Virgin Media beats forecasts February 8, 2012 Cable operator Virgin Media posted fourth quarter results ahead of expectations and showed it could generate strong cash flow as customers flocked to its new TV service and fast broadband offerings. Much like its rival BSky the cable operator has focussed on selling more products to existing customers in recent quarters and attracting fewer but [...]
Thomas Cook clings on to market share February 8, 2012 Travel group Thomas Cook said it had managed to hold on to market share despite tough trading conditions, rebuffing comments by rival TUI Travel which has said it is benefiting from its rivals difficulties. The company, which secured a rescue package from lenders last November, said it continued to be adversely impacted by economic uncertainty [...]
BHP profits slip on weaker commodity prices February 8, 2012 BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, reported a rare fall in earnings, hurt by labour battles and weaker commodity prices, but the result showed it was still in a different league from its would-be rival: Glencore-Xstrata. Despite the six per cent drop in half-year profit to $9.94bn (£6.24bn), BHP made more cash profit in six [...]
Glencore faces sweetener call February 7, 2012 Glencore could be forced to boost its offer for Xstrata after two of the miner’s top shareholders said they would refuse to vote in favour of the £56bn merger. The two commodities giants unveiled a deal yesterday that would see Glencore shareholders pay an effective premium of 15.2 per cent on Xstrata’s pre-deal share price [...]
BarCap is late entry onto the adviser list February 7, 2012 Barclays’ investment bank BarCap has been brought in as an adviser to Xstrata, writes David Hellier. Its appointment came late on Monday night, too late for the bank to be named in the official announcement yesterday. Its inclusion will help BarCap maintain its climb up the investment banking tables and comes after the bank’s US [...]
Shambles as Greece stalls again February 7, 2012 GREEK politicians exasperated observers and stakeholders last night with yet another delay to crunch talks over a bailout package needed to avoid a default next month. A party official blamed this latest missed deadline on a late arrival of the bailout document: “Political leaders will not have the time [yesterday night] to assess the measures.” [...]
No quick fix to US jobs crisis February 7, 2012 UNEMPLOYMENT in the US remains elevated and is some way from a significant improvement, the head of the Federal Reserve said yesterday. Despite positive recent jobs data, Ben Bernanke warned: “Given the anticipated modest pace of economic recovery, the committee expects that over coming quarters the unemployment rate will decline only gradually”. The official unemployment [...]
UK can’t count on others messing up February 7, 2012 THERE are two ways a country can do well. The first is to introduce domestic policies that boost work, investment and innovation, and trigger an entrepreneurial revolution and job-creation. Regrettably, while the coalition has introduced a few pro-market policies – such as cutting corporation tax and tweaking some regulations – on balance it has made [...]
Beijing rents outstrip NY February 7, 2012 BEIJING office rents have soared over 75 per cent over the past year, making China’s capital more expensive to locate an office than New York’s Midtown district, new research shows. Cushman & Wakefield, a property consultant, said Beijing experienced the steepest increase and now ranks as the fifth most expensive office market in the world [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 7, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES BOMBARDIER JOBS BELIEVED SAFE Workers at the UK’s last train maker are expected to hear this week that their jobs are safe, ending months of uncertainty about the future of the factory in Derby. Its owner, Bombardier, put the future of the site under review in the middle of last year, after the [...]
