]
WorldFriends to prove ‘freemium’ model works July 13, 2009 WORLDFriends is coming to London. WorldFriends is one of the world’s largest cross-culture online communities with 2m members from 230 countries. It offers people a high quality environment in which to enjoy “internationally minded” socialising and meeting new friends with common interests, especially in the areas of travel, culture and language learning. Ever since Disney acquired Club [...]
Experian sales rise despite slowdown July 13, 2009 CREDIT information firm Experian yesterday said total revenue growth for the first quarter was up one per cent and its businesses traded in line with expectations, despite tough trading conditions. Experian, best known for running consumer credit checks for banks, said total growth in the three months to end-June was up 1 per cent at [...]
‘Old and tired’ electricity gives Spice hot results July 13, 2009 SPICE, a contractor of outsourced utility services, yesterday said its full year profits soared by 58 per cent, on the back of growing regulatory markets and acquisitions. The company, which also said it had bought ComGroup, the Australian telecoms group, said its pre-tax profit was £32.3m, and that revenue had hit £386m, up 24 per [...]