Costain on track for year ahead January 4, 2013 Engineering solutions firm Costain said this morning it had secured £700m of work for this year, adding that its full-year results would be in line with expectations. It tops last year’s figure of £650m. Costain, which won several contracts in the second half of last year including a £288m project by Magnox to decommission the [...]
Swiss bank Wegelin to close following guilty plea January 4, 2013 Swiss private bank Wegelin & Co is to close permanently following its guilty plea to helping Americans evade taxes through secret accounts. Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, will pay $57.8m (£36m) to the US authorities in penalties after it admitted to charges of conspiracy in helping wealthy Americans evade taxes on at least $1.2bn [...]
Anglo American divests stake in Amapá January 4, 2013 Anglo American said this morning it is to sell its stake in a Brazilian iron ore operation to fellow miner Zamin Ferrous. The terms of the sale – of its 70 per cent interest in the Amapá deposit – are confidential. “Anglo American has always maintained that it does not envisage holding its interest in [...]
Twitter in $11bn mega-valuation January 3, 2013 TWITTER has been valued at $11bn ahead of a potential move to take the social network public next year. The micro-blogging company, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years as questions have been raised about its major competitor Facebook, appears to be lining up for a 2014 initial public offering (IPO), according [...]
Transocean settlement set at $1.4bn January 3, 2013 DRILLING contractor Transocean yesterday agreed to pay $1.4bn (£867m) in fines to settle charges with the US government relating to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Transocean, the Switzerland-based owner of the Deepwater Horizon vessel, will pay $1bn in civil penalties and $400m in criminal penalties over five years under the [...]
Waitrose smashes Christmas sales records January 3, 2013 WAITROSE yesterday toasted record trading in the run-up to the New Year after the grocer said aggressive promotions on products such as champagne and its Brand Price Match campaign helped to lure customers from rivals. The upmarket supermarket, which is owned by John Lewis, said like-for-like sales rose 5.4 per cent between 18 December New [...]
Regulators let Google off lightly over search fixing January 3, 2013 US regulators yesterday cleared Google of fixing internet searches to favour its own services, although the settlement came with a number of concessions from the web giant. The company was forced to change ways it produces search results and how it displays adverts, following complaints from competitors that Google had abused its position as the world’s [...]
US fiscal cliff joy fades after Fed split on 2013 QE January 3, 2013 BUOYANT US traders were brought back down to earth yesterday after Federal Reserve minutes showed waning support for asset purchases in 2013, ending the euphoria felt by markets following Wednesday’s fiscal cliff deal. Meeting notes from the Federal Reserve monetary policy committee showed several of the 12 man group wanted to stop the Fed’s relentless [...]
Labour plot £1bn pensions raid to subsidise jobs January 3, 2013 LABOUR will today spell out a £1bn raid on the pension pots of wealthy savers to fund a jobs guarantee programme for 130,000 unemployed people. The plan, to be unveiled by shadow chancellor Ed Balls, would restrict the tax relief on pension contributions of people earning over £150,000 to 20 per cent, clashing with coalition [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 3, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES F&C’s Bramson lines up target Edward Bramson, the activist investor who is executive chairman of F&C Asset Management, is preparing to take on another midsized UK public company. He has launched a second Guernsey vehicle, backed by Soros Fund Management, that will sit alongside Sherborne Investors Guernsey A, the fund through which Mr [...]