Vive la difference March 8, 2011 DRIVING the Peugeot iOn is certainly unusual. Until now the only electric cars I have driven have been the excellent Tesla sports car that looks like a Lotus Elise, and the considerably less good G-Wiz which looks like Noddy built it on his weekends from a kit. These cars exist at opposite ends of the [...]
Activist investors eye bumper 2011 as market improves March 6, 2011 THIS year has started well for activist investors, those outspoken stake-builders that push boards to buck up their strategy. 2011 has kicked off with a spate of high profile public exchanges between funds and their targets. Activists claimed their first major scalp last month when Sherborne Investors ousted City veteran Nick MacAndrew from the chair [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD March 6, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● Ireland’s biggest bookmaker Paddy Power will announce its end of year results on Monday. ● So will the financial spread betting and CFD provider IG Group. Both will be betting on good results. ● On Tuesday, Weir Group, founded in 1981 by descendants of Robert Burns, will hope to have engineered strong [...]
Green light given to Hitachi for £4.5bn train fleet order March 2, 2011 THE GREEN light has been given for a fleet of new high-speed trains to be built to serve routes to London. The government yesterday said it would press ahead with plans to replace Britain’s ageing InterCity fleet with trains built by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi. It has placed a £4.5bn order for 500 carriages with the [...]
London’s success means the government is ignoring it March 2, 2011 IS London too successful for its own good?” What a thought! Like the Mayor, I have always believed it possible to have your cake and eat it. A report out last week from Citigroup proclaimed an ever more successful future for London – predicting that its economy would grow more than any other city in [...]
New high speed train line hit by strong opposition February 28, 2011 THE government yesterday launched its consultation into the proposed high speed rail link between London and Birmingham, amid a wave of complaints. The new line, dubbed HS2, will cost an estimated £32bn – a bill described as “utterly indefensible” by the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA). “There are more affordable ways of getting the capacity needed,” said [...]
Consultation on high speed rail link is opened February 27, 2011 TRANSPORT secretary Philip Hammond will today launch a five month consultation on the HS2 high speed rail project that could link London and Birmingham. Ministers say the 250mph link, which will cost around £2bn a year for at least the next decade, will generate £2 for every £1 invested. It is hoped the link can [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 22, 2011 BP UBS rates the oil major “buy” with a target price of 550p. The broker believes that BP’s 30 per cent stake in Indian explorer Reliance is worth $7.8bn (£4.8bn), slightly above the $7.2bn payment announced on Monday, and that the deal will raise BP’s gearing to around 16 per cent. UBS thinks the deal [...]
Australian cyclone hits Rio production February 21, 2011 GLOBAL miner Rio Tinto said yesterday it expects cyclones affecting its coastal operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to affect shipped tonnage figures for the first quarter of this year. Rio Tinto said it had maintained operations at 14 mines in the region but Cyclone Carlos has caused frequent interruptions at its Dampier and Cape [...]
Huawei in bid to provide free mobile networks on the Tube February 20, 2011 CHINA’S biggest telecoms operator, privately-owned Huawei Technologies, is bidding to provide a mobile network for the London underground system in time for the 2012 Olympics. The equipment for the network would likely be provided free of charge, with tube operator Transport for London stressing that due to budgeting pressures, any such proposal would have to [...]