MOUCHEL NAMES FOURTH CHAIR OF 2011 December 6, 2011 STRUGGLING infrastructure group Mouchel named former Deloitte senior partner David Shearer its new chairman yesterday, making him the fourth holder of the post this year. Describing him as a “turnaround specialist”, Mouchel said Shearer would replace interim chairman Sir Michael Lyons on 9 January next year. Shearer joins Mouchel after a string of profit warnings [...]
Total to buy GDF Suez stake December 6, 2011 Total, operator of the Elgin/Franklin fields in the British sector of the North Sea, yesterday announced it was buying GDF Suez’s share in the two fields for €590m (£507m). This participation is held through a 22.5 per cent interest in the company Elgin Franklin Oil & Gas (EFOG). By giving Total control of the whole [...]
Northgate driving profits December 6, 2011 Van-hire group Northgate said it would focus on current assets rather than growth, after that approach enabled it to post a 19 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £32.3m yesterday.
Frontline plans restructuring December 6, 2011 Frontline, the largest independent global oil tanker operator, has unveiled a restructuring plan that should spare its investors a lot of pain and force Ship Finance International to take a big hit. Industry bellwether Frontline will split in two, with the listed entity relieved of much debt and handed new charter rates, in an attempt [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 6, 2011 Callatay & Wouters Callatay & Wouters, which provides IT solutions to retail, private and direct banks, has appointed Diederik Van Der Linden to the new position of sales and marketing director. Van Der Linden, who specialises in retail and private banking, joined the company in 2001 to lead the international business development team, before becoming [...]
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 [...]