Game suspends trading March 21, 2012 Struggling British video games retailer Game has asked for trading of its shares in London to be suspended after announcing that it believes there is no equity value left in the group. Game, which trades from about 1,270 stores in nine European markets and Australia, employing 10,000, said on Wednesday it had made the decision [...]
Sainsbury’s sales and market share rise March 21, 2012 J Sainsbury, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group, beat forecasts for fourth quarter sales growth as it won market share from rivals. “We continue to outperform the market and gain market share,” said chief executive Justin King. He said although the economic climate was likely to remain challenging Britain’s roster of summer events, including celebrations to mark [...]
Glencore to buy Viterra for £3.9bn March 20, 2012 Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trader, is buying Canada’s leading grain handler, Viterra, in a cash deal valuing it at C$6.1bn (£3.9bn). Glencore, which is also in the throes of a $36bn takeover of miner Xstrata, already markets and produces crops as well as metals, minerals and oil, but has earmarked agricultural commodities as an [...]
Cairn hit by Greenland exploration failures March 20, 2012 British oil explorer Cairn Energy said it will spend some of its $1.2bn (£756.2m) of cash on deals in oil development and production as it seeks new projects to offset its exposure to exploration in Greenland. “We do have that exposure to transformational exploration currently in the portfolio,” chief executive Simon Thomson said. “So naturally, [...]
Miners peg back FTSE as UK inflation dips again March 20, 2012 Miners pegged the FTSE 100 back in early trading as fears that demand from China for metals was falling sapped investor confidence. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, fell 1.9 per cent after saying it was seeing signs of “flattening” iron ore demand from China. The sector is pinning its hopes on continuing fast growth [...]
Inflation rate falls to 3.4 per cent March 20, 2012 The UK inflation rate continued to fall in February, thanks largely to lower gas and electricity bills. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation fell to 3.4 per cent in February, down from 3.6 per cent in January, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed, Inflation has been falling steadily since September and the CPI rate is [...]
AstraZeneca abandons Targacept anti-depressant March 20, 2012 AstraZeneca has thrown in the towel on an experimental antidepressant targeting nicotine receptors after the drug licensed from Targacept failed in remaining clinical trials, thinning out its pipeline further. Britain’s second-biggest drug maker will take an impairment charge of $50m, representing the rest of the value of TC-5214, which had already seen an earlier write-down [...]
RBS to slim down Asian business March 20, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland is closing its equity capital market and corporate finance units in South Korea and cash equities businesses in Indonesia, Korea and Singapore in the latest move to cut the size of its struggling investment bank. The decision sheds light on the British lender’s recent agreement with CIMB Group Holdings Bhd for [...]
Petrofac and National Grid plan UK carbon capture plant March 20, 2012 British energy network operator National Grid and London-listed oil and gas services firm Petrofac plan to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Britain with US partner Summit Power, the companies said. The consortium will apply for funding from the British government, which is due to relaunch a £1bn tender for CCS projects [...]
Regus to invest as profit doubles March 20, 2012 Regus more than doubled its operating profit for 2011 as cash-strapped firms chose the flexible office space supplier over fixed cost premises, and said that it would open another 200 locations this year to fuel further growth. The group, which offers ready-to-use offices for rentals as short as half a day in cities in 94 [...]
