BEST OF THE BROKERS December 6, 2011 PETROFAC JP Morgan rates the oil and gas group as “overweight” with a target price of 1,479p after a meeting with management in which growth opportunities across the business were highlighted. The broker also sees an attractive bid pipeline, particularly in the integrated energy services and offshore engineering divisions, with a backlog of expansion in [...]
Ireland cuts growth forecast to 1.3pc December 6, 2011 Ireland’s finance minister has downgraded the country’s growth forecasts for the second time in a month and outlined new tax cuts as he warned that the Eurozone crisis could hurt the country’s recovery from bankruptcy. Michael Noonan cut his outlook for GDP growth to 1.3 per cent from 1.6 per cent, as the risk of [...]
S&P may cut Eurozone rescue fund AAA-rating December 6, 2011 Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has fired a second warning shot at the Eurozone in 24 hours, threatening to cut the rating of its bailout fund as European leaders raced to find a political solution to their sovereign debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy want to change EU rules [...]
Bank of America agrees $315m Merrill Lynch settlement December 6, 2011 Bank of America has agreed to pay $315m to settle claims from investors who said they were misled by Merrill Lynch when they bought mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The settlement is one of the highest ever agreed against a bank over the mis-selling of the securities, which were shown to [...]
New car sales down 4.2pc December 6, 2011 New car sales fell by 4.2 per cent on the year in November to 134,027 units, although registrations may now beat an earlier forecast for this year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Tuesday. The SMMT said car registrations in the year to date were down 4.5 percent on the year at [...]
Panel urges legal action in damning Olympus report December 6, 2011 An independent panel has issued a damning report on a $1.7bn (£1.08bn) accounting scandal at Japan’s disgraced Olympus, urging legal action against the executives responsible for the cover-up and the replacement of other board members who knew. The six-man panel of experts found no link with organised crime, however, an outcome that may help the [...]
Eurozone GDP growth stalls in third quarter December 6, 2011 Economic growth across the Eurozone remained stalled in the third quarter of the year at the same level seen since April, the region’s statistics agency has said. GDP Growth was steady at 0.2 per cent, as in the second quarter, Eurostat said. On a year-on-year basis, growth was 1.4 per cent compared with the third [...]
HTC sales fall 30 per cent in a month December 6, 2011 Sales of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC have dropped 30 per cent in November from a month before, as the world’s No.4 smartphone brand struggled to compete against bigger rivals Apple and Samsung. HTC says its consolidated sales for November fell to T$30.94bn (£654m) from T$38.48bn a year ago and T$44.11bn in October 2011. “It shows [...]
Downgrade bombshell puts brakes on FTSE gains December 6, 2011 The brakes were slammed on the recovery in European markets this morning after ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warned 15 Eurozone countries – including Germany – that they were teetering on the edge of a downgrade. Asian stocks and the euro fell after S&P piled pressure on a plan to solve the region’s debt crisis [...]
BoE says bank profitability targets too tough December 6, 2011 British banks’ targets for shareholder returns are too high, and do not reflect the regulatory changes aimed at making banking a lower-risk, lower-return business, the Bank of England said. In a record of their November 23 Financial Policy Committee meeting published on Tuesday, policymakers reiterated that the euro zone debt crisis posed the biggest threat [...]