E.ON first-half profits triple August 13, 2012 E.ON, Germany’s biggest energy company, has seen its profits triple in the first half of 2012. Net income for the six months to the end of June was €3.3bn (£2.1bn), up from €900m a year ago. E.ON cited Germany’s accelerated phase-out of nuclear energy, which benefited first-half earnings to the tune of €1.5bn, and a [...]
WPP buys out Turkish agency August 13, 2012 Advertising giant WPP yesterday said yesterday it has bought out Turkish agency Manajans Thompson Reklam Isleri AS for an undisclosed sum. WPP has owned a minority stake in the firm since 1985. Istanbul-based Manajans employs around 70 people and saw revenue of 8m Turkish lira (£2.8m) last year. The agency’s clients include Nokia, Shell and Byer.
Tata Steel misses profit forecast August 13, 2012 Tata Steel yesterday missed quarterly profit expectations, hit by weakening demand and prices in its main European market, offsetting a solid performance at home. The steelmaker, whose European operations account for two thirds of its capacity, said consolidated net profit for the quarter to the end of June fell to 5.98bn rupees from 53.5bn in [...]
Elan to spin off research arm August 13, 2012 Ireland’s Elan is to spin off its Neotope drug discovery business platform as a separate public company, making Elan immediately profitable and potentially more appealing as a takeover target. The decision to split the company comes hard on the heels of the failure of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug being developed with Johnson & Johnson and [...]
Drake & Morgan opening more quirky City bars August 13, 2012 CITY WORKERS rejoice. Drake & Morgan, the quirky bar and restaurant group behind the Anthologist and the Folly in the City, is set to launch two more venues for thirsty employees to visit after a hard day’s work, this time nearer to Holborn and St Paul’s. Fund manager Axa Real Estate revealed yesterday it has [...]
Goldman Sachs is the Olympic champion in prediction game August 13, 2012 MOST of us spent the last two weeks being constantly surprised by the record-breaking performances of Team GB athletes at the Olympics. But The Capitalist would like to award its own gold medal to two men who fully expected this – Goldman Sachs analysts José Ursúa and Kamakshya Trivedi. Last month the two men used [...]
Eurozone breaks for Clegg, Cameron and Ed Miliband August 13, 2012 “I am a great believer that politicians are human beings,” claimed David Cameron after the close of the Olympics, “and they need to have holidays.” And so the PM fired the starting gun on a fortnight of mini-breaks for Westminster’s finest. Coalition partners Nick Clegg and Cameron are jetting off (separately) to Spain, while Labour’s [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 13, 2012 Hill Residential The property development group has appointed Tony Woodman to the position of sales director. He will be responsible for overseeing the company’s increased focused on residential development. Woodman joins from Taylor Wimpey, where he was sales and marketing director. He has also held similar roles at George Wimpey and Laing Homes. Rathbone Investment [...]
BEST of the BROKERS August 13, 2012 WHITBREAD Deutsche Bank yesterday downgraded the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inn from “buy” to “hold”, despite raising its price target to 2,350p from 2,200p. Analysts at the bank said that after such a strong performance, with shares up 32 per cent in the past year, “we can see a period of consolidation for [...]
US stocks dip on Japanese growth data August 13, 2012 US stocks ended slightly lower yesterday as fatigue set in after a six-day rally and disappointing Japanese growth data provided a fresh reminder of the headwinds facing the global economy. The benchmark S&P 500 index had risen three per cent over the prior six sessions, its longest rally since December 2010. But gains had slowed, [...]
