Novartis takes $120m hit with product recall January 8, 2012 NOVARTIS’S consumer health unit will take a $120m (£78m) hit in the fourth quarter after the Swiss drugmaker decided to voluntarily recall some products in the United States and move to improve quality standards at manufacturing sites. Novartis said in a statement yesterday that operations and shipments had been temporarily stopped at the Novartis Consumer [...]
Low-budget horror tops US movies January 8, 2012 Low-budget horror movie The Devil Inside topped the weekend box office with a surprising $34.5m in US and Canadian ticket sales, according to studio estimates released yesterday. The strong performance for Devil knocked Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to second place. The fourth movie in the action franchise brought in an estimated $20.5m [...]
Israel vows to fight hacking January 8, 2012 Israel has promised to hit back after the online publication of thousands of its citizens’ credit card details by a hacker who says he is based in Saudi Arabia. It compared the attack to terrorism. The data theft, which appeared to focus on commercial websites, was one of the worst Israel has said it has [...]
SIR PAUL RUDDOCK DEFENDS HIS HONOUR January 8, 2012 Sir Paul Ruddock, the hedge fund manager caught up in controversy after he was awarded a knighthood, has defended his honour and said his award was for helping revive the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum. The Lansdowne Partners co-founder was criticised for also being a Tory donor.
Venezuela ignores World Bank rule on Exxon case January 8, 2012 VENEZUALAN president Hugo Chavez said yesterday that his country would not recognise a ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil. Exxon took Venezuela to the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, seeking as much as $12bn (£7.8bn) in compensation after Chavez ordered the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 8, 2012 Innis & Gunn Innis & Gunn, the independent brewer, has recruited David Cockburn as chief financial officer and a member of the board. Before moving to Innis & Gunn, David spent 19 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and, latterly, Grant Thornton, where he was made a partner in 2006. Cockburn specialised in corporate finance and was involved [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 8, 2012 GROUPE EUROTUNNEL Morgan Stanley downgrades the channel tunnel operator to “equal-weight” from over-weight, with a target price of €4.70 (£3.88) after a circa 30 per cent drop in its share price from its peak. The broker cites a weaker macro outlook and change in the market’s approach on valuation for the fall, and says that [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD January 8, 2012 STOCKS have strayed from their recent link to euro moves, and the start of US corporate earnings next week could help shift investor focus back to US fundamentals from Europe. Stocks have traded in line with the euro over the autumn, with both experiencing sharp swings on headlines from the Eurozone. That trend may be [...]
To revive a weak economy small firms must be able to become tomorrow’s giants January 8, 2012 AT THE dawn of a New Year, one bright spot across the gloom of the economic horizon remains Britain’s army of entrepreneurs – those remarkable men and women who have the drive and passion to launch and run their own business. For it is these often family-owned ventures – the small and medium enterprises (SME) [...]
Chinese dragons fly into the UK’s mobile warzone January 8, 2012 ASK someone to name the first smartphone that comes into their head and most people will say “iPhone”. Some might name a Samsung or even an HTC. Not many will mention Huawei or ZTE. But 2012 could be the year of the dragon, with the Chinese giants preparing to blitz the UK with a massive [...]
