Renault and Caterham to build sports cars November 5, 2012 FRENCH automaker Renault and British sports-car maker Caterham unveiled plans yesterday to develop affordable racers for introduction by 2016. The vehicles will put racecar engineering in reach of more customers than current Formula One-derived offerings from rivals, Renault chief exec Carlos Ghosn (left) and Caterham chair Tony Fernandes said at a joint news conference.
Netflix defends against Icahn November 5, 2012 US-listed Netflix has adopted a poison pill defense to prevent a hostile takeover, acting just days after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed he had bought a stake in the streaming video and DVD-by-mail subscription service. The move is meant to prevent an outsider who lacks Netflix board approval from accumulating a stake of 10 per [...]
L’Oreal exec says Asia is slowing November 5, 2012 L’Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics group, is feeling the effects of the slowdown in China and “brutal” trading conditions in South Korea and Taiwan, the company said. The group’s turnover from luxury goods in South Korea is down two to three per cent this year after achieving eight per cent growth last year, L’Oreal’s Asia-Pacific [...]
BG Group agrees credit facility November 5, 2012 Energy firm BG Group has agreed a new five-year $3bn (£1.9bn) credit facility, to replace an existing $2.3bn credit facility. The new facility was coordinated by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC, and includes a variety of banks, BG Group said. The new facility will stand alongside the $2.2bn five-year line of credit agreed [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs November 5, 2012 Caledonia Investments Sally Flanagan has been appointed associate director for the investment trust company’s unquoted pool. She joins from Permira Advisers, where she was global head of healthcare. Flanagan is an experienced private equity investor, and will report to head of unquoted investments Duncan Johnson. Capco The business consultancy has appointed professor Damiano Brigo to [...]
Best of the Brokers November 5, 2012 WILLIAM HILL UBS has downgraded William Hill from “buy” to “neutral” and lifted its target price from 315p to 360p as it nears two deals to buy Sportingbet and Playtech’s stake in William Hill online. MILLENNIUM AND COPTHORNE Credit Suisse has downgraded the hotel group from to “neutral” from “outperform” and said with trading risks [...]
The Open University MBA – transforming your career November 5, 2012 The Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme from The Open University Business School will take you on a personal journey where you will challenge limits, cross boundaries and change the way you think. Quite simply, the OU MBA is designed to help you make a difference to your career. Reputation and quality Our MBA programme [...]
Apprehension over US election leads FTSE 100 lower November 5, 2012 The blue chip index was trading down this morning, as investors awaited the outcome of a tightly-fought US election. Miners weighed on the main share index this morning, while ITV also sustained losses. On the FTSE All-Share, data centre provider Telecity fell almost 8.5 per cent in early deals despite reporting robust trading across its [...]
HSBC sets aside extra $800m in money laundering provision November 5, 2012 HSBC has put aside an extra $800m to cover a potential fine from US regulators for breaching anti-money laundering controls, it said this morning. It had previously set aside $700m in July, bringing the total provision to $1.5bn. Meanwhile, HSBC posted pre-tax profits of $3.5bn in the third quarter, a fall of $3.7bn from the [...]
Toyota raises profit forecast November 5, 2012 Japanese car manufacturer Toyota increased its net profit forecast to 780bn yen this morning, despite a slide in sales in China following a territorial dispute. It predicted a net profit of 780bn yen (£6bn) for the year to March 2013, up from its earlier forecast of 760bn yen. Full-year operating profit would be 1.05 trillion [...]