Cairn hit by Greenland exploration failures March 20, 2012 British oil explorer Cairn Energy said it will spend some of its $1.2bn (£756.2m) of cash on deals in oil development and production as it seeks new projects to offset its exposure to exploration in Greenland. “We do have that exposure to transformational exploration currently in the portfolio,” chief executive Simon Thomson said. “So naturally, [...]
Miners peg back FTSE as UK inflation dips again March 20, 2012 Miners pegged the FTSE 100 back in early trading as fears that demand from China for metals was falling sapped investor confidence. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, fell 1.9 per cent after saying it was seeing signs of “flattening” iron ore demand from China. The sector is pinning its hopes on continuing fast growth [...]
Inflation rate falls to 3.4 per cent March 20, 2012 The UK inflation rate continued to fall in February, thanks largely to lower gas and electricity bills. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation fell to 3.4 per cent in February, down from 3.6 per cent in January, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed, Inflation has been falling steadily since September and the CPI rate is [...]
AstraZeneca abandons Targacept anti-depressant March 20, 2012 AstraZeneca has thrown in the towel on an experimental antidepressant targeting nicotine receptors after the drug licensed from Targacept failed in remaining clinical trials, thinning out its pipeline further. Britain’s second-biggest drug maker will take an impairment charge of $50m, representing the rest of the value of TC-5214, which had already seen an earlier write-down [...]
RBS to slim down Asian business March 20, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland is closing its equity capital market and corporate finance units in South Korea and cash equities businesses in Indonesia, Korea and Singapore in the latest move to cut the size of its struggling investment bank. The decision sheds light on the British lender’s recent agreement with CIMB Group Holdings Bhd for [...]
Petrofac and National Grid plan UK carbon capture plant March 20, 2012 British energy network operator National Grid and London-listed oil and gas services firm Petrofac plan to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Britain with US partner Summit Power, the companies said. The consortium will apply for funding from the British government, which is due to relaunch a £1bn tender for CCS projects [...]
Regus to invest as profit doubles March 20, 2012 Regus more than doubled its operating profit for 2011 as cash-strapped firms chose the flexible office space supplier over fixed cost premises, and said that it would open another 200 locations this year to fuel further growth. The group, which offers ready-to-use offices for rentals as short as half a day in cities in 94 [...]
Debenhams sales up March 20, 2012 Debenhams, Britain’s second largest department store group, showed its resilience in tough markets with an improving sales performance in its first half. The firm, which trades from 167 stores in the UK, Ireland and Denmark and over 60 franchise stores in 24 international markets, said on Tuesday sales at stores open over a year rose [...]
Banks split on £20bn loan plans March 19, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT has been dealt a blow in its flagship credit scheme for small businesses after it failed to get all of the UK’s major banks on board. HSBC, which accounts for 15 per cent of the small business banking market, will not participate in the National Loan Guarantee Scheme (NLGS) unveiled today because the [...]
Consumers upbeat on job hopes March 19, 2012 THE ECONOMIC recovery is at last set to get underway, with consumer confidence on the way up, according to a survey published today. Nearly all measures of confidence rose in YouGov’s study, pushing its Heat index to a 18-month high of 98.6 in March, up 11 points on December’s figure and almost at levels seen [...]