Sinochem hires banks as it eyes rival bid for Potash September 22, 2010 China’s Sinochem Corp has hired investment banks to look at toppling BHP Billiton’s $39bn (£24bn) bid for Potash Corp, sources said, as the miner warned it would not be caught in an expensive bidding war for the world’s largest fertiliser group. State-owned chemicals group Sinochem has hired Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to evaluate measures to [...]
Cairn Energy finds oil off Greenland September 21, 2010 OIL exploration firm Cairn Energy has found oil off the coast of Greenland. The firm, which has faced attempts by Greenpeace activists to stop it deep drilling, has two types of oil in its Alpha well. Chief executive Sir Bill Gammell said it was “extremely encouraging” to find evidence of an “active working petroleum system” [...]
UK deficit a record high for August September 21, 2010 Britain last month posted a record budget deficit for August as interest payments on index-linked gilts shot up because of higher inflation than a year ago, official data showed. The Office for Nationals Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing came in at £15.302bn, well above analysts’ forecasts for a reading of £12.5bn and some [...]
Experian buys Mighty Net in £133m deal September 21, 2010 Credit information company Experian has bought US peer Mighty Net Inc for $207.5m (£133m), in a deal which Experian said would consolidate its market leading position in the United States. Mighty Net, which was founded in 1996, provides online services to US consumers interested in managing their credit behaviour. As of 30 June 2010, Mighty [...]
BHP Billiton’s Potash bid stalled by Canadian authorities September 21, 2010 HP Billiton’s $39bn (£25bn) battle to take control of Canada’s Potash Corp is expected to drag on into next year after it failed to win immediate backing from Canadian authorities. The Anglo-Australian miner, which wants to use the world’s largest fertiliser-maker as its entry into the global food industry, also said it had no plan [...]
Betfair to list on London Stock Exchange September 21, 2010 Betfair, the world’s biggest Internet betting exchange, has confirmed plans to list on the London Stock Exchange in a move it said will help it develop its international operations. Betfair said it will continue to pursue growth internationally, where its market presence is currently lower than in Britain. It highlighted Europe and Australia as key [...]
JD Sports in World Cup profit surge September 21, 2010 JD Sports Fashion posted a 36.5 per cent rise in first-half profit, boosted by the World Cup, and said trading in the second half had got off to a solid start. The clothing and footwear group, which trades as JD Sports, Chausport, Size, Bank and Scotts from over 530 stores, made an underlying pretax profit [...]
Sportingbet pays £21m to avoid US prosecution September 21, 2010 Sportingbet has agreed to forfeit $33m (£21m) to settle a US investigation over alleged illegal Internet gambling, federal prosecutors HAVE said. As part of the settlement, the US Department of Justice will not criminally prosecute Sportingbet and its units for any crimes, apart from tax violations, related to Sportingbet’s Internet gambling business with US customers [...]
Moody’s reaffirms UK’s triple-A rating September 20, 2010 The government welcomed a report by credit ratings agency Moody’s which reaffirmed the outlook for the nation’s triple-A sovereign debt rating, saying it supported its approach to cutting public debt. “This supports the Government’s approach to cutting the deficit,” said a Treasury spokesman. “Moody’s say that their stable outlook for the UK’s AAA credit rating [...]
Mortagage lending falls in August September 20, 2010 Gross mortgage lending fell six per cent year-on-year in August to £13.3bn, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has said. That was the lowest August total since 2000 and represented a drop of 14 per cent from July. The figures chimes with other surveys in showing a cooling in the housing market following a sharp recovery [...]
