De Beers earnings halve July 20, 2012 De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer by value, said earnings halved in the first six months of the year amid tough trading conditions. The results contrast with a bumper start to last year, and the remainder of 2012 is set to remain challenging. De Beers, which vies with Russia’s Alrosa for the title of [...]
Heineken tops Thai offer in $4.1 bn APB bid July 20, 2012 Heineken NV launched S$5.1bn ($4.1bn) counter-bid for Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) on Friday, beating a surprise offer for the maker of Tiger Beer by a Thai billionaire and setting the stage for a two-way battle. The fight for APB comes amid a wave of industry consolidation and steady growth for emerging-market beer sales. The S$3.8bn [...]
Vodafone growth dips July 20, 2012 Vodafone posted a sharp drop off in organic growth in the first quarter, dragged down by weak trading in Italy and Spain and a worse performance in Britain. The British firm had outperformed its peers in the last year but the tough conditions across Europe forced the group to cut its medium-term outlook and write [...]
Co-Op walks off with a bargain July 19, 2012 THE KNOCK-DOWN sale of 632 Lloyds branches to the Co-op yesterday was met with disbelief by industry insiders, who accused the government of getting a bad deal on the sale. The state-backed bank has agreed to sell the branches for £350m up front, followed by up to another £400m over the next 15 years – [...]
Microsoft in shock loss as Google soars July 19, 2012 MICROSOFT last night announced a quarterly loss of $492m (£313m) – its first since becoming a listed company – on the same day that the firm’s tech rival Google boosted net income to $2.79bn. While Google’s revenues soared on the back of growth in its web-based advertising business, Microsoft slipped into the red following a writedown [...]
IMF: Slow UK growth puts plans to cut deficit at risk July 19, 2012 THE COALITION government will have to abandon its plan to slow the growth of the national debt if the economic recovery fails to pick up, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. If unemployment stays high – the most recent data puts it at 8.1 per cent after plummeting in the three months to May [...]
It’s not all bad: Britain is becoming safer despite recession July 19, 2012 REMEMBER the view, widespread on some parts of the political spectrum, that recessions and poverty are what cause crime? Well, it’s nonsense. We’re in the middle of a nasty double-dip recession, high levels of unemployment, a national pay cut, falling wealth, still high inflation, an agenda dominated by corporate scandals – and yet crime is [...]
Pressure on G4S mounts as costs come under fire July 19, 2012 THE COST of the Olympic contract given to security company G4S was brought under further political scrutiny yesterday as MPs including Ed Miliband criticised the firm. A report from the public accounts committee on preparations for the Games expressed concern that G4S would “receive substantial sums of public money without providing the contracted number of [...]
Border strike scheduled for Olympics eve July 19, 2012 HOME Office workers have said they will strike next Thursday, on the eve of the Olympics, unless the government agrees to talk over pay and job cuts. Staff at the Border Agency, passport services and the Criminal Records Bureau are due to walk out on 26 July, the Public and Commercial Services union confirmed yesterday, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 19, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU targets Google mobile services Europe’s antitrust enforcer is demanding that Google makes sweeping changes to its mobile services as it paves the way to serve formal charges against the company for anti-competitive behaviour should talks over a settlement collapse. The regulator is worried about how Google favours its own products in search results; [...]
