Virgin posts strongest full-year results February 17, 2011 Virgin Media added a solid number of new customers in the fourth quarter and extracted record customer spend, helping it to post its best ever full-year financial results. Virgin Media, which competes with BT and BSkyB to provide broadband, telephony and pay-TV, said it added 17,100 net new subscribers in the last three months of [...]
King warns over further inflation rises February 16, 2011 The Governor of Bank of England, Mervyn King, warned that inflation will rise sharply in the first half of this year before falling back next year. But he said there were “large risks” that inflation could dip under or go over the Bank’s two per cent target. He said that factors over which the UK [...]
UK unemployment in surprise jump February 16, 2011 UK unemployment rose by 44,000 to almost 2.5m in the three months to the end of December, according to official figures. The UK unemployment rate is now 7.9 per cent. Meanwhile the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 2,400 last month to 1.46m. Other data from the ONS showed that average earnings rose [...]
Lloyds to close equities markets arm February 16, 2011 Lloyds has decided to close down its Equity Markets unit, which had around 13 employees, as the part-nationalised bank continues its programme of exiting non-core businesses. “As part of our ongoing plans to simplify our business model, we have decided to withdraw from the equity market. This is a strategic decision based on a refocusing [...]
Sanofi agrees to buy Genzyme for £12.4bn February 16, 2011 French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to buy US biotech company Genzyme for $20.1bn (£12.4bn). The acquisition of Genzyme will give Sanofi access to the market in drugs for the treatment of rare diseases. Genzyme produces treatments for multiple sclerosis, cholesterol and rare genetic diseases. Sanofi chief executive Christopher Viehbacher said in a statement: “This [...]
3i pays £18m for MIM February 16, 2011 Private equity group 3i has paid £18.3m to Mizuho Corporate Bank for its debt management business Mizuho Investment Management (MIM) Mizuho Investment Management specialises in the management of funds raised to invest in corporate debt, providing investment advisory services in return for fees. MIM has raised eight funds, totalling over £4bn, since 2005 and had [...]
Heineken beats forecasts after cutting costs February 16, 2011 Heineken, the world’s third-largest brewer, beat market forecasts for 2010 earnings on as cost savings more than offset lower beer sales. Heineken said it expected drinkers in Latin America, Asia and Africa to buy more of its lagers and other drinks this year and said it would mitigate an expected low single-digit percentage increase in [...]
BHP Billiton in £39bn expansion plan February 16, 2011 BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, plans to pour $80bn (£49bn) into expansions over the next five years rather than chase ambitious takeovers, after nearly doubling first-half profits to a record on booming demand for iron ore and copper. The Anglo-Australian company, which is cash rich, also said it would more than double its share [...]
Inflation rises to two-year high February 15, 2011 Consumer price inflation surged to double the Bank of England’s target in January, official data showed, raising pressure on the central bank to look seriously at increasing interest rates. The Office for National Statistics said that the rate of consumer price inflation rose to four per cent in January, in line with economists’ forecasts, from [...]
German and French GDP growth lower than expected February 15, 2011 The French and German economies expanded by less than expected in the fourth quarter, data showed on Tuesday, suggesting the euro zone may not have accelerated out of a third-quarter slowdown. Economists have forecast that the euro zone economy as a whole grew by 0.4 per cent in the final three months of 2010, after [...]
