Wave power venture Aquamarine secures further £11m November 24, 2010 TECHNOLOGY investment firm ABB Technology Ventures is to invest £8m in wave energy developer Aquamarine Power, it was announced today. Aquamarine has also raised a further £3m from existing shareholders, primarily from the ventures arm of UK utility Scottish and Southern Energy. SSE Venture Capital is to invest £2.7m, which raises its total investment in [...]
Deere & Co profits up but outlook guarded November 24, 2010 DEERE & Co reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as sales of its biggest and most profitable tractors and harvesters in North America offset poor demand in Europe. But the world’s largest maker of farm equipment offered a cautious preliminary forecast for 2011 that fell short of expectations. In light trading on Wall Street [...]
John Laing Infrastructure Fund IPO raises £270m November 24, 2010 INFRASTRUCTURE group John Laing has hit its target of raising £270m from the London listing of a fund today. The John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) will use the proceeds to acquire a seed portfolio of 19 investments from the John Laing Group, which is owned by asset manager Henderson Group. The seed portfolio, which includes [...]
UK economy grows for fourth consecutive quarter November 24, 2010 RESILIENT economic growth continues to be recorded in the UK, according to today’s official figures. The economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the three months to September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed. And GDP was up 2.8 per cent compared to the same time last year. The figures mark a calendar year [...]
Government cuts non-EU skilled work permits November 23, 2010 THE government will cap the number of skilled migrant workers it allows from outside the European Union at 21,700 a year, a cut of more than a fifth from 2009 levels. Home Secretary Theresa May told parliament today that employees sent to work in Britain by companies from another country would not be subject to [...]
Ireland’s stricken banks “for sale” says central bank governor November 23, 2010 IRELAND’S banks are up for sale, the country’s central bank chief said today, as the government seeks to cut them down in size after their reckless lending forced the country to seek an international bailout. “They are for sale as far as I am concerned,” Patrick Honohan said. “I have been an advocate for a [...]
FSA: UK bank exposure to Ireland “not worrying” November 23, 2010 Britain’s banks are not “worryingly” exposed to Irish banks or Irish government bonds, Financial Services Authority chairman Adair Turner said today. The exposure to Irish bonds was “not at all worrying in their scale,” Turner told British lawmakers. “Nor indeed is direct exposure of UK banks to Irish banks out of line with what you [...]
De La Rue warns of losing top customer November 23, 2010 BANKNOTE printer De La Rue today said its production problems could lead to the loss of a top customer, knocking its shares to a four-year low. Executive chairman Nicholas Brookes told Reuters that doubt lingered over De La Rue’s relationship with the customer for whom the faulty banknote paper was originally produced. “There is still [...]
Nationwide says house price slump unlikely November 23, 2010 Nationwide Building Society, Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender, reported a 26 per cent jump in first-half profit, and said it did not expect big house price falls despite signs of property market weakness. Nationwide, which publishes a closely watched monthly house price survey, said major price falls were unlikely in 2011 because continued low interest rates [...]
Tesco eyes Europe expansion November 23, 2010 RETAILER Tesco plans to almost double selling space in central and eastern Europe over five years. On the third and final day of a trip with analysts to Asia, the world’s third-largest retailer said it aims to have 4.1 million square metres of selling space in its central and eastern European markets by 2014-15, up [...]
