Microsoft vows Yahoo secrecy November 23, 2011 MICROSOFT has signed a confidentiality agreement with Yahoo, allowing the software giant to take a closer look at Yahoo’s business, according to a source familiar with the matter. Microsoft joins several private equity firms that are also poring over Yahoo’s books and operations, as they explore various options for striking a deal with the struggling [...]
Huhne calls for energy backing November 23, 2011 CLIMATE change secretary Chris Huhne hopes his “Green Deal” will kickstart £14bn private investment in insulating draughty homes by 2020. In his annual energy statement, Huhne said policies to increase efficiency and boost participation in renewable technologies would save households about £94, or seven per cent off the annual utility bill. But he conceded rising [...]
Invista sues Lloyds over fee dispute November 23, 2011 A FURIOUS row has broken out between Invista Real Estate Investment Management and its majority shareholder Lloyds Banking Group after the fund manager claimed the bank was refusing to make payments. Invista announced yesterday that it was suing the bank for failing to pay a £545,600 instalment it allegedly owes after cancelling a major contract [...]
Traders’ fears heard as court hearing slated for December November 23, 2011 TRADERS in Paternoster Square have seen customer numbers slump by up to 90 per cent, according to City of London papers published yesterday. Businesses in the part of the square that has been cordoned off are experiencing the heaviest losses, with stores in St Paul’s Churchyard also suffering, albeit less, because of safety concerns and [...]
Former Olympus boss Woodford arrives in Japan for crunch talks November 23, 2011 FORMER Olympus chief executive Michael Woodford returned to Tokyo yesterday for a meeting with investigators and a showdown with his former board colleagues. As speculation grew of possible links between shadowy payments by Olympus and organised crime, Woodford landed with little fanfare at Tokyo’s Narita airport, to be met by an assistant and about 30 reporters. [...]
Weir spends £430m on US shale gas firm November 23, 2011 WEIR, the Scottish pumps and valves maker, has agreed to buy US manufacturer Seaboard Holdings for $675m (£430m) in a deal that will boost its presence in the booming shale oil and gas industry in North America. Weir said yesterday that it expected the acquisition of Houston-based Seaboard to be immediately earnings accretive and added [...]
Cosalt in last-ditch debt talks November 23, 2011 SHARES in oilfield support services group Cosalt plunged 36 per cent yesterday after it warned investors its working capital reserves would only last it until the end of the month. Cosalt, which is in takeover talks with its chairman and biggest shareholder, David Ross, said it had just £900,000 of bank facilities left to draw [...]
Babcock venture set to win nuclear clean-up job November 23, 2011 BABCOCK Dounreay Partnership (BDP) is the preferred bidder to demolish and clean up a nuclear site in Dounreay, Scotland, in a deal worth upwards of £2.6bn. After a two-year public procurement process, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said it hopes to transfer ownership of the plant from the UK’s nuclear authority to Babcock and its partners [...]
QinetiQ restructure reaps profit November 23, 2011 Defence technology company QinetiQ said it would beat its own earnings expectations for the year by 20 per cent after a restructuring and cost cuts drove a 45 per cent surge in first-half profit. QinetiQ, which makes high-tech military equipment such as bomb disposal robots and sniper detectors, yesterday reported an underlying pretax profit of [...]
Reckitt fined £20m for price fix November 23, 2011 British consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser has been fined €24m (£20m) by the German cartel office for fixing prices on laundry and dishwashing products with German rival Henkel. The German cartel office said Henkel escaped a fine after acting as a whistle-blower and instigating the investigation in 2010. “The two companies coordinated price rises for [...]
