Monte dei Paschi’s ex-finance chief arrested in Italian probe February 14, 2013 ITALIAN police yesterday arrested the former head of Monte dei Paschi’s finance department, who is at the centre of an inquiry into alleged fraud and bribery at Italy’s third largest bank. Gianluca Baldassarri is the first person to be arrested in a widening scandal that has rocked the world’s oldest bank and stirred up a [...]
Orders soar as margins grow at Rolls-Royce February 14, 2013 ENGINEERING giant Rolls-Royce was the biggest blue-chip riser yesterday after it posted a 23.5 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £1.43bn. Rolls-Royce’s order book grew four per cent to £60.15bn last year, and revenues excluding currency changes rose eight per cent to £12.2bn. The gains mark Rolls-Royce’s tenth straight year of profit growth. [...]
Analyst Views | What did you make of Rolls-Royce’s results? February 14, 2013 ROGER JOHNSTON | EDISON Rolls produced another strong set of results, highlighting the benefits of the decade-long strategy, providing consistent results in all economic conditions. With operational progress showing through in financial improvements… we remain confident that Rolls’ strategy will continue to deliver. BEN BOURNE | LIBERUM Strong results, as expected. No material change to [...]
Reflections on Tulchan’s demise at Marks & Spencer February 14, 2013 FOUR weeks ago I asked Andrew Grant of Tulchan a simple question. Had his firm been fired from the retailer Marks & Spencer as its external financial public relations adviser, following the leaking of its annual results which forced their rushed and premature publication? Grant, rightly known for being courteous, well-informed and straightforward, responded that [...]
Horsemeat arrests as results revealed February 14, 2013 BRITISH police investigating alleged mislabeling of beef products arrested three people yesterday at facilities in Wales and Yorkshire which had handled horsemeat and were raided by police earlier. The arrests come as the first set of results from tests carried out by the Food Standards Agency into processed beef suspected of containing horsemeat are revealed [...]
Centrica set to name US head British Gas boss February 14, 2013 A NEW head of British Gas is set to be installed by parent company Centrica as soon as today, with the firm’s US executive Chris Weston widely tipped to be taking over, it emerged last night. Weston is currently head of Centrica’s US gas retail business Direct Energy. He is set to replace outgoing managing [...]
Rio Tinto vows to cut costs as it posts $3bn loss February 14, 2013 RIO TINTO chief executive Sam Walsh promised to cut costs and spend capital more carefully this year, as the miner slumped to a full-year loss of $3bn (£1.9bn). Walsh, who was appointed chief executive in January after former boss Tom Albanese resigned on a $14.4bn write-down on two failed acquisitions, said the company would have [...]
Amec beats forecasts but warns revenue growth is set to slow February 14, 2013 SHARES in oil engineer Amec sank yesterday as it warned revenue growth this year would be lower than expected. Strong growth in conventional oil and gas markets would be offset by softening demand in the mining market and reduced oil sands revenue, the FTSE engineer – which designs and builds infrastructure for the oil and [...]
Airlines work to sew up US mega-merger February 14, 2013 AMR and US Airways yesterday set out on a winding road towards regulatory approval for their $11bn (£7.1bn) merger deal, which was confirmed yesterday. US Air’s management team, led by chief executive Doug Parker, will assume operational control of the airline, while AMR creditors will wind up owning 72 per cent of the combined carrier [...]
Aberdeen buys up two firms in spending spree February 14, 2013 MONEY manager Aberdeen Asset Management hit the acquisition trail yesterday, bolting on a US fund manager and taking a 50 per cent stake in a private equity unit. The investment house, which has had a stellar market run over the year, with its shares increasing 64 per cent, agreed to buy listed fund manager Artio [...]
