E.ON in $34bn Brazil power deal January 11, 2012 Giant German utility E.ON said yesterday it will team up with Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista to build the largest privately held network of power plants in Brazil, as it bets on emerging markets amid stagnant growth in Europe. Dusseldorf-based E.ON and Batista-controlled MPX Energia said they could jointly build up to 20 gigawatts of generation [...]
EDF moves to cut gas price by 5 per cent January 11, 2012 EDF Energy yesterday piled pressure on its rivals by announcing a five per cent cut to its gas prices. The company said the reduction, which comes into effect on 7 February, had been made possible by the lower wholesale cost of gas in the mild winter. But yesterday none of the other companies in the [...]
Intel takes a chip off ARM January 11, 2012 SHARES in microprocessor company ARM dropped yesterday on news that rival chip-maker Intel has partnered with Motorola and will enter the smartphone market later this year. Motorola announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the Lenovo K800 smartphone, featuring the Intel Atom processor and operating on the Android platform, will be available [...]
London Metal Exchange faces a backlash on fees January 11, 2012 LONDON Metal Exchange members are pushing the exchange to backtrack on a new trading fee that would boost its revenues and entice bidders for the 130-year-old exchange, but would hurt some brokers’ way of doing business. The LME, which has traditionally kept fees low for its member-owners, announced last month that it would introduce an [...]
All aboard the oil price merry-go-round January 11, 2012 SO EDF has taken the first step among the Big Six, and not only sparked rumours of a price war but also sent its competitors’ shares crashing in the meantime. The five per cent drop in gas prices only goes some way to recouping the 15.4 per increase it implemented back in November, but talk [...]
CBI: Comms sector is key for UK January 11, 2012 The government must ensure that Britain’s communications sector continues to expand both at home and abroad, the CBI will urge today. Ofcom should “promote the UK communications sector in international markets”, the CBI will state, while suggesting that BBC Worldwide becomes “a key facilitator and partner of smaller content providers seeking opportunities abroad.” The communications [...]
Virgin ups broadband speeds January 11, 2012 Cable operator Virgin Media has embarked on an 18-month programme to upgrade for free the speeds of all its broadband customers at a cost of around £110m, it said yesterday. Virgin, which has around 4m broadband customers, said the programme would on average double the broadband speeds for its subscribers. The upgrade will be largely [...]
EU launches card fee crackdown January 11, 2012 The European Commission plans to lower retailers’ costs for accepting debit and credit card payments in a renewed challenge to dominant players such as Visa and MasterCard, a green paper revealed yesterday. Retailers typically pay a fee to card issuers to cover costs, such as authorisation for transactions. The EU paper stated the high processing [...]
Miliband and PM lock horns over rail fares January 11, 2012 A TIT-FOR-TAT exchange between David Cameron and Ed Miliband erupted in parliament yesterday, after the Labour leader hit out at some 11 per cent hikes in rail fares. Miliband blamed the coalition for exorbitant fare increases, yet Prime Minister Cameron said the power to raise prices was given to train companies “by the last Labour [...]
WHO IS RIGHT ON RAIL FARES? January 11, 2012 RAIL fares for commuters jumped by an average of six per cent at the start of the year – but Labour leader Ed Miliband was furious yesterday that some prices increased by up to 11 per cent, demanding to know why Cameron had reversed Labour’s decision to stop the huge rises. David Cameron responded that [...]
