FirstGroup’s cash output is slowing down January 12, 2012 TRANSPORT operator FirstGroup said its cash generation for the full year would be lower than first thought because the tough economic climate had prevented it from selling as many of its businesses as planned. FirstGroup, which operates rail and bus services in Britain and owns the Greyhound coach company in the US, now expects to [...]
Air France unveils debt plan January 12, 2012 AIR FRANCE-KLM yesterday announced a pay freeze for French staff and cutbacks in its fleet as part of a three-year plan to end financial rot at Europe’s largest airline by revenues. The belt-tightening, coming in the wake of a series of staff strikes, is the first stage of a politically sensitive turnaround plan expected to [...]
Peugeot leaves door open for tie-up as car sales fall in Europe’s tough market January 12, 2012 PSA Peugeot Citroen yesterday left the door open to a possible alliance with a competitor to help the French car maker combat a fall in sales and tough market conditions in Europe. Speculation has been mounting that PSA could tie up with another car company such as Fiat to deal with overcapacity in the auto [...]
Rio Tinto seals takeover of uranium group Hathor January 12, 2012 RIO Tinto yesterday said it had taken complete ownership of Canadian uranium company Hathor Exploration. The miner said it had compulsorily acquired the remaining 7.9m shares not voluntarily offered after it made a $C654m (£419m) takeover bid in October. Hathor, which is based near western Canada’s Athabasca Basin, supplies approximately a fifth of the world’s [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU PLANNING TO BUY A NEW CAR IN 2012? January 12, 2012 SULTAN KABIR | UBS “No, I don’t see the point in buying a car in the city. The Boris bikes are the best way to get around, or the Tube if I have to.” LIDIA T | JP MORGAN “No. I have just given given my car away as I couldn’t see the point of [...]
VESTAS SLASHES THOUSANDS OF JOBS January 12, 2012 Danish wind turbine maker Vestas will cut 2,335 jobs in a bid to restore profitability after rising costs wiped out its 2011 earnings. Vestas said the cuts, about a tenth of its workforce, would help it reduce costs by more than €150m (£125m) by the end of the year. The world’s biggest wind turbine maker [...]
Cape is confident on 2012 January 12, 2012 Industrial services provider Cape is upbeat about its prospects for 2012 as it saw significant growth in activity in both its onshore and offshore businesses. The FTSE 250 company, which provides insulation, painting, coatings and industrial cleaning services principally to plant operators in the oil and gas, power generation, chemical, minerals and mining sectors, said [...]
Contract wins lift Babcock January 12, 2012 Shares in support services firm Babcock International yesterday hit a 52-week high yesterday after announcing a double contract win. The BBC World Service is to pay Babcock £200m over the next ten years for providing services related to the transmission and distribution of radio and television broadcasts. Babcock has been working with the BBC for [...]
Ferrexpo pellet output dips January 12, 2012 Ukrainian iron ore producer Ferrexpo said its overall pellet production dipped just over two per cent in 2011 from the previous year, as demand from the steel industry softened and it produced fewer pellets from raw material provided by others. The company, which produces iron ore pellets for the Ukraine, European and Asian steel industries, [...]
Ofcom plans to auction off 4G airwaves January 12, 2012 EVERYTHING Everywhere may lose out when 4G mobile bandwidth comes to the UK later this year due to Ofcom proposals set out yesterday, which would see the next generation of mobile coverage reach 98 per cent of the population. Ofcom will auction off the new airwaves in late 2012 for an expected figure of £3bn, [...]
