Providence divests $66m of oil fields September 28, 2012 Ireland-focused Providence Resources has divested $66m (£40m) of exploration and production assets to AIM-listed IGas Energy, as it reported a jump in first half losses. Providence, headed up by Tony O’Reilly, is selling its onshore UK licence interests for oil fields in West Sussex. The company said the sale of the interests in two licenses [...]
Impala Platinum raises wages for miners September 28, 2012 South African miner Impala Platinum this morning said it will raise employee wages by 4.8 per cent from 1 October. Earlier this month Implats received a wage demand from a workers committee at its Rustenberg mine, despite wages being increased at the end of April. But today it said it had given into demands and [...]
FTSE 100 up on Spain’s austerity budget September 28, 2012 The leading share index opened up this morning. Headline mining shares rose as metal prices rallied. Spain’s austerity budget, unveiled yesterday, settled Eurozone nerves and dragged the FTSE 100 up, as the index went back above the 5,800 level in early trading. Aquarius Platinum topped the leaderboard this morning, up almost five per cent. Engineering [...]
Thomas Cook confident on turnaround plan September 28, 2012 Thomas Cook said this morning that its turnaround plan is on track, and that its full year results would be in line with market expectations. The company, which was thrown a lifeline by lenders in May, said it was seeing an improvement in its finances and added that demand for last-minute summer holidays had been [...]
Buckles survives G4S Olympic contract fiasco September 28, 2012 Nick Buckles has held onto his position as chief executive of security firm G4S, as it announced this morning its chief eoperating officer and global events director would resign as a result of the bungled Olympics contract. In July, G4S admitted it could not recruit the necessary 10,400 security staff for the Games, and an [...]
Spain unveils 2013 austerity budget September 27, 2012 Spain has set out its austerity budget for 2013, comprising a tough programme of savings, tax rises and reforms. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said today that next year’s budget would focus on cutting spending rather than hiking taxes, adding that the government would pass 43 new laws to reform the economy over [...]
FTSE 100 up on fresh China stimulus hopes September 27, 2012 The blue chip index jumped in early trading, as headline mining shares such as Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Glencore rose, bolstered by expectations of market-boosting measures from China. On the FTSE All-Share, insurer CPP Group topped the leaderboard, adding 14.29 per cent. It has been weighing up a turnaround plan after the City watchdog [...]
UK economy shrank by 0.4 per cent in second quarter September 27, 2012 The UK economy fell by a less-than-expected 0.4 per cent in the second quarter, down from the previous estimate of 0.5 per cent. GDP was 0.5 per cent lower than in the second quarter of 2011. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics out this morning said that a steel slump of 0.3 per [...]
H&M hurt by gloomy consumer sentiment September 27, 2012 Profit after tax at H&M rose marginally to SEK3,622m (£339m) in the third quarter, as gloomy consumer sentiment, bad weather and negative currency swings weighed on the world’s second-largest clothing retailer. Group sales including VAT at H&M, which has more than 2,600 stores across 44 markets, increased 10 per cent in local currencies. Pre-tax earnings [...]
FSA complaints spike on PPI mis-selling September 27, 2012 Complaints to financial services firm jumped 59 per cent in the first six months of the year, largely due to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The data from the Financial Services Authority showed that complaints relating to general insurance increased by 99 per cent. Within this, complaints about PPI made up the bulk, [...]
