Shanks exits business for profits February 3, 2014 Waste management group Shanks yesterday announced it was meeting board expectations for this financial year after exiting its UK Solid Waste business on schedule. In a management report for the period from last October, chief executive Peter Dilnot said “the successful exit from UK Solid Waste will increase profits immediately and allow us to focus [...]
Jubilant success at Kharsang field February 3, 2014 Jubilant Energy said yesterday that its KSG#70 well, the sixth and last development well of the Phase-III Extension drilling campaign in the Kharsang Field had successfully tested for oil and has been put into production at an initial gross rate of 38 barrels of oil per day (bopd) by artificial lift. The field, in Arunachal [...]
Mitie aiming for higher margins February 3, 2014 Outsourcing group Mitie is making “good organic growth”, driven by new contracts, the company said yesterday. A management statement for the period from October said the firm continued to “successfully re-position the group to target higher growth and higher margin areas. Our long-term strategy is focused on growing in our core markets of facilities and [...]
Amplats swings back into the black but fresh strikes weigh February 3, 2014 FTSE 100-listed mining giant Anglo American yesterday reported earnings of $287m (£176m) for its South African platinum subsidiary Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) in 2013, as labour tensions show no signs of abating in the country. This compares to a loss of $225m (£138m) the previous year. Amplats is one of the three largest platinum miners [...]
Profits slide at recruiter SThree but firm hires more sales staff February 3, 2014 SHARES in recruitment firm SThree sank 5.08 per cent yesterday after the white-collar specialist posted a 17 per cent slide in annual profits to £21m. The company said a tough jobs market in its core IT and finance businesses weighed on its results, though this was offset by growth in new offices overseas. Earnings in [...]
Like! Facebook is turning 10 today February 3, 2014 DOESN’T time fly when you’re updating multiple statuses – Facebook, the social network that lured us away from MySpace and Bebo with its clean lines and preppy feel all those years ago, has reached double digits. It makes us feel old. It probably makes Mark Zuckerberg feel quite old too; not only did he start [...]
Tube strike survival guide February 3, 2014 LONDON is bracing itself for the worst – forget the storms, this evening a Tube strike is going on. But instead of ducking for cover and barricading ourselves in, most of us will have to face the maelstrom head on as we battle to get to work (relatively on time) and back again. There’s still a [...]
The nice side of Ryanair begins to boost traffic February 3, 2014 RYANAIR said its customer services revamp was already impressing passengers, pushing its shares higher yesterday despite a pre-tax loss of €35m (£29m) in the final three months of 2013. The low-cost carrier cut its average fare by nine per cent in the quarter to try and shore up its sales. Demand has now “stopped falling, [...]
Gatwick squares up to Heathrow with cash to combat plane noise February 3, 2014 GATWICK Airport has offered to pay compensation to 1,000 extra households as it campaigns on its noise credentials for permission to build a second runway. The south London airport said 2,000 homes in total will benefit from its more generous noise scheme, which offers residents up to £3,000 each to install double glazing and other [...]
Hallmark Channel partnership leads Blinkx shares to recovery February 3, 2014 ONLINE video search company Blinkx started to turn around an otherwise disastrous week yesterday with the announcement that it has done a major content deal with the US Hallmark TV Channel. Blinkx saw its share price collapse over 30 per cent last Thursday after a critical blog post by a Harvard business professor raised concerns [...]
