Barrick to offload stake in Russia’s Highland Gold February 13, 2012 BARRICK Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, plans to sell its 20 per cent stake in Russia’s Highland Gold, it announced yesterday. Barrick bought the stake in Highland, a venture backed by tycoon Roman Abramovich, almost a decade ago, with the aim of using it to gain a foothold to grow in Russia, home to [...]
Dairy Crest warns investors over £4m hit as Quadra calls in administrators February 13, 2012 DAIRY Crest said yesterday it had made a £4m provision for bad debt after one of its customers, Quadra Foods, appointed administrators. The group said it was in a strong position to absorb the debt and its dividend would not be adversely affected. In a statement the foods group Dairy Crest said: “This is the [...]
Bumi investor says board shake-up is not personal February 13, 2012 EXPECTATIONS that the directors of FTSE 250 miner Bumi will strike a deal to resolve a row over board membership rose yesterday, driving the share price of the company up in morning trading. Samin Tan, the newest major shareholder in Bumi, is due in London this week to talk with other shareholders about a plan [...]
Rusal aluminium output dips February 13, 2012 Rusal said yesterday that it expects more companies to cut aluminium output this year, with China accounting for about a third of global cuts, but still forecast that global output would top demand. A supply glut on the back of a deepening European debt crisis and global economic slowdown has hurt demand and prices for [...]
Ronson petrol purchase nears OK February 13, 2012 Gerald Ronson’s deal to acquire petrol stations from Total and sell some to Shell is close to clearing its final competition hurdle. Ronson’s Snax 24 forecourt business, alongside Investec and Grovepoint Capital, made the deal for Total UK’s assets in June under the name Rontec. At the time, Rontec said it would end up operating [...]
Stobart property deal gets nod February 13, 2012 Haulage group Stobart has won the backing of almost all its shareholders to buy up property from a company controlled by its own directors. Despite criticism from institutional investor group Pirc, 97.9 per cent of Stobart investors who voted by proxy before the meeting were in favour of the deal. Stobart said last month it [...]
EU plan risks final salary pension deals February 13, 2012 EUROPEAN plans aimed at protecting pension pots will destroy final salary schemes in the UK and cost businesses hundreds of billions of pounds, a consortium of industry and labour bodies warned yesterday. In a letter to EC boss Jose Manuel Barroso, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Trades Union Congress (TUC) and National Association of [...]
Global growth getting better February 13, 2012 AN ECONOMIC upturn is on the way, and economies should start growing more strongly in the next six months, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) leading indices, published yesterday. Using indicators like business sentiment and job expectations to estimate economic growth in six months’ time, the study found positive figures in [...]
Household finances show signs of life with Londoners’ savings racing ahead February 13, 2012 HUNDREDS of thousands of households are coping better with paying bills and debts than they were late last year, Legal and General’s MoneyMood survey showed yesterday. The number struggling with financial commitments has fallen by 244,000 since the final quarter of 2011, to 1.89m. Of those, 189,000 are in London – down 81,000 on the [...]
Japan’s economy falls sharply as Thai floods and strong yen pull on exports February 13, 2012 JAPAN’S economy shrank much more sharply that expected in the final quarter of 2011, official GDP estimates showed yesterday. The strong yen and Thai floods helped cut exports by 3.1 per cent over the three-month period, leading GDP to contract by 0.6 per cent. Public fixed capital formation fell by 2.5 per cent, a second [...]
