Glencore in merger talks with Xstrata February 2, 2012 Xstrata said it had received an approach from commodities giant Glencore International that could lead to an all share merger of equals. Miner Xstrata is in talks with Glencore over an all-share merger of equals, it said on Thursday, confirming reports of a deal that could create a combined mining and trading group worth more [...]
Unilever warns of tough 2012 February 2, 2012 Consumer goods giant Unilever warned of a difficult 2012 due to a tough economic outlook after broadly matching 2011 sales forecasts after it hiked prices and saw strong emerging market growth. The Anglo-Dutch maker of brands like Hellmann’s, Knorr and Dove pushed up prices in the final three months of 2011 to offset higher commodity [...]
AstraZeneca to cut 7,300 more jobs February 2, 2012 AstraZeneca is cutting a further 7,300 jobs and expects earnings to fall this year as patents on key drugs expire and governments in Europe and the United States squeeze prices. Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker said the latest phase of cost cutting would deliver a further $1.6bn (£1bn) in annual benefits by the end of 2014. Core [...]
Shell profits up but refining suffers February 2, 2012 Royal Dutch Shell has reported a 14 per cent rise in fourth quarter profits, as high oil prices outweighed dismal industry-wide margins in its refining business. Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalization said its current cost of supply (CCS) net income was $6.46bn (£4.07bn), helped by one-off gains from the sale of assets. Excluding [...]
FTSE gains as manufacturing bounces back February 1, 2012 The FTSE rose this morning as better-than-expected UK and Chinese manufacturing data gave investor sentiment a boost and fuelled gains in mining and banking. Britain’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth in January as orders rose for the first time in six months, indicating the UK could avoid recession if the sector continues to recover [...]
Four admit plotting LSE bomb attack February 1, 2012 Four men have admitted plotting to detonate a bomb in the London Stock Exchange. Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. They had been inspired by the preachings of the Islamic extremist Anwar Al-Awlaki, connected to Al-Qaeda. The [...]
Court rules BAA must sell Stansted February 1, 2012 Airport operator BAA must sell London Stansted airport in order to pave the way for better competition, a court has ruled. The ruling is the latest twist in a long battle between BAA and the Competition Commission (CC), which stretches back to 2009 when it was ruled that the group exerted a dominant hold on [...]
Deutsche Boerse says Brussels blocked NYSE deal February 1, 2012 Deutsche Boerse said it will unwind a deal to take over NYSE Euronext after European Commission regulators said they would block a combination of the two companies.
House prices fall February 1, 2012 House prices fell by 0.2 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to the Nationwide. The building society, the first to report on January’s prices, valued the average home at £162,228. The annual rate of house price growth slowed to 0.6 per cent in January, from one per cent in December, according [...]
Manufacturing bounces back February 1, 2012 Britain’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth in January as orders rose for the first time in six months, indicating the UK could skirt recession if the sector continues to recover in coming months. The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 52.1 – the highest level since May – from an upwardly revised [...]
