Sales edge up at Victrex December 11, 2012 Sales at polymer manufacturer Victrex edged up over the year to September, it said yesterday. Revenue rose two per cent to £219.8m over the 12 months in what chairman Anita Frew labelled a “challenging economic environment”. Good growth in its Victrex Polymer Solutions business and growth in developing markets of its biomaterial solution business Invibio [...]
Polymetal buys Olcha deposit December 11, 2012 Russian gold producer Polymetal yesterday acquired the Olcha gold-silver deposit licence, which covers 2.5 square kilometres in the Far East of Russia, from junior stock market listed Ovoca Gold in exchange for 775,000 ordinary shares in Polymetal. Chief executive Vitaly Nesis said yesterday that the acquisition of the deposit marks a “natural extension” of its [...]
Insurance firms fight bank-style rules on capital December 11, 2012 LARGE insurance companies do not pose the same threat to global economy as big banks and should not be designated as systemically important financial institutions, according to a study published yesterday by the Geneva Association, an industry-funded think tank. Global regulators plan to impose stricter capital rules on banks in order to avoid a repeat [...]
Whiplash claims crackdown to push down cost of premiums December 11, 2012 DRIVERS will find it harder to make fraudulent insurance claims for whiplash injuries, thanks to new proposals that the government says should drive down the cost of motoring. Proposals unveiled yesterday include independent medical assessments of whiplash claimants to ascertain which injuries are real. In addition, most whiplash claims would be dealt with in the small [...]
Bombardier wins £106m work to maintain West Coast trains December 11, 2012 CANADIAN train-maker Bombardier has won a £106m contract to maintain Virgin Trains’ Super Voyager fleet on the West Coast Main Line until March 2016. Bombardier will maintain the trains at its Staffordshire depot. The contract extension is a boon for its UK staff, after the firm last year lost its bid for train work on [...]
Heseltine says civil servants in Whitehall hold back growth December 11, 2012 FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine yesterday said many civil servants are “amateur” and suggested Whitehall’s structure is restraining economic growth. “The official world is largely a generalist civil service without expertise and without experience outside their own activities,” he said. “There is a great need for much more professional expertise in the civil service. No one [...]
Jaguar signs deal to build a Saudi plant December 11, 2012 JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has signed a preliminary deal to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, extending its expansion in fast-growing markets having already started work on a plant in China. The British luxury marque, owned by India’s Tata Motors, signed the deal to look at the possibility of making 50,000 Land Rovers a year [...]
BDO and PKF agree to merge as they eye more mid-cap clients December 11, 2012 PARTNERS at BDO and PKF yesterday approved a deal to merge the UK operations of the two firms, giving the enlarged group extra firepower to compete in the mid-tier accountancy and advisory markets. The new firm, operating under the BDO brand, has 3,500 people working across the country, with revenues close to £400m a year. [...]
Frontier IP university spin-out sells protein idea to Tate & Lyle December 11, 2012 FRONTIER IP Group, the London listed portfolio company which sells intellectual property rights to firms, yesterday licenced one of its protein products to Tate & Lyle. The company, through its portfolio company Nandi Proteins Ltd – which is a spin-out venture from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh – will benefit from advisory fees paid by [...]
BT to sell $183m stake in India’s Tech Mahindra December 11, 2012 BT is selling its 9.1 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra in a deal expected to raise about $183m (£113m) and see the British telecoms operator exit an Indian IT services group it co-founded more than two decades ago. The Tech Mahindra shares are being sold at a floor price of 855 rupees ($15.68), according [...]
