Starcom share price soars as it clinches largest contract to date December 3, 2015 Shares in Starcom closed up almost 40 per cent yesterday after soaring as much as 91.1 per cent earlier after the tech company revealed its largest contract to date. Aim-listed Israeli company Starcom announced the three-year $5.5m (£3.65m) deal to supply Helios units to Pinnacle Systems, a Nairobi, Kenya-based company which specialises in fleet management [...]
Shell wins final Australian approval for its takeover of BG December 3, 2015 Oil major Shell has received the final nod from an Australian regulator for its proposed $70bn (£47bn) acquisition of BG group, meaning China is now the last regulatory hurdle it has left to clear. Approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board means Shell has satisfied four out of five pre-conditions necessary for the deal to go ahead. The company added it [...]
Former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins was “surprised” at being sacked December 3, 2015 Former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has spoken of his surprise at being sacked from one of banking's top jobs this summer – but admitted "these things happen" The "nice guy of banking" has spoken publicly for the first time about the event in which the bank's new chairman, John "Mack the Knife" McFarlane, said a new style was [...]
AB Inbev confirms plans to sell part of SABMiller’s business, aka Peroni, Grolsch – and UK craft brewer Meantime December 3, 2015 Soon to be wed, AB Inbev and SABMiller have confirmed they're looking at ways of appeasing their parents, ie. competition regulators, by exploring the sale of three of SAB's biggest European brands. Yep: as has been rumoured in the past few days, Peroni and Grolsch may be put up for sale, the pair said in statements today – [...]
Barclays is selling its Italian retail banks to Mediobanca’s CheBanca! business December 3, 2015 Barclays is about to offload its Italian retail banking operations, the company announced today. It will sell its network of branches, amounting to 89 in total, to CheBanca! – a unit of Italian investment firm Mediobanca. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, and is part of Barclays' [...]
Ryanair and Wizz Air report jump in passenger numbers December 3, 2015 Budget airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air have both reported a healthy jump in passenger numbers for November. Traffic at Ryanair, which is part-way through its customer charm offensive dubbed "Always Getting Better", rose 21 per cent to 7.71m passengers, while its load factor rose five percentage points to 93 per cent. Rolling annual traffic to November rose [...]
China ramps up investment in Africa in return for greater access to commodities December 3, 2015 China and South Africa have entered into a series of business deals amounting to $6.5bn (£4.4bn), which will result in huge infrastructure projects taking place in South Africa. Yesterday, 26 deals were signed between the nations, with one of the biggest single deals involving South Africa's national rail operator, which received $2.5bn in investment. South [...]
Battle for the mobile privacy market heats up as Silent Circle moves into enterprise software December 3, 2015 In a bid to win a larger share of the secure communications market phone maker Silent Circle is moving into enterprise software. Silent Circle, which also makes the controversial Blackphone that has run into trouble due to unexpected demand from Islamic State militants, is shifting its focus from consumer products to supplying businesses and governments. [...]
Morrisons drops out as pharma boosts FTSE 100 – London Report December 3, 2015 The FTSE 100 index closed up last night, buoyed by pharmaceuticals that were given a boost from a Morgan Stanley note supporting AstraZeneca. The UK’s top blue-chip index closed up 0.4 per cent, at 6,420.93 points. Shire led the pack higher, closing 2.35 per cent up at 4,745p per share, while GlaxoSmithKline ended the session [...]
Cantor Fitzgerald, Investec, UBS: Best of the Brokers for 03 December 2015 December 3, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Cantor Fitzgerald has remained a “seller” of Mothercare stock with a target price of 135p, despite the company more than doubling UK profits in the first half. It believes it will struggle to meet the lower end of management’s 2019 underlying pre-tax profit [...]