Roche to bid $5.7bn for DNA firm Illumina January 25, 2012 Swiss drugmaker Roche has said it plans to make an offer of $5.7bn (£3.7bn) for DNA research company Illumina. Roche said the deal would help it meet the growing demand for genetic solutions and speed up the use of DNA research in routine medical diagnosis. The firm said it expected Illumina shareholders to “welcome the [...]
UK house sales down 11 per cent January 24, 2012 UK house sales were down 11 per cent at 869,000, according to figures from HM Revenue and Customs. Unemployment and the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage have hit the number of sales, currently at half the volumes recorded before the financial crisis. Transactions peaked at 1,671,000 in 2006 before plummeting to a record low of [...]
Banks peg back FTSE as Greece faces the abyss January 24, 2012 The rally on the FTSE 100 stalled this morning after talks to address the Greek debt crisis appeared to be floundering with the threat of a default casting a shadow. Financial stocks pinned the market back as Eurozone ministers yesterday rejected an offer made by private bondholders to help restructure Greece’s debts, sending negotiators back [...]
UK debt hits £1 trillion January 24, 2012 British public borrowing was lower than expected in December, thanks to stronger tax receipts, but total outstanding debt rose above the £1 trillion mark for the first time on record, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing excluding public sector interventions – the government’s preferred measure – fell [...]
Eurozone service sector in boost January 24, 2012 The Eurozone may yet escape recession thanks to a surprise upturn in the service sector that outweighed the ongoing contraction in manufacturing this month, surveys showed on Tuesday. Markit’s Flash Euro zone Purchasing Managers’ Composite Index (PMI), often seen as a growth indicator, jumped to 50.4 from December’s 48.3, its highest reading in four months. [...]
Cairn investors force U-turn on £2.5m payout to Gammell January 24, 2012 Oil explorer Cairn Energy dropped plans to award chairman and founder Bill Gammell share options worth £2.5m, bowing to pressure from investors. Cairn had wanted to reward Gammell, a former Scottish international rugby player who in 1980 founded what is now a FTSE 100 blue-chip company, for helping pull off the $5.5bn (£3.5bn) sale of [...]
McDonald’s to create 2,500 UK jobs January 24, 2012 McDonald’s will create 2,500 new jobs across the UK this year, it has said. The fast-food firm said that almost a third of the new jobs would be given to workers under the age of 25. McDonald’s said the new jobs followed the creation of 13,500 jobs over the past three years.
Siemens chief warns of impact of Eurozone debt woes January 24, 2012 Europe’s biggest engineering conglomerate Siemens posted an unexpectedly sharp fall in core profits and saw a six-quarter streak of rising orders come to an end as the Eurozone’s debt woes hit corporate spending and investment. Chief executive Peter Loescher warned that 2012 would be a difficult year for Germany’s largest company by market capitalisation, but [...]
Chemring predicts tough 2012 defence market January 24, 2012 British military equipment maker Chemring said it expects defence markets to be challenging in 2012 after it posted a six per cent rise in full-year profit, helped by growth in sales to non-NATO markets. “During the last year, many governments have struggled with increasing deficits and lower economic growth …this has affected defence procurement, leading [...]
Land Securities promotes Noel to chief executive January 24, 2012 Land Securities, Britain’s largest real estate investment trust by market capitalisation, said its London managing director Robert Noel was to take over as chief executive on a salary of 680,000 pounds. Alongside a third-quarter trading statement marking steady progress in difficult economic conditions, the company said current chief executive Francis Salway, 54, would depart on [...]
