Airline orders boost profits for Rolls-Royce July 26, 2012 ROLLS-ROYCE posted a better-than-expected seven per cent rise in first-half profit yesterday, driven by increased production at planemakers Airbus and Boeing who are responding to growing demand from airlines for new fuel-efficient planes. Rolls, the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind US group General Electric, reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £637m for the [...]
SABMiller chief weathers storm as one in four revolt over pay July 26, 2012 SABMiller escaped a shareholder revolt on executive pay yesterday, although one in four votes at the brewer’s annual meeting opposed bosses’ remuneration packages. Despite investor advisory body Pirc urging shareholders to vote against electing chief executive Graham Mackay to executive chairman, all motions at yesterday’s annual meeting were carried, with 77.3 per cent of votes [...]
OECD boss says Osborne and cuts must stay July 26, 2012 THE secretary-general of the OECD yesterday backed the UK government’s deficit-reduction plans, saying that chancellor George Osborne should maintain his resolve in the face of opposition. When asked on Radio 4’s Today programme what he would say to Osborne following the crash in GDP, Angel Gurria said he’d tell him to “stay the course”, claiming [...]
Citi: Greece is 90pc likely to leave the euro July 26, 2012 GREECE now has a 90 per cent chance of exiting the Eurozone in the next year and a half, according to increasingly gloomy economists at Citigroup yesterday. Chief economist Willem Buiter wrote in February that the chance of a Greek exit was 50-50, but has become more pessimistic amid a worsening Eurozone economy. Buiter said [...]
Ifo puts a price tag on Grexit for core nations July 26, 2012 GERMANY and France will lose €82bn (£64bn) and €62bn respectively if Greece crashes out of the Eurozone, German research unit Ifo claims. However, the cost of Greece defaulting on its debt but remaining in the currency union is even steeper, with expected losses of up to €89bn and €67bn for the core Eurozone nations. Ifo’s [...]
Employment data raises hopes that US economy is improving July 26, 2012 THE number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to near a four-year low but an unusual pattern for summer factory shutdowns kept hopes in check that the weak labor market was improving. The labour market has suffered three months of sub-100,000 job growth as the economy slowed amid a cloud [...]
Chairman to leave National Express in 2013 July 26, 2012 NATIONAL Express is on the hunt for a new chairman, after John Daveney announced his retirement yesterday. The firm, which reported a 14 per cent slump in half-year profits after ditching the East Anglia rail franchise, said Devaney will retire in early 2013 to focus on his other roles at Cobham, NATS and in private [...]
TalkTalk battles Sky with pay-TV service July 26, 2012 BUDGET broadband provider TalkTalk bid to take on Sky, Virgin Media and BT yesterday as it unveiled plans to launch a pay-TV service in tandem with the newly released YouView set-top box. The company also appointed Sony chairman Sir Howard Stringer to its board as it said it lost 19,000 customers in the quarter to [...]
BAA loses another appeal in its fight to keep Stansted Airport July 26, 2012 BAA has pledged to fight on in its attempts to keep Stansted Airport, despite losing a Court of Appeal hearing yesterday. Judges yesterday upheld the Competition Commission’s 2009 ruling that BAA exerted a dominant hold on airports in Scotland and south east England. BAA, which also owns Heathrow, sold off Edinburgh Airport in April but [...]
Acquisitions lift Intertek profit July 26, 2012 Testing company Intertek Group reported a 27 per cent rise in profit for the first half of the year, helped by acquisitions and strong demand for its services. Intertek said it expects high-single-digit revenue growth for the rest of the year. Pre-tax profit rose to £140m from £110.6m a year earlier.
