Cable & Wireless on target despite cuts November 16, 2010 Telecoms firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide is comfortable with full-year expectations after posting first-half sales and earnings in line with forecasts despite pressure from cuts to UK public spending. C&W Worldwide, which concentrates on the global corporate market and has a large presence in Britain, said the “satisfactory” results had been held back by the [...]
ITV revenue surges as advertising returns November 16, 2010 ITV has seen revenues from advertisers surge by 16 per cent over the last three months. But the company, which has agreed a new three-year deal with The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, urged caution over the future. “The television advertising market has continued to recover strongly. However, this does not disguise the significant [...]
British Land boosted by bounce back in office lets November 16, 2010 British Land said it had been boosted by an increase in occupancy rates in its buildings in the first half. The landlord’s Net Asset Value (NAV) rose 4.2 per cent to 525 pence a share in the six months to 30 September, against 504 pence at end-March 2010. In the previous half-year period, its NAV [...]
Euro Zone trade surplus bigger than forecast November 15, 2010 Euro Zone had a bigger than expected trade surplus in September as export growth outpaced the rise in imports year-on-year, official statistics have shown. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said the 16 countries using the euro had a trade surplus with the rest of the world of 2.9bn euros in September, up from 1.4bn [...]
Serco forecasts revenue jump November 15, 2010 Outsourcing firm Serco said it expected revenues to increase to about £5bn by the end of 2012, buoyed by strong demand from cost-cutting governments and local authorities. Serco, which runs London’s cycle hire scheme, several prisons in Britain and Dubai’s recently-opened metro, said it had signed £3.7bn worth of contracts over the course of the [...]
Hardy rejects new Beazley bid November 15, 2010 Hardy Underwriting has rejected a new offer from Lloyds of London insurance group Beazley. Hardy rejected an initial offer three weeks ago. The new offer of 330p a share is up from the 300p a share bid first time round.
Vodafone ordered to deposit £1.5bn in Indian tax dispute November 15, 2010 India’s top court on Monday directed Vodafone to deposit 25bn rupees (£341.6m) within three weeks in relation to the $2.5bn (£1.55bn) tax dispute, a Vodafone spokesman said. Vodafone has also been directed to make a bank guarantee worth 85bn rupees within eight weeks, the official said. Vodafone, fighting a tax bill in India over its [...]
Mitsubishi to buy RBS assets for £3.8bn November 15, 2010 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it would acquire project finance loans and assets from the Royal Bank of Scotland for £3.8bn. Sources told Reuters earlier this month MUFG was in talks to buy the project finance book.
BP sells slice of African operation for $296m November 15, 2010 BP has announced that it has agreed to sell 50 per cent interest in each of BP Malawi and BP Tanzania to Puma Energy for $296m (£183m). The deal also includes its fuels marketing businesses in Namibia, Botswana and Zambia. “With the experience and existing businesses of their owners in the region and elsewhere , [...]
Axa Asia Pacific receives £8bn bid November 15, 2010 Australian wealth manager AMP and French insurer AXA launched a new $13.1bn-plus (£8.1bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific, a move set to challenge banks’ domination of the world’s fourth-largest wealth market down under. A deal would put AMP at the top of Australia’s $1.2 trillion wealth management market, and end one of Asia’s largest takeovers [...]
