Bumi moves towards Bakrie split as new CEO appointed December 12, 2012 LONDON-listed miner Bumi moved towards a divorce from powerful Indonesian family the Bakries yesterday, as the company’s board said it was working towards a split “as soon as practical”. Nick Von Schirnding, head of investor relations at Bumi, has been appointed as chief executive to replace outgoing head Nalin Rathod. The Bumi board was yesterday [...]
Markets come out against end to inflation targeting regime December 12, 2012 MARKETS and the Treasury yesterday talked down incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s suggestion that a central bank may need to tear up the monetary rulebook to deal with a sustained slump. In a speech in Toronto, Carney said that there was a case, in a prolonged slump, for abandoning inflation targets, and moving [...]
Private sector drives ongoing jobs recovery December 12, 2012 PRIVATE SECTOR employment provided the fuel for the jobs boom to continue into the third quarter, data showed yesterday. Private sector employment climbed 65,000 in the third quarter, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, outweighing the 20,000 fall in overall public sector employment. This fall means the private sector now employs 823,000 more [...]
Kcell succeeds with London IPO December 12, 2012 LONDON saw another successful listing from central Asia as Kazakhstan telecoms firm Kcell’s initial public offering (IPO) priced yesterday. The deal came in at the bottom end of the price range, with the global depository receipts (GDRs) in London coming in at $10.50, pricing the 25 per cent stake in the firm at $525m (£324.7m) [...]
Deutsche chief probed in tax investigation December 12, 2012 PROSECUTORS yesterday raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation into possible tax evasion around carbon permits trading. Co-chief executive Juergen Fitschen and chief finance officer Stefan Krause are among 25 individuals involved in the investigation. Seven staff are believed to have been suspended last month, though other staff are still at [...]
Supergroup’s sales warm up from the cold December 12, 2012 SUPERGROUP said the colder weather helped to boost sales of its trademark coats and hoodies in the run-up to Christmas, despite reporting a near one-third drop in half-year profit that sent its shares tumbling yesterday. The Superdry owner posted a pre-tax profit of £13.9m in the six months to 28 October, down 31 per cent [...]
Zara’s new stores pay off for owner Inditex as sales boom December 12, 2012 INDITEX, the Spanish owner of clothing store Zara, seems to be defying the European economic downturn, yesterday revealing a 27 per cent rise in profits since the beginning of 2012. Net profit in the nine months to 31 October was €1.65 bn (£1.34bn), while sales have gone up by 17 per cent to €11.4 bn, [...]
Walmart eyes Turkish group December 12, 2012 WALMART, the American retail giant which owns Asda in the UK, is is understood to be eyeing a takeover bid for Turkish supermarket group, Migros Ticaret. The retailer has been in talks with private equity group BC Partners about acquiring its 80 per cent stake in the Turkish chain. A source close to Walmart told [...]
Stagecoach JV hit by lawsuit over US buses December 12, 2012 THE NEW York attorney general has complained that Stagecoach’s tourist bus services are anti-competitive. Twin America, a joint venture half-owned by Stagecoach, has been hit with an antitrust lawsuit brought by attorney general Eric Schneiderman and the US Department of Justice. The lawsuit alleges that the hop-on hop-off bus tour company has raised prices 10 [...]
Watch out for shrinking margins December 12, 2012 OPTIMISTIC words from SuperGroup’s chief executive and co-founder Julian Dunkerton couldn’t stop yesterday’s interim results from sending the owner of the Superdry clothing brand down by almost seven per cent. The market’s reaction may seem harsh. A profit warning this April, blamed on bad arithmetic, knocked the share price down by nearly 40 per cent, [...]
