Anglo seeking €25bn bailout August 31, 2010 Anglo Irish Bank said yesterday the bill for its rescue should not exceed €25bn (£20.6bn) but investors remained sceptical after mounting losses raised pressure on Ireland to shut down the nationalised lender. Once the posterchild of the “Celtic Tiger” economy, the cost of bailing out Anglo left Ireland with the biggest budget deficit in the [...]
Online gaming firm 888 drops dividend as World Cup bites August 31, 2010 Online gaming firm 888 yesterday scrapped its dividend, preserving cash to pay for acquisitions after the weak economy and soccer World Cup sapped appetite for poker games and hit first half profit. “In order to continue investing for future growth, and to support potential acquisitions, the board has decided not to declare an interim dividend,” [...]
Addleshaw Goddard turned to partners for £15.6m cash call August 31, 2010 LAW firm Addleshaw Goddard asked partners to inject more than £15m into its business last year, according to financial accounts recently submitted by the firm. The limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts, which were filed on Companies House, show that partners introduced £15.6m in fresh capital during the period ending 30 April 2010. Partners are required [...]
Bunzl set for more buyouts August 31, 2010 RETAIL packaging behemoth Bunzl is eyeing a large acquisition in the US, analysts believe, after it raised pre-tax profits six per cent to £100m and increased its dividend. The supplier of take-away boxes and hard hats said it had a “promising” pipeline of ideas as it delivered a robust set of interim results. Bunzl has [...]
FSA fines and censures two mortgage brokers for fraud August 31, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) has banned one mortgage broker and fined another for committing “reckless business practices”, which it said led to false and misleading mortgage applications made to lenders. Ngozika Louise Ogboru, who ran Harrow based JN Finance UK, has been banned by the financial watchdog after it found that advisers at her [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF BUNZL’S FIRST HALF NUMBERS? August 31, 2010 paul checketts | oriel securities There’s a lack of drama in some senses, but the headline numbers are great. Earnings per share were up 10 per cent to 27.5p and they lifted the dividend. It just shows they’re doing a cracking job in tough markets. mike murphy | numis securities We think the mergers & [...]
Activist ups heat on F&C August 31, 2010 ACTIVIST investor Sherborne has increased its stake in British fund firm F&C Asset Management to just short of 15 per cent, piling fresh pressure on F&C management and fuelling takeover speculation. F&C confirmed yesterday that Friday’s trade of 16m shares had seen Edward Bramson’s Sherborne Investors hike its stake to 14.6 per cent from 11.3 [...]
Genzyme says it is still up for sale August 31, 2010 GENZYME chief executive Henri Termeer said he is willing to sell the company he built up over 25 years, but not for $69 a share. Termeer yesterday said it was unlikely that French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA would go hostile with its $18.5bn bid and that the two sides had a good chance of coming to [...]
French push to regulate commodities August 31, 2010 FRANCE has sent detailed proposals to the European Commission calling for common action to regulate volatile commodities markets before it is due to head the Group of 20 economic powers, ministry officials said. President Nicolas Sarkozy said last week that regulating commodity derivatives would be one of the priorities of France’s presidency of the G20 [...]
August sees investors start to turn bullish August 31, 2010 A GROWING belief among British investment managers that fears of a renewed economic slump are overblown has halted a five-month decline in allocations to stocks, according to a Reuters poll. The survey of 11 British fund managers polled on asset allocations in August shows the average exposure to equities jumped more than three percentage points [...]
