Firms call for superfast internet May 21, 2012 ROLLING out superfast broadband to rural businesses will close the digital divide with cities and revitalise the rural economy, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) claimed yesterday. Its survey showed 63 per cent of small firms in rural areas are dissatisfied with the speed of their internet connection, compared with 48 per cent of businesses [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 21, 2012 DFJ Esprit The cross-stage venture capital firm has appointed Peter Keen as its a new venture partner, specialising in medtech and life science investments. Keen joins with 28 years’ experience in the sector. He was co-founder of Chriscience Group, chief financial officer of Arakis, and is currently non-executive director of Horizon Discovery and Q-Chip. Jefferies [...]
BEST of the BROKERS May 21, 2012 ITV Peel Hunt rates the broadcaster as a “hold” with a target price of 82p, saying that despite a bumper summer of sport it thinks positive sentiment around Euro 2012 is already priced in. The broker says the outlook for autumn and beyond is muted, but expects broadcasting revenue growth of 2.2 per cent. EADS [...]
Barclays to sell $6bn BlackRock stake May 21, 2012 Barclays bank is to sell all of its $6.1bn (£3.8bn) stake in US asset manager BlackRock, which it has held for almost three years. Barclays said the shares would be sold by way of an offering and a related buyback by BlackRock of up to $1bn of the stock. A prospectus was filed by BlackRock [...]
Bank rally helps steady FTSE May 21, 2012 The FTSE 100 was solid this morning despite the storm clouds – created by the Eurozone crisis – still hanging over markets. Over the weekend G8 leaders stressed their “imperative” was to promote growth and jobs and gave verbal backing for Greece to stay in the euro. But despite calls from the United States for [...]
Mitie profit rises as order book swells May 21, 2012 British outsourcing firm Mitie posted an 8.9 per cent rise in full year profit and said it was upbeat about growth prospects in the coming year as governments and businesses seek to cut costs and secure energy supply. Mitie, which provides catering, cleaning and maintenance services for clients like Vodafone, Tesco, and the British government, [...]
Ryanair warns that profit to be dented by Eurozone May 21, 2012 Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, warned surging fuel costs and a worsening economic outlook meant profit would slip by up to 20 per cent in the coming year, the first fall in four years. The Dublin-based airline, which posted a record annual profit and has posted profit growth of at least 25 per cent every [...]
Britain and France back Eurobonds May 20, 2012 THE UK and France have joined forces to demand that Germany underwrites Greece’s crippling debts by issuing so-called eurobonds. Eurobonds would pool sovereign debt issuance among all of the euro’s 17 member states, allowing weaker countries such as Greece to lean on the triple-A ratings of Germany and others. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has long [...]
Firms urge PM to adopt pro-jobs red tape cuts May 20, 2012 Slashing red tape will boost jobs and encourage an economic recovery, business groups and backbench Conservative MPs said yesterday, welcoming the impending publication of the Beecroft report which is expected to set out the case for cutting damaging labour market regulations. The report, commissioned by Number 10 and set to be published this week, is [...]
Saudi overtakes Russia as top crude producer May 20, 2012 Saudi Arabia has edged ahead of Russia in being the world’s biggest crude oil producer for the first time since 2006, official data showed yesterday. Figures collected by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI), whose inputs include data from Eurostat, the IEA, the UN and OPEC, show the Middle Eastern state producing 9.923m barrels per [...]