Anglo chief confident in Chile fight February 7, 2012 ANGLO American’s shareholders are “very supportive” of the company in its legal battle against copper producing giant Codelco in Chile, chief executive Cynthia Carroll said yesterday. “We are very confident about our legal position. We have acted within our rights and we are in no doubt about that,” Carroll said at a mining industry gathering. [...]
SWATCH CATCHES LUXURY MARKET BOOM February 7, 2012 STRONG demand for expensive watches in China helped Swatch Group clock up an 18 per cent rise in 2011 profits and build some sales momentum for the current year. Net profit at the Swiss-based group, known better for its colourful plastic watches than for ownership of high-end brands such as Omega and Breguet, rose 18.1 [...]
What do you think of the government’s plans to reform the UK’s National Health System? February 7, 2012 AS health secretary Andrew Lansley’s controversial plans to reform the NHS return to the House of Lords, we’re asking our Voice of the City panellist what they make of the government’s proposals to overhaul Britain’s health services. The bill has received widespread opposition from doctors, nurses and other health workers, but Lansley insists he has [...]
Lagardere in €900m writedown February 7, 2012 France’s Lagardere said it will take a writedown of €900m on the value of its problem-plagued sports business and its stake in pay-TV unit Canal+ as it reported stagnant revenue for 2011. The media-to-aerospace conglomerate reported full-year revenue of €7.66bn in line with analysts estimates yesterday and confirmed its forecast of core media operating profit [...]
Low & Bonar results impress February 7, 2012 Shares in Low & Bonar jump as much as 12 per cent to touch a four-month high yesterday, after the supplier of yarn, fabric, and fibre reported better-than-expected full year pre-tax profit, boosted by new product sales and a higher contribution from emerging markets. Revenues at the group rose 13 per cent year-on-year to £388.7m, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 7, 2012 Qatar Financial Centre Authority Bob Wigley, chairman of Yell Group and former chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. In the new role, Wigley, who was appointed as an ambassador for UK business by David Cameron in 2011, will promote [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 7, 2012 HALFORDS Panmure Gordon has upgraded the car and bicycle parts retailer from “hold” to “buy” and raised its target price to 375p from 300p, despite downgrading its pre-tax profit forecasts by eight and 10 per cent respectively for the next two years. The upgrade is made on the basis that the broker expects Halfords to [...]
GlaxoSmithKline announces £5.3bn profits for 2011 February 7, 2012 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) says it has trebled year-end profits to £5.3bn for 2011, assisted by massive reductions in overheads. The figures were boosted by profits of £1.25bn in the final three months of the year, compared to a loss of £633m in the same period last year. GSK’s revenue declined three per cent even as sales [...]
FTSE flat as $90bn Glencore deal agreed February 7, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat as further delays to Greek debt restructuring created more confidence sapping uncertainty – but the talk of the market was the agreed $90bn (£56bn) merger of Glencore and Xstrata. After rejecting a proposed new bailout deal which demands strict labour reforms and other austerity steps Greek leaders today meet in [...]
Lloyds set to cut 1,000 jobs February 7, 2012 Lloyds Banking Group has announced plans to cut almost 1,000 jobs as it closes operations across the UK. Around 990 positions are set to go as a result of site closures in LTSB Scunthorpe, LTSB Dudley and HBOS Romford and HBOS Newcastle. The roles will come from within the Group Operations, Group Executive Functions, Risk, [...]