Offices raided as prosecutors probe Landesbank heads December 7, 2009 GERMAN state prosecutors yesterday searched the offices of the country’s biggest state-owned bank, Landesbank, as well as board members’ private residences, over suspected breach of trust. The probe is targeting six current management board members as well as former chief executive Siegfried Jaschinski for severe breach of trust in connection with risky investments in US [...]
Insurer MetLife says 2010 earnings will beat forecasts due to cost cutting December 7, 2009 METLIFE, the largest publicly-traded US life insurer, yesterday forecast fourth-quarter and 2010 earnings that could beat average Wall Street expectations, helped by cost cuts, improved investment returns and higher revenue. But it said it did not see a return to historical growth levels until 2011 or 2012. In a statement issued just before the start [...]
MORE DELAYS FOR DERIPASKA December 7, 2009 RUSAL, the world’s leading aluminium producer that is controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, will delay its long-awaited $3bn (£1.8bn) IPO until next year, after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange asked it to meet certain undisclosed conditions. The delay is another blow to Deripaska’s long-held aim of floating the business.
Scrappage drives China car sales December 7, 2009 Car sales and production in China both exceeded the 12m mark between January and November, its state media said yesterday. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said it expects sales and output of cars to top 13m for the full year. The move indicates growing wealth in the country, which has never produced more than [...]
Citi appoints EMEA equities boss December 7, 2009 Citi has appointed Mike Pringle as its new head of equities for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to a memo leaked yesterday. Pringle, currently head of EMEA equities trading, joined the US bank in July 2008 from Merrill Lynch where he was in charge of EMEA equity trading for the group’s business in [...]
NIB to shut branches as pain goes on December 7, 2009 LOSS-making National Irish Bank (NIB), owned by Denmark’s Danske Bank, yesterday said it is to shut 25 of its 58 branches and eliminate 150 jobs to cut costs. Irish banking has proved a headache for Danske Bank, piling up losses before tax of 3.7bn Danish crowns (£449.3m) in the first nine months of 2009 on [...]
Cadbury to reject Kraft next week December 7, 2009 CADBURY yesterday issued a blunt statement saying it would make a formal response to Kraft’s hostile bid next week, alongside its end of year trading figures. Due to US securities laws “Cadbury is prohibited from publishing any further information, or making any further statement, until it has issued its formal response,” the group said. The [...]
Commercial property values surge again December 7, 2009 BRITISH commercial property values in November made their biggest monthly gain since records began nine years ago, rising 2.7 per cent and marking the fifth consecutive monthly increase, the latest report from consultants CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE) Monthly Index found. Values have been rising since July when they were down 44 per cent from the [...]
Warning for energy firms December 7, 2009 ENERGY FIRMS were yesterday cautioned by the energy watchdog against using investment plans as “a shameful excuse to overcharge consumers” . Ofgem’s quarterly price report showed that a slump in energy wholesale prices had pushed up supplier’s margins to their highest in five years. The watchdog said the companies had made an average of £210 [...]
EPA grabs new powers December 7, 2009 THE Environmental Protection Agency yesterday cleared the way for regulation of greenhouse gases without new laws passed by Congress, reflecting President Barack Obama’s commitment to act on climate change at the Copenhagen summit. The EPA ruling that greenhouse gases endanger human health, widely expected after it issued a preliminary finding earlier this year, will allow [...]
