HOORAY FOR THE BAR(S) October 14, 2009 JEFF GALVINWE FOLLOW THE GALVIN BROTHERS AS THEY COUNT DOWN TO THE OPENING OF THEIR NEW CITY RESTAURANT AS we all know, a great bar is the heart of a great restaurant. Not being people who like to take chances, our new restaurant will have three. Perhaps the most exciting is the six-metre long, pewter [...]
Shift to low-carbon economy will boost clean technology prospects October 14, 2009 INVESTING in clean technology used to be perceived as an activity that was primarily the domain of slightly hippy do-gooders with little interest in high-yielding returns. But any lingering misconceptions of tree-huggers and poor returns were swept away earlier this week when billionaire George Soros said he planned to invest $1bn in clean-energy technologies over [...]
GEAR UP YOUR EXPOSURE TO RECOVERY October 14, 2009 ALEXANDRE HOUPERTHEAD OF LISTED PRODUCTS UK, SG CORPORATE & INVESTMENT BANKINGa LAST year there were hopes that emerging markets, particularly in East Asia, had decoupled from the crisis that was plaguing the most developed economies in the world. But they did not remain immune from the global downturn and stock markets saw sharp falls. But [...]
BAE predicts good growth, unsure over bribery costs October 14, 2009 BAE Systems, europe’s largest defence firm, forecast “good growth” for the rest of the year yesterday, despite a slump in its sale of land vehicles.The group also added it expected trading to “benefit from any continued weakness of sterling against the US dollar.” The US accounts for around 60 per cent of BAE’s sales, and [...]
REDSTONE SELLS $1BN OF STOCK October 14, 2009 SUMNER Redstone plans to sell $945m (£591m) of stock in CBS and Viacom, two media companies he controls, to pay off loans that threatened to unravel his media empire. Shares of both CBS and Viacom dropped after Redstone revealed he would use the proceeds to pay off the debts of his privately-held cinema chain, National [...]
Scrappage scheme gives Vertu a boost October 14, 2009 VERTU, the motor dealer, saw its profits for the six months to the end of August surge 47.4 per cent, as the government’s scrappage scheme boosted sales. The Newcastle-based group, which trades as Bristol Street Motors, reported pre-tax profits of £2.8m, up from £1.9m last year, and said it had sold 1,686 cars under the [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 14, 2009 ITVInvestec moved ITV from “hold” to “sell” and raised its price target to 46p. The broker believes material management and structural challenges remain and that the valuation already discounts an earnings recovery on a long-term view. But it has a positive macro-view and notes that TV ad spend is improving. AMLINCredit Suisse upgraded Amlin to [...]
Kentz wins double contract October 14, 2009 Kentz, the engineering and construction group, has won two contracts with a combined value of about A$109m (£52m) in Western Australia. Kentz said it won these contracts through its Australian joint venture operating company Thiess Kentz. The value attributable to Kentz is 50 per cent of the joint venture, it added.
Ford in drive for vehicle recall October 14, 2009 Ford has widened the US car industry’s -biggest-ever recall by 4.5m vehicles due to a faulty cruise-control switch linked to hundreds of fires. So far 14.3m vehicles have been recalled.
Maybe ITV would do better without a chief exec October 14, 2009 CRISIS? What crisis? That was the line that Michael Grade, the outgoing executive chairman of ITV, took when being questioned by a House of Lords committee yesterday. Hitting out at media coverage of the broadcaster’s bungled attempts to find a replacement chairman and chief executive, he said ITVwas a business in fine fettle. In a [...]
