Oil prices lift Hydro October 26, 2005 Norwegian energy and metals business Norsk Hydro said its third-quarter net income rose 69 per cent on the back of rising oil and gas prices, despite rising costs in its aluminium business. This year oil prices have risen about 45 per cent and gas prices 27 per cent, which contributed to the company’s net income [...]
‘No talks’ at Whitbread October 26, 2005 The wind was knocked out of Whitbread’s sails yesterday after chief executive Alan Parker moved to quieten the takeover talk that has buoyed its shares. The leisure group was one of the biggest fallers of the day after Parker said there had been “no talks” with private or trade buyers about selling off any of [...]
Berliner falls to Monty October 26, 2005 A media company run by former Mirror Group chief executive David Montgomery has snapped up Berlin’s biggest-selling broadsheet newspaper. Mecom, together with Anglo American private equity group Veronis Suhler Stevenson, has bought the Berliner Zeitung, whose circulation is 185,000, as well as Berlin’s top tabloid paper, Berliner Kurier, whose circulation is 121,000. Talks with the [...]
Abbey makes moves on mortgages October 26, 2005 Abbey is to mount an assault on the British mortgage market by plugging into new business areas. The bank, which was taken over by Spanish group Santander for £8bn last year, wants to make up ground lost to its rivals in the areas of lending to buy-to-let investors, people wanting loans for new-build properties, and [...]
Amazon profits hit by increased competition October 26, 2005 Amazon, the online bookseller, last night unveiled a $30m (£16.8m) profit for the third quarter. Some of the gloss was taken off increased sales, however, as it admitted that a patent dispute had cost it $20m. Seattle-based Amazon made a one-off payment to settle a patent lawsuit in the third quarter. Its profit, otherwise, would [...]
Marconi boss in £9m windfall October 26, 2005 Marconi CEO Mike Parton is £8.8m richer after Ericsson bought his company for £1.2bn. Ericsson is buying the bulk of Marconi, the former GEC, once the country’s biggest private employer. The remainder of the business — the British services operation — will be spun off into a new company, telent, which will be listed on [...]
Grapes of wealth October 26, 2005 Wine investment requires patience and special knowledge and is not a way to make a quick profit — you need to be in it for the long run, says Toby Walne Wine lovers can savour a fine vintage not just in a glass but also as a tasty investment. Despite the wine market being notoriously [...]
No end to Wolseley’s buying spree October 25, 2005 Building materials wholesaler Wolseley has continued its buying spree and added insulation distributor Encon and North American plumbing company Camellia Valley Supply to its global portfolio. Wolseley, the world’s biggest plumbing and heating distributor, raised $1.2bn (£677m) last week through a private placement to more than 30 institutional investors, which was marketed by the Royal [...]
Bush names Bernanke Fed chairman October 25, 2005 President George W Bush has nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke was a bookies’ favourites, along with Republican stalwarts Martin Feldstein and Glenn Hubbard, both advisors to Ronald Reagan. A former economics professor at America’s elite Princeton University, Bernanke served as a Fed governor between 2002 and [...]
Thames Water plans £15bn float October 25, 2005 RWE, the German utility, is considering spinning off the Thames Water business. A float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is expected to a capitalisation of up to £15bn. Thames Water left the LSE following the RWE acquisition in 2000. According to German press reports yesterday RWE is now weighing up a partial flotation, possibly [...]
