Serco confident despite drop in first-half profit August 29, 2012 BRITISH outsourcing group Serco said yesterday a raft of recent contract wins would help it to strong full-year revenue growth, after reorganisation costs and continued delays in the award of US federal work pushed first-half profit down 17 per cent. The flow of much-anticipated public sector work in Serco’s core British market, which represents around [...]
KKR considers £800m Renesas stake in second Japanese foray August 29, 2012 PRIVATE equity firm KKR is in talks to invest about 100bn yen (£800m) for control of Japan’s Renesas Electronics, sources said yesterday. The deal would give KKR more than 50 per cent of cash-strapped Renesas, and could speed the pace of its current restructuring as it fights for survival in the face of sinking prices [...]
Daikin looks to US market with Goodman buy August 29, 2012 DAIKIN Industries will buy Goodman Global for $3.8bn (£2.4bn), it said yesterday, gaining greater access to the North American market and making the Japanese company the world’s largest maker of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Daikin has long been interested in its Houston, Texas-based rival, but put off takeover talks following Japan’s devastating earthquake [...]
Big bang opens the Paralympics August 29, 2012 THE London Paralympic Games opened with a dramatic “big bang” last night as a glowing sphere descended into the middle of a giant umbrella signifying the creation of the universe. Then in a tribute to the British weather, which just hours earlier had soaked the Olympic torch-bearers racing through the streets of the Square Mile, [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 29, 2012 SWIP The asset manager has added Alan Bridges to its global rates team as investment director of UK rates. Bridges has 27 years’ experience in global fixed income, most recently at UBS Global Asset Management where he was a senior portfolio manager. Prior to that he worked in a number of senior positions at ABN [...]
Best of the Brokers August 29, 2012 AMLIN Numis upgraded Amlin to “add” from “hold” and raised its target price by 60p to 445p after the insurance firm last week reported it returned to profit in the first half of the year. L’OREAL Canaccord Genuity retained its “sell” rating after the firm posted half year results on Tuesday, and kept its target [...]
Miners weighed down by copper price slip as quiet FTSE ends lower August 29, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue chip shares fell yesterday in very light trade as uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy and the next moves by central banks prompted many investors to stick to the sidelines. Miners were the standout fallers, off 2.2 per cent, weighed down by a drop in the copper price. Global growth worries [...]
Light trading in US ahead of Jackson Hole August 29, 2012 US stocks edged higher yesterday in the lightest trading of the year as investors waited for a key speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday. Daily volume this week has been very low, even for a seasonally slow period, with the market recording three of the four lowest volume full sessions of 2012. [...]
Clegg’s confused narrative offers no remedy to Britain’s problems August 29, 2012 DIFFERENTIATION is increasingly the centrepiece of the Liberal Democrats’ political strategy. Back in the halcyon days of May 2010, as Nick Clegg and David Cameron flirted together in the Rose Garden, the over-arching message was about how much the LibDems and the Conservatives had in common. But as the coalition has struggled towards the halfway [...]
Romney’s wife goes on a charm offensive to woo female voters for Mitt August 29, 2012 JUST hours after New Jersey’s 50 delegates officially made her husband the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Ann Romney took to the stage in Tampa to give a stoic defence of her husband’s business career, his values, and most of all, his credentials to be the next President. Her remarks were, initially at least, so well [...]
