ICE eyes market listing in 2014 for Euronext November 19, 2013 INTERCONTINENTALEXCHANGE Group said yesterday – less than a week after closing its $11bn takeover of NYSE Euronext – that it plans to spin off Euronext by next summer and to wind down the Big Board parent’s technology business. Expense savings from combining the companies are now expected to be $500m, versus earlier estimates of $450m, [...]
Pension giant lands air traffic control stake November 19, 2013 ONE OF Britain’s biggest pension schemes has bought a stake in the national air traffic controller Nats for £143m. Universities Superannuation Scheme, which handles the pensions of around 300,000 higher education workers, has bought the holding from transport companies Thomas Cook, Tui Travel, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic. USS will own a 49.9 per cent stake [...]
Business bosses call for end to dithering on new runway plan November 19, 2013 DISGRUNTLED bosses have urged politicians to end their prolonged “dithering” on expanding Britain’s airports or face losing business to countries willing to allow more runways. More than a hundred corporate heads and business groups have signed the campaign to “Let Britain Fly”, which is backed by London First, the British Chambers of Commerce and the [...]
GlaxoSmithKline set to free up £459m with South African sale November 19, 2013 GLAXOSMITHKLINE said yesterday it planned to reduce its investment in South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare by one third, although it would retain a board seat and a significant shareholding. The sale of up to 28.2m shares could realise some 7.54bn rand (£459m), based on current market prices. Britain’s biggest drugmaker intends to offload around six [...]
Dropbox funding expected to put $8bn value on cloud storage firm November 19, 2013 FAST-GROWING file-sharing and storage startup Dropbox is trying to raise $250m in additional funding in coming weeks, which would value the six-year-old company at more than $8bn, according to reports. The company may become the latest hot Silicon Valley startup to take advantage of flush investors and stratospheric valuations for fledgling tech companies. Loss-making Twitter [...]
European car sales build on broad recovery November 19, 2013 EUROPEAN car sales rose 4.6 per cent in October, according to industry data published yesterday, as a broad-based recovery took root in most of the region’s main car markets. Toyota and Renault led the gains among mass manufacturers, with Daimler gaining ground on premium rivals as total registrations advanced to 1.04m cars, the Association of [...]
End of an era as Tuppen retires from Enterprise November 19, 2013 ENTERPRISE Inns yesterday said that improvements to its pubs had led to sales growth in its fourth quarter of 0.6 per cent, while chief executive Ted Tuppen announced he will retire. Tuppen has spent 23 years in the role and led this year’s successful initiative to return the firm to growth. Tuppen’s initiative included new [...]
Exxon raises £2.1bn by selling off Hong Kong-based utility assets November 19, 2013 EXXON Mobil has agreed to sell its 60 per cent stake in a Hong Kong utility and a power storage firm for a combined $3.4bn (£2.1bn), helping the US oil major raise funds to plough back into its core operations. Many integrated global oil companies have struggled to boost production, spending heavily on new projects [...]
Big building projects put Keller on course to beat profit forecast November 19, 2013 ENGINEERING group Keller cheered investors yesterday after revealing that its order book has been boosted by new contracts since July. Keller also said its profits for 2013 will be slightly above the top end of forecasts thanks to cost savings and strong ends to some of its major projects. The company, one of the engineers [...]
Serco group pulls out of military bid November 19, 2013 THE UK government has said it will continue exploring plans to put its £159bn military equipment programme in the hands of a private firm, even after one of the two consortiums left in the running pulled out of the competition. US engineering firm CH2M Hill, which was leading a team with Serco Group and WS Atkins, [...]
