StanChart to raise £500m in India listing March 30, 2010 Standard Chartered will raise up to $750m (£500m) in an audacious Indian listing. It plans to issue Indian Depositary Receipts (IDRs) – rupee-denominated certificates showing ownership of shares in Standard Chartered – the first such offering in Asia’s third-largest economy. It filed a draught prospectus with Indian regulators yesterday and hopes to complete the listing [...]
Miners cheer at prospect of higher prices March 30, 2010 ANNUAL iron ore fixed-price deals look to be teetering on the edge of extinction following BHP Billiton and Vale’s completion of a shorter quarterly contract with Asian steelmakers. The quarterly contracts were settled at $110-$120 (£72-79) a tonne next quarter, a substantial increase from the 2009-10 annual contracts, which were settled at around $60. Steelmakers [...]
Kazakhmys’ revenues and earnings take a tumble on heavy writedowns March 30, 2010 KAZAKHMYS, the Kazakh miner, recorded lower full year profits on the back of heavy writedowns. Revenue fell 27 per cent to $2.4bn and net profit was down 39 per cent in 2009 from $909m (£808) to $554m, the miner said yesterday. It posted a 50 per cent fall in consolidated annual earnings per share (EPS), [...]
Punch Taverns chief resigns March 30, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest pubs firm Punch Taverns said yesterday chief executive Giles Thorley is to stand down from the board after seven years at the helm during which the company’s debt rose to record levels. Punch, which has over 7,500 pubs across Britain, said it was well advanced in the process of appointing a successor as [...]
Successor has huge in-tray March 30, 2010 OUTGOING Punch boss Giles Thorley deserves some praise for his stewardship of the pubs firm through the recession. He was quick to cut the group’s dividend and ruthlessly disposed of underperforming sites, even when they had symbolic importance. The recent share placing was also a broad success. But there is no getting away from it: [...]
JKX plans to double production March 30, 2010 JKX, the oil and gas producer, reported a six per cent rise in production in 2009 and promised a year of growth as it looks to nearly double its production by 2011. It said it plans to invest $230m (£152m) in its Russian and Ukrainian operations in 2010, following a fundraising in January. This year [...]
AXA and F2i to bid for Endesa’s network March 30, 2010 AXA Private Equity is preparing to make an offer for Endesa’s gas assets in Spain together with Italian investment fund F2i, the head of AXA’s infrastructure fund said yesterday. Regulated gas assets are increasingly attracting investors, who want inflation-protected long-term returns and reliable cashflows.
DMGT sees ad revenue boost March 30, 2010 Daily Mail & General Trust showed a remarkable recovery in advertising, with sales for the first quarter of 2010 leaping eight per cent year-on-year. Display ads led the charge with a rally of 13 per cent, while digital ads rose by three per cent. The bulk of the recovery was down to a turnaround at [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF DMGT’S TRADING FIGURES? March 30, 2010 LORNA TILBIAN | NUMIS SECURITIES We are upgrading our forecasts by five per cent. Business to consumer is benefiting from improved advertising, and we expect this to continue into the third quarter, as evidenced by reports that ITV will see strong trading then. MICK GILLIGAN | KILLIK & CO We would be mindful of the [...]
Retail fund sales hit new high March 30, 2010 Last month was the strongest ever February for retail fund sales, with receipts of more than £1.9bn, according to the Investment Management Association. Funds under management reached £485bn at the end of February – an all time high. It was £13.1bn higher than in January and £143.6bn, or 46 per cent, up year-on-year. The rise [...]