CVC wins contest for Paroc Group October 22, 2014 PRIVATE equity group CVC Capital Partners yesterday snapped up Finnish insulation group Paroc, in a €700m (£551.5m) deal. CVC beat off a host of other bidders in the hotly contested auction, which was handled by advisers from Lazard. The Helsinki-based business employs around 2,100 people and has nine plants across in Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Poland and [...]
Europe energy goals too costly for UK business October 22, 2014 EUROPEAN Union renewable energy targets will cripple UK businesses and hit household finances significantly, says a report released today. The report, by think tank Open Europe, shows that EU energy targets could add 23 per cent to UK firms’ bills by 2020. Under EU targets, the UK has committed itself to the most ambitious increase in [...]
German spending spree would not be enough to save Eurozone October 22, 2014 GERMAN fiscal stimulus would have a minimal impact on Eurozone growth, ratings agency Standard and Poors (S&P) have said. Top figures, including Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank boss, and Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund have called on the Eurozone’s largest economy to boost spending. With a balanced budget and low [...]
Scrap student loans system, says think tank October 22, 2014 TAXPAYER-financed student loans should be replaced by an agreement whereby graduates pay their university a proportion of their future earnings to fund their studies. By tying universities’ income to that of students, universities would have a greater incentive to produce successful graduates, the Institute of Economic Affairs’ said today. Courses have become rigid, often designed [...]
Car production drives towards a six-year high October 22, 2014 UK CAR manufacturers accelerated to their strongest first nine months of a year since 2008, data published this morning has shown. So far this year, 1,132,017 cars have been produced, according to the figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The year-to-date figure marks a 0.6 per cent increase on the [...]
Petropavlovsk boss Hambro says more sales may be on the cards October 22, 2014 GOLD mining company Petropavlovsk may have to sell more assets in a bid to cut costs, the company’s chairman Peter Hambro said yesterday. He made the comments while discussing the firm’s results for the third quarter of 2014, which saw production fall to 150,100oz of gold from 204,400oz this time last year. London-listed Petropavlovsk attributed [...]
City Moves for 10 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 22, 2014 Innesco John Heawood has been appointed non-executive chairman of the marketing communications agency. Heawood is former group executive director for UK property at Segro, partner at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung and managing director of the Ashtenne Industrial Fund. KPMG The professional services firm has appointed Neill Thomas as head of corporate finance and Andrew Nicholson [...]
Best of the Brokers for 23 October 2014 October 22, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ARBUTHNOT Numis upgraded Arbuthot to an “add” rating, and said the group’s third-quarter trading update showed that both its businesses were “progressing well within a positive operating environment”. The broker added that there was ample resource to meet growth potential. BHP BILLITON S&P [...]
FTSE rises after Glaxo sets out recovery plan – London Report October 22, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday ended higher, with motor insurers advancing on news of an increase in car premiums and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline rising after its results. The FTSE 100 finished 0.4 per cent higher at 6,399.73 points. It had fallen more than 10 per cent in four weeks before making a marginal recovery since late [...]
Falling oil price and sell offs hit Wall St run – New York Report October 22, 2014 US STOCKS erased earlier gains yesterday to close lower as a shooting at the Canadian parliament unnerved investors, Boeing and Biogen Idec sold off following results and energy company shares fell along with oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 153.49 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 16,461.32, the S&P 500 lost 14.17 points, [...]