InterContinental upbeat after beating forecasts August 9, 2011 InterContinental Hotels reported favorable current trading with record demand and low supply growth of new hotels on Tuesday which helped the world’s biggest hotelier to beat half-year earnings forecasts with a 23 percent rise. The British group, home to the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental brands, saw stronger bookings and room rates in the [...]
Reliance given go-ahead for $7.2bn BP deal August 9, 2011 Indian energy major Reliance Industries said it has received approval from the government for selling stakes in some of its oil and gas blocks to BP Plc for $7.2bn (£4.4bn). Last month, India’s cabinet had approved Reliance’s plan to sell 30 percent stake in 21 oil and gas blocks, instead of the 23 originally planned, [...]
Royal London merger to cost 110 jobs August 8, 2011 Royal London, Britain’s biggest mutually-owned insurer, said a net 110 jobs would go as it absorbs merger partner Royal Liver. Royal London will close its office in Liverpool at the cost of 222 jobs and transfer its functions to an existing office in Wilmslow, where 105 new roles will be created, the insurer said on [...]
Barratt in talks to sell loans book August 8, 2011 Housebuilder Barratt Developments said it is in early talks with investors to sell part of its shared equity mortgage book, a set of loans which might whet the appetites of private equity or banks. Britain’s largest housebuilder by volume confirmed press speculation on Monday that it is mulling a partial sale of its portfolio of [...]
Britain faces credit rating cut warns US investor August 8, 2011 Britain and several euro zone countries are likely to have their credit ratings cut in coming months as debt problems worsen, and Western policymakers are bound to embark on more quantitative easing to get their economies moving, American investor Jim Rogers said on Monday. He also said Standard & Poor’s acted too slowly in stripping [...]
Markets remain volatile after ECB action August 8, 2011 The FTSE 100 initially fought back this morning as investors found new confidence in banking shares after the European Central Bank (ECB) moved to stabilize the beleaguered Spanish and Italian economies. Italian and Spanish bonds are being bought by the ECB to avoid a potentially catastrophic debt default by the two countries. Bond yields fell [...]
Rio and Mitsubishi offer £950m to buy out Coal & Allied August 8, 2011 Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp have proposed buying out Coal & Allied for A$1.49bn (£950m), aiming to take full control of the Australian miner to take advantage of strong coal prices. Rio and Mitsubishi offered A$122 a share, a 34 per cent premium to the coal miner’s last trade, to buy out the 14 per [...]
Bullion hits new record after US downgrade August 8, 2011 Bullion roared to record highs above $1,700 an ounce on Monday as an unprecedented downgrade to the US credit rating sent investors scrambling out of riskier assets, hammering equity markets and the dollar. Both US gold futures and cash gold could rise further if pledges by the Group of Seven nations to support battered financial [...]
Evolution seals deal for BNP Paribas arm August 8, 2011 Investment bank Evolution, which is the subject of a bid approach from South African financial group Investec, said it had sealed the takeover of BNP Paribas Private Investment Management. Evolution had said last month that it was in talks over buying the unit, as part of its plans to grow its wealth management arm. Evolution [...]
US loses AAA rating August 6, 2011 The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, hours after investors alarmed by the euro zone debt crisis forced Italy to speed up an austerity drive. China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, made clear that Washington only had itself to blame and called for a new stable [...]
