BEST of the BROKERS June 27, 2012 ASHTEAD Canaccord Genuity said fourth quarter results published by the industrial equipment firm Ashtead last Thursday were better-than-expected and as a result, it is raising its target price by eight per cent to 285p and retaining its “buy”stance. The broker has upgraded its full year profit-before-tax forecast by nine per cent to £163.5m and said [...]
Barclays fined £290m in Libor settlement as Diamond loses bonus June 27, 2012 Barclays bank will pay at least $450m (£288m) to US and British authorities to settle a probe into manipulation of the Libor interbank lending rate. Regulators have been investigating allegations that several banks, including Barclays, sought to manipulate the London Interbank Lending Rate (Libor), which underpins trillions of dollars of derivatives contracts worldwide and is [...]
Banks fuel FTSE gains but Eurozone picture darkens June 27, 2012 Banks fuelled modest gains on the FTSE 100 in early trading but investor confidence remained weak overall as the Eurozone’s leaders failed to offer any evidence of a path to recovery for the bloc. Disagreements between the region’s policymakers over how to deal with the turmoil are weighing on investors’ confidence ahead of a European [...]
EU regulators give green light to Bankia state aid June 27, 2012 Spanish lender Bankia gained temporary approval for its state bailout, but Spanish authorities will need to present a restructuring plan within six months to offset this support, the European Commission said on Wednesday. The EU executive said the state aid included a conversion of existing state-owned preference shares of 4.465bn euros into equity and a [...]
Judge halts sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab in US June 27, 2012 A US judge backed Apple Inc’s request to stop Samsung Electronics selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the global smartphone and tablet patent wars. Samsung’s Galaxy touchscreen tablets, powered by Google’s Android operating system, are considered by many industry experts to be the [...]
StanChart profit growth to slow June 27, 2012 Standard Chartered said on Wednesday it expects pretax profit in the first half of this year to grow by less than 10 per cent, slowing from previous years as growth in Asia eases and local currencies weaken against the dollar. Income growth in January-June was also expected to slow to below 10 per cent, it [...]
Chancellor scraps rise in fuel duty June 26, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne bowed to pressure yesterday, scrapping this year’s planned fuel tax hike in the latest of a series of screeching U-turns by the coalition government. The rise in fuel duty by around 3p per litre will now be delayed until the beginning of next year, postponing a hike due on 1 August – [...]
Glencore and Xstrata under fresh pressure to alter deal June 26, 2012 GLENCORE and Xstrata look likely to overhaul their $65bn mega-merger after another prominent shareholder demanded they alter the terms of the deal last night. Executives at the commodities firms were already seeking to rejig pay packages linked to the tie-up when the Qatar Investment Authority broke cover to seek a better deal for its 11 [...]
National debt goes up as income tax takings drop June 26, 2012 THE UK’S public finances took a hammering last month, according to data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). A budget deficit of £17.9bn for May pushed the net national debt to £1.013 trillion, hitting 65 per cent of GDP. Just one year ago, net debt stood at the comparatively low figure of [...]
Sir Mervyn King paints gloomy picture of UK June 26, 2012 ECONOMIC recovery in the UK is at least five years away, Sir Mervyn King told MPs at the Treasury Select Committee yesterday. The governor of the Bank of England reiterated his backing for £50bn of further quantitative easing, and even kept open the possibility of an interest rate cut. The Bank’s monetary policy committee voted [...]