Knight in for $400 million lifeline after trading debacle August 6, 2012 Knight Capital Group looks set to enter into a $400m (£256m) financing deal with a group of investors, allowing the trading firm to open its doors today after a crippling $440 million loss. But it will come at a steep cost to shareholders, sources familiar with the situation said. Such a deal would help Knight [...]
ECB’s Coeure calls for more targeted liquidity operations August 6, 2012 The European Central Bank should consider ways to ensure that the cash it lays out in its liquidity operations reaches smaller firms and consumers, executive board member Benoit Coeure said today. Coeure told Slovakian newspaper Hospodarske Noviny in an interview that the ECB would not allow sovereign bond yields to rise due to investors betting [...]
Virgin Atlantic swings to full-year loss August 3, 2012 British airline Virgin Atlantic swung to a full-year loss as higher fuel costs and tough economic conditions took their toll, it said today The carrier, founded by serial entrepreneur Richard Branson, posted a pretax operating loss of £80.2m in the year to the end of February compared to a profit of £18.5m in 2010/11. The [...]
IAG to restructure Iberia as group slumps to H1 loss August 3, 2012 The owner of British Airways and Iberia has announced a wholesale restructuring of the underperforming Spanish airline as it tumbled to a first-half group loss and cut its full-year earnings guidance. Willie Walsh, the head of International Airlines Group, said the Iberia reorganisation would mean shedding jobs and reshaping its network. “Iberia’s problems are deep [...]
Heineken agrees deal to take control of APB August 3, 2012 Global brewer Heineken agreed a $4bn-plus (£2.6bn) deal today to take control of Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) by agreeing to buy a stake in the Singapore-based brewer from partner Fraser and Neave (F&N) said sources with knowledge of the situation. Heineken had given F&N a deadline of today to agree to a sale, and a [...]
Plunge in new orders hits July Eurozone business August 3, 2012 A sharp drop in new orders compounded the misery among Eurozone companies during July, a business survey showed today forcing firms to lay off staff at the fastest pace since January 2010. Markit’s composite purchasing managers index (PMI), gauging the health of thousands of Eurozone companies, rose marginally in July to 46.5 from 46.4 in [...]
John Lewis sales growth held back by weather August 3, 2012 John Lewis, Britain’s biggest department store group, said sales growth eased last week, with demand sapped by a spell of hot weather and the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The employee-owned firm said today department store sales increased 6.2 per cent year on year to £56.6m in the week to 28 July. In [...]
Allianz second-quarter net profit jumps to €1.32bn August 3, 2012 German insurer Allianz reported forecast-beating net profit of €1.32bn (£1.03bn) in the second quarter, up 23 per cent from a year earlier, helped by strong life and health insurance performance. Quarterly net profit was above the highest forecast of €1.29bn in a Reuters poll. Europe’s biggest insurer had been expected on average to report quarterly [...]
AXA first-half earnings fall, beat forecasts August 3, 2012 Europe’s second-largest insurer AXA reported a milder than expected 36 per cent drop in first-half profit from a year-ago period that had been boosted by a one-off gain from the sale of its Australia and New Zealand operations. AXA said its net income for the period fell to €2.59bn (£2.03bn) from €4.01bn in the year-ago [...]
IAG cuts full-year guidance as Iberia weighs August 3, 2012 IAG, formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, cut its full-year profit guidance after a poor performance from its Spanish unit and rising fuel costs led it to a first-half loss. Europe’s fourth-biggest airline group by market value today reported an operating loss of €253m (£199m) in the six months to the end [...]
