O2 Germany set to raise €1.5bn in year’s biggest European IPO October 29, 2012 EUROPE’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year, of the German branch of O2 owner Telefonica, is set to raise about €1.5bn (£1.2bn), the Spanish telecoms giant said yesterday. The Frankfurt-listed company, also called O2, is expected to begin trading today at €5.60 per share. The IPO is Germany’s biggest since 2007 when engine manufacturer [...]
NBC wins rights to broadcast UK Premier League football games for next two seasons October 29, 2012 NBC Universal has won the US broadcast rights to show Premier League games for the next two seasons beating current rights holders Fox, the football league said yesterday. The deal raises major questions over the future of Fox Soccer Channel, which has now lost rights to North America’s Major League Soccer, Italy’s Serie A and [...]
Tetragon buys hedgie Polygon October 29, 2012 Tetragon Financial Group yesterday bought Polygon Management, once one of the world’s biggest hedge funds and a high-profile casualty of the financial crisis, for $98.5m (£61.4m), to expand its asset management business. Tetragon said it will use 11.7m of its non-voting shares to buy Polygon, founded in 2002 by Paddy Dear and Reade Griffith, as [...]
Ford rated low for reliability October 29, 2012 Ford tumbled to nearly the bottom of an annual survey of vehicle reliability due to flaws in its touch-screen navigation and entertainment system, while Japanese automaker Toyota swept the top three spots. In a Consumer Reports survey released yesterday, Ford fell seven spots to 27th of 28 brands surveyed overall, while its upscale Lincoln brand [...]
Correction October 29, 2012 In our edition on 29 October, City A.M. wrote that ESPN had sold the British TV rights to football leagues including the Italian Serie A, the American MLS and the French Ligue 1 to BT ahead of the launch of BT’s new sports channel. What we should have said is that BT has purchased the [...]
Blinkx shares rocket as election and Olympics drive ad growth October 29, 2012 VIDEO search engine Blinkx saw shares rise by 25 per cent yesterday as the company said the Olympics and US elections had driven more people to its website. The search engine, which trawls content from video sites including YouTube, said it expects profits of around $2.4m (£1.5m) for the six months ending 30 September. City [...]
Perform Group’s US touchdown generates sports revenue boost October 29, 2012 PERFORM Group, the internet sports distribution firm, yesterday said expansion in new markets had pushed turnover up 44 per cent in the third quarter. The company, which operates video-on-demand services online, owns sports websites including the popular Goal.com, and sells adverts on other sports websites, said group revenues had increased from £27.4m last year to [...]
Heathrow hurt by summer lull in passengers October 29, 2012 HEATHROW Ltd, formerly known as BAA, warned yesterday that full-year earnings would fall short of its target, after fewer passengers travelled through Europe’s busiest airport this summer. “Traffic over the summer months was lower than expected, particularly in July and August when passenger traffic was down about 400,000 on the same period in 2011,” chief [...]
Honda cuts profit forecasts as China dispute hits 2012 sales October 29, 2012 HONDA Motor cut its full-year net profit forecast by a fifth yesterday after sales in China were hit by a popular backlash against Japanese goods, and warned it could be February before business in the world’s biggest autos market returns to normal. The cut, prompted by a slump in sales amid protests in a dispute [...]
TNT’s quarterly income drops as EU awaits concessions on deal October 29, 2012 TNT Express, the Dutch mail delivery group being bought by UPS said yesterday that third-quarter profit fell 12 per cent. The company also repeated that it expected EU Commission approval for the deal. UPS, or United Parcel Service, is not expected to complete the €5.2bn (£4.3bn) acquisition until early next year after the European Commission [...]