Downturn for ITV is halted by Downton February 26, 2012 NATIONAL broadcaster ITV is expected to show an upturn in fortunes in its annual earnings this Wednesday on the back of mega-hit TV show Downton Abbey and a rise in industry-wide advertising revenues. Analyst consensus expects the television group to report pre-tax profits of £361m, showing a growth of 12.5 per cent on 2010. But [...]
Crozier has no time for backslapping February 26, 2012 PITY poor Simon Fox, chief executive of HMV, who turned down the top job at ITV in 2009. Despite being the frontrunner to lead the free-to-air broadcaster, he decided to stay on at the music retailer to implement his turnaround plan. Alas, it looks highly unlikely that the turnaround of ailing HMV will ever be [...]
Vedanta merges Indian units to create firm worth $20bn February 26, 2012 VEDANTA, the FTSE 100 mining giant, has announced plans to merge several of its Indian subsidiaries to create a new $20bn (£12.6bn) business. The group, controlled by British-based tycoon Anil Agarwal, has over a dozen Indian units producing oil to aluminium and copper to zinc. The consolidation is expected to lead to the creation of [...]
Olympic Media Buzz LONDON 2012 PARTNERS February 26, 2012 IN ASSOCIATION with Repskan.com, the media monitoring and analytics platform, City A.M. is measuring the relative Olympic media buzz around the partners for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, week by week. The leaderboard, right, reflects their ranking over the past week, in this case from Wednesday 15 February to Wednesday 22 February. Maintaining [...]
Deadline set for private holders of Greece’s debt February 26, 2012 A DEADLINE of 8 March – next Thursday – has been set for private holders of Greek debt to participate in the proposed bond swap, required to significantly cut the struggling state’s debt burden. The debt swap is a crucial part of Greece’s latest bailout, which is expected to see the Mediterranean country receive a [...]
Latest bailout is unlikely to be its last, as City still expects Greece to exit the euro February 26, 2012 THE City has given a resounding thumbs down to the latest Greek bailout package, with three-quarters (74 per cent) of our Voice of the City panellists saying it is “highly unlikely” that the €130bn (£110bn) rescue package will be its last. The finding of our most recent survey, run in association with PoliticsHome.com, suggests that [...]
Former BP boss plans new firm February 26, 2012 Former BP chief executive Lord Browne of Madingley is understood to be planning to launch a giant new North Sea oil company. Browne, who runs the European arm of American investment fund Riverstone, is reportedly negotiating with Fairfield Energy, which is a North Sea producer controlled by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
Harvey Nichols opening in Kuwait February 26, 2012 British luxury fashion retailer Harvey Nichols is set to open a store in Kuwait City – its seventh venture outside the UK and Ireland. The company said it will be in The Avenues Mall, the largest shopping destination in Kuwait and spread across two floors and 10,000 square metres of retail space. The opening in [...]
Petrobras CEO: fuel price to rise February 26, 2012 The new chief executive of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras, Maria das Gracas Foster, said the company needs to raise fuel prices to keep in step with higher oil prices, while maintaining the practice of buffering pump prices to shield consumers from volatility. He was speaking to Brazil’s Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.
Act of Valor triumphs February 26, 2012 Military drama “Act of Valor” won the battle of the box office over the weekend, with $24.7m (£15.6m) in US and Canadian sales, studio estimates released yesterday showed. Second place went to Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds”, which rung up $16m at north American theatres from Friday to yesterday. In third place was “Journey 2: The [...]
