Atkins takes over nuclear firm November 19, 2013 Atkins, the UK engineering group, has snapped up a nuclear safety and design consultancy firm based in the US. Nuclear Safety Associates (NSA), which employs 130 people, will come under the Atkins umbrella once the US government approves the deal. No financial terms were disclosed. The acquisition is part of Atkins bid to corner the [...]
Bodycote remains buoyant November 19, 2013 Metal company Bodycote yesterday said acquisitions help offset a dip in revenues in the three months ending October. Organic revenues fell 1.3 per cent but acquisitions added 4.9 per cent, giving the group revenue growth of 3.6 per cent on a constant exchange rate basis. “Although economic growth in both Europe and North America continues [...]
Slim out of running for Repsol November 19, 2013 Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is not looking to purchase a 10 per cent stake in Spanish oil company Repsol, spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub said yesterday. Spain’s ABC newspaper reported earlier yesterday that Mexico’s state-run oil monopoly Pemex wants Slim to buy a stake in Repsol and join it in a new investor alliance in the [...]
Best of the Brokers for 20 November 2013 November 19, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com QUINTAIN Barclays keeps its overweight rating on the London property developer but has trimmed its target price by 2p to 130p following the sale of its Greenwich project. The broker thinks the growing demand for homes in the city will play in Quintain’s [...]
London Report: Intertek caution drags FTSE to a sub-6,700 close November 19, 2013 B RITAIN’S top share index slipped yesterday, hurt by testing firm Intertek on worries over a slowdown in its business, though analysts were confident that technical support would cap any weakness in the broader market. Intertek, a company specialising in safety and quality tests, fell 2.5 per cent after saying headwinds experienced in the first [...]
New York Report: Stocks drop off their highs for a second day November 19, 2013 US STOCKS fell yesterday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 retreating further from milestone levels, led by a slide in Best Buy after a disappointing outlook. Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, said that the Fed may need to wait until next year, possibly until March, before beginning to wind down [...]
Shareholders back Nokia’s €5.4bn handset division selloff November 19, 2013 Nokia has announced that shareholders have overwhelmingly backed the €5.44bn (£4.5bn) sale of its devices and services division to software giant Microsoft. At an emergency general meeting Nokia chairman Risto Siilasmaa said that 99 per cent of the company’s shareholders had already voted in support of the sale – which is designed to inject much [...]
BlackRock’s Fink erases US gains with warnings of great rotation reversal November 19, 2013 BlackRock CEO Lary Fink says that investors such as pension funds will rotate assets out of equities as the year ends. We are going to start seeing pension funds selling equities and buying bonds. If people are going to have a formula as to how they do asset allocations, they have to stick with it. [...]
Numbers that show the decline in the UK’s pigs and cattle November 19, 2013 Data published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has shown that in both England and the UK cattle and pig numbers have declined in recent years, whilst the sheep count has risen. Cattle On the 1 December 2012, there were 5,308,000 cows, bulls and calves in England. In the UK there were [...]
Unilever to sell trio of haircare brands November 19, 2013 Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, announced on Tuesday it will be selling hair care brands- Soft & Beautiful, TCB and Pro-Line Comb-Thru. The brands are to be sold to Strength of Nature for an undisclosed amount. The sale does not include TCB's African business. President of Unilver North America, said: Soft & Beautiful, TCB and Pro-Line Comb-Thru [...]