De La Rue recovery could ward off rival November 22, 2011 BANKNOTE printer De La Rue has reported a 22 per cent rise in profits that could see off any renewed takeover attempts by rival Oberthur Technologies. Speculation is rife that French smartcard maker Oberthur could return to the field once its prohibition on bidding again runs out in December. It mounted an aggressive campaign to [...]
Case for consolidation is undimmed November 22, 2011 WHEN Tim Cobbold, De La Rue’s chief executive, joined the company last year, he did so in highly inauspicious circumstances. The firm was defending itself against the advances of French suitor Oberthur – but this was no ordinary takeover battle. Having seen Cadbury fall into the arms of America’s Kraft, the British public were up [...]
KKR and Japanese firm Itochu link for $7bn Samson bid November 22, 2011 KKR, the global investment firm, has joined forces with Japanese trading house Itochu in a $7bn (£4.5bn) bid for US oil and gas group Samson Investment. KKR has been in exclusive talks to buy privately held Samson for weeks, two people familiar with the matter said. The involvement of Itochu is a new twist, underscoring [...]
ADOBOLI ON REMAND UNTIL NEXT MONTH November 22, 2011 Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, who is accused of $2.3bn (£1.4bn) of unauthorised trading, was remanded in custody until 20 December when he appeared at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. Adoboli, 31, faces two charges of fraud and two of false accounting and has yet to enter a plea.
AIB picks Duffy as new chief November 22, 2011 Allied Irish Banks has appointed David Duffy, a former senior executive at Standard Bank and ING, as its new chief executive with a salary capped at €500,000. AIB, effectively nationalised late last year, has been searching for a new chief for a year. Ireland’s ministry of finance said Duffy was on a fixed contract of [...]
Pandora’s Europe turnover falls November 22, 2011 Danish jewellery maker Pandora promised a turnaround plan would start to show results next year, after posting a 32 per cent drop in quarterly operating profit. Pandora, which floated in Copenhagen last year, said its sales in Europe declined 28.6 per cent, while sales in the Americas grew 4.1 per cent and Asia Pacific fell [...]
Merck pays $950m to settle case November 22, 2011 Merck & Co will pay roughly $950m (£607.7m) to settle criminal and civil charges that it promoted the painkiller drug Vioxx for an unapproved use, the US Justice Department said last night. The fine will conclude a long-running investigation into Merck’s promotion of the drug, which was withdrawn from the market in September 2004. Merck [...]
Nationwide’s warning over Euro turmoil November 22, 2011 THE EUROZONE crisis is forcing up the cost of UK retail deposits, the chief executive of Nationwide warned yesterday as the lending giant reported a rise in profits. Graham Beale said the added funding costs would be felt for as long as the single currency remained mired in a sovereign debt problem. “Whilst the initial [...]
ICG profits up in squeeze November 22, 2011 SHARES in buyout lender Intermediate Capital Group shot up nearly 10 per cent yesterday after it posted forecast-beating first-half profit and said it should benefit from tighter credit market conditions. The stock closed up 9.13 per cent at 228.4p, although it is still down by a third in the year to date. Pre-tax profit for [...]
Paragon eyes takeovers as earnings rise November 22, 2011 BUY to let mortgage specialist Paragon posted a surge in full-year profits yesterday and said it remained on the lookout for acquisition opportunities, having bought a portfolio off Royal Bank of Scotland last month. Paragon’s pre-tax profits for the year ending September rose 12.5 per cent from a year ago to £80.8m, helped by acquisitions [...]
