Glencore in merger talks with Xstrata February 2, 2012 Xstrata said it had received an approach from commodities giant Glencore International that could lead to an all share merger of equals. Miner Xstrata is in talks with Glencore over an all-share merger of equals, it said on Thursday, confirming reports of a deal that could create a combined mining and trading group worth more [...]
Unilever warns of tough 2012 February 2, 2012 Consumer goods giant Unilever warned of a difficult 2012 due to a tough economic outlook after broadly matching 2011 sales forecasts after it hiked prices and saw strong emerging market growth. The Anglo-Dutch maker of brands like Hellmann’s, Knorr and Dove pushed up prices in the final three months of 2011 to offset higher commodity [...]
AstraZeneca to cut 7,300 more jobs February 2, 2012 AstraZeneca is cutting a further 7,300 jobs and expects earnings to fall this year as patents on key drugs expire and governments in Europe and the United States squeeze prices. Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker said the latest phase of cost cutting would deliver a further $1.6bn (£1bn) in annual benefits by the end of 2014. Core [...]
Shell profits up but refining suffers February 2, 2012 Royal Dutch Shell has reported a 14 per cent rise in fourth quarter profits, as high oil prices outweighed dismal industry-wide margins in its refining business. Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalization said its current cost of supply (CCS) net income was $6.46bn (£4.07bn), helped by one-off gains from the sale of assets. Excluding [...]
Britain is now an anti-business nation February 2, 2012 YES, this government is anti-business. This is the first time since 1994, when Tony Blair took over the Labour party, that both government and opposition are united in their relentless attacks on corporate Britain, money-making and the City. The difference in those days – and starting in 1979 – was that the Tories were in [...]
Facebook unveils float of the year February 1, 2012 FACEBOOK has taken the first official step to becoming a publicly traded company, filing papers yesterday that outline plans to raise $5bn in what could be the biggest float this year. Silicon Valley’s most anticipated flotation will see Facebook represented by ticker symbol FB, although the company did not specify whether it would list on [...]
Hoare Govett sold at a cost February 1, 2012 BRITISH taxpayers will still have to fork out for the salaries of some Hoare Govett staff after Royal Bank of Scotland sold the legendary stockbroker for just £1. RBS last night agreed to offload Hoare Govett to US investment bank Jefferies and City A.M. understands the state-owned lender will pay some staff costs after the [...]
Britain is now an anti-business nation February 1, 2012 YES, this government is anti-business. This is the first time since 1994, when Tony Blair took over the Labour party, that both government and opposition are united in their relentless attacks on corporate Britain, money-making and the City. The difference in those days – and starting in 1979 – was that the Tories were in [...]
EU blocks bourse merger February 1, 2012 EU REGULATORS have blocked the $7.4bn (£4.7bn) deal to merge exchange operators Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext, saying the combined firm would have killed competition in the European futures market. The two companies are now set to abandon the plan, which would have created the world’s biggest stock exchange. Neither firm was willing to placate [...]
Dozens die as riots erupt at Egyptian match February 1, 2012 MORE than 70 people died as football supporters wielding makeshift weapons invaded the pitch and caused a stampede following a match in Port Said, Egypt, last night. Hundreds more suffered injury when fans of Masry rioted, chasing players and fans from bitter rivals Al-Ahly, after their unexpected win over the country’s top team. It is [...]
