Infrastructure firms snap up £2.8bn of National Grid deals December 19, 2012 INFRASTRUCTURE and construction groups Balfour Beatty, Morrison Utility Services and Skanska yesterday netted themselves a £2.8bn payout from National Grid, after winning eight-year contracts with the gas and electricity firm. Balfour Beatty has won two contracts worth £1.2bn, for eight years each, to upgrade the gas distribution network in the North West and the West [...]
Fresh takeover bid for Billabong December 19, 2012 A fresh $555m (£341.6m) offer for Billabong found little favour with investors yesterday as the stock dived 13 per cent on concern the Australian surfwear firm’s latest profit warning might lead the suitor to lower or even withdraw the bid. Billabong said a consortium led by board director Paul Naude and New York-based private equity [...]
BP sells stake in China gas field December 19, 2012 Oil giant BP yesterday announced that it is to sell an interest in a Chinese gas field in a $308m (£189m) cash deal. The sale of its 34.3 per cent interest in Yacheng, in the South China Sea, to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company is part of BP’s ongoing divestment programme. The sale of Yacheng [...]
Gulfsands buys into Morocco December 19, 2012 Junior stock market-listed Gulfsands Petroleum has acquired a Moroccan oil explorer for around $30m (£18m). Cabre Maroc, acquired from Caitness Petroleum Limited, operates several “highly prospective” oil and gas licences in North Morocco. Completion of Gulfsands Petroleum’s acquisition is due to complete in January, and development and exploration activity will start next year. RBC Capital [...]
Who’s switching jobs December 19, 2012 Kleinwort Benson Nick Bennett has been appointed head of private wealth management in the private bank’s Guernsey office. He joins from Schroders Private Banking, where he was most recently head of private banking in the Channel Islands. Bennett has also held roles at Lloyds TSB. Development Securities The property investment firm has appointed Marcus Shepherd [...]
Best of the Brokers December 19, 2012 LADBROKES Panmure Gordon has cut the bookmaker from “buy” to “hold” on valuation grounds. The broker keeps its target price at 195p, and believes that much of the firm’s turnaround potential has been priced in. INFORMA Westhouse cut its rating for the publisher from “buy” to “neutral” following a 15 per cent rise in the [...]
Banking shares rise on FTSE 100 as UBS fined $1.5bn December 19, 2012 The blue chip index moved towards nine-month highs this morning, as optimism of a US budget deal boosted the FTSE 100. Financial shares were in the spotlight, as Swiss bank UBS agreed a $1.5bn (£940m) fine for manipulating the Libor benchmark. The redress was in line with expectations, and UBS shares were trading around 0.3 [...]
Nissan to build new car at Sunderland plant December 19, 2012 Japan’s Nissan will invest around £250m to build a new luxury car at a plant in England, creating around 1,000 jobs. The carmaker will build a new model of its Infiniti luxury brand in Sunderland from 2015. The Sunderland plant is Britain’s largest car plant and one of the most productive in Europe. Britain’s largely [...]
MPC predicts above-target inflation in 2013 December 19, 2012 Inflation will remain above the Bank of England’s target for the next year, the Monetary Policy Committee December meeting minutes revealed this morning. Consumer price inflation defied expectations to remain at 2.7 per cent in November, official figures showed yesterday, due to a greater-than-expected contribution from university tuition fees and higher food prices. “Inflation was [...]
Sportingbet sees trading uptick December 19, 2012 Bid target Sportingbet said this morning that trading had picked up in the last part of the year, as the negotiations over William Hill’s joint takeover look set to come to an end. In a statement before the gaming group’s AGM, Sportingbet said that it would meet its current expectations for the full year ending [...]