Thames Water hands its execs bonuses despite profit slump June 11, 2012 THAMES Water has come under fire for paying its top executives close to their maximum bonuses this year in spite of hosepipe bans, declining profits and complaints about its customer service. Boss Martin Baggs was paid £896,000 in the year, including a £418,000 bonus – or 87.7 per cent of his maximum payout. This figure [...]
BMW and Audi sales hit record for May on demand from China June 11, 2012 BMW increased sales last month by 6.4 per cent to 156,957 vehicles, a new record for the month of May, the company said yesterday. Results were once again lifted by a surge in demand from mainland China, the group’s largest market, where sales jumped by nearly a third. “New products such as the BMW 6 [...]
Voice recognition firm Eckoh agrees American Express deal June 11, 2012 ECKOH, the Aim-listed speech recognition business, will today unveil a deal with a major global financial services company, believed to be American Express. City A.M. understands the multi-million pound deal will see American Express employ a dedicated platform from Eckoh to handle its customers’ self-service enquiries across the globe. The two companies have worked together [...]
BISHOPSGATE SET FOR NEW RESTAURANTS June 11, 2012 AN 18TH century warehouse built by the East India Company is to be relaunched as a restaurant and shopping complex. The Old Bengal Warehouse near Bishopsgate will house two restaurants, a cocktail bar and a wine shop when it opens in September, several months later than planned, under the ownership of Conran Restaurants owner D&D.
Samsung denies Nokia interest June 11, 2012 Samsung Electronics denied yesterday it was interested in acquiring Nokia. Nokia shares rose six per cent last Friday on speculation of a possible buyout offer. “Such reports are purely speculative and are not true,” the company said.
Technicolor rejects new offer June 11, 2012 French set-top box maker Technicolor yesterday rejected a revised offer from a JP Morgan Chase investment fund to buy a 30 per cent stake for €179m (£143m) and opted instead for an original, lower offer which it said was better structured. Technicolor said it would now try to get shareholder approval for the earlier offer [...]
Serco pays £55m for Vertex June 11, 2012 Outsourcer Serco yesterday said it had bought Vertex Data Science for £55m. The deal will bring the firm more government contracts including administering child maintenance grants and running job centres.
BAA refinances airport loans June 11, 2012 Airports operator BAA said yesterday it had completed a £2.75bn refinancing of its loan facilities for Heathrow and Stansted airports in London. BAA, owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, said the new deal was made up of £2bn in credit and £750m in standby facilities. The new credit facilities mature in June 2017, and replace similar [...]
Mouchel warns its investors to brace for losses June 11, 2012 INFRASTRUCTURE expert Mouchel saw its stock plummet yesterday after it warned that its restructuring options were limited and existing shareholders would be all but wiped out under the plans. The company has issued a string of profit warnings and has been seeking fresh funds to get it back on track. “All the options being considered [...]
Anglo American mine suspends work as it becomes unviable June 11, 2012 WORK at a mine co-owned by Anglo American and Aquarius Platinum is to be suspended, after low platinum prices have made the venture unviable. Aquarius said it would suspend operations at its Marikana operations in South Africa, and said trading conditions in the industry were expected to remain difficult in the short to medium term. [...]
