Qatar inks £4bn Airbus contract November 15, 2011 QATAR Airways placed a $6.5bn (£4.1bn) order for Airbus jets yesterday, just hours after saying at the Dubai Air Show it had walked away from the deal. The carrier has penned a deal for 50 of the new Airbus A320neo planes, with a further 30 on option, and up to eight more A380s. But Qatar [...]
MADE IN CHELSEA DIAMOND HEIR DIGS DEEP FOR HIS NEXT VENTURE November 15, 2011 HIS FAMILY made their fortune digging for diamonds in the Congo and Sierra Leone, but Made in Chelsea stalwart Francis Boulle is interested in mines of a different kind. Fundmine, to be precise, an online investment platform that allows entrepreneurs to sell their company visions to private investors that has to date attracted £8.7m of [...]
Evraz warns on the cost of world turmoil November 15, 2011 ROMAN Abramovich’s steelmaking group Evraz surprised markets with a cautious update yesterday that said pressure on prices would lower profits in the last months of the year. Evraz said revenues hit $12.5bn (£7.8bn) in the first nine months of the year, up 28.9 per cent from the same period in 2010, including $4.2bn of sales [...]
BG Group says three execs to fight it out for the top job November 15, 2011 BG GROUP yesterday fired the starting gun on the race to succeed chief executive Sir Frank Chapman, naming the three executives who the firm is considering for the top job. Chapman, who has helped build BG from a UK-focused player into a $74bn (£46.6bn) international oil and gas giant, will step down before the end [...]
Premier shifts focus to North Sea November 15, 2011 British oil firm Premier Oil said its focus for activity was shifting back to the North Sea as it reiterated its production target after a strong performance from its Asian gas and oil fields. Premier, which also owns assets in Pakistan and Kenya, said it was on track to exit the year with production of [...]
SeaFrance suspends services November 15, 2011 Channel ferry company SeaFrance yesterday cancelled all its Dover to Calais services ahead of a court hearing today to determine its future. SeaFrance said the 48 hour suspension had been agreed with French national authorities “to safeguard the security of the passengers, crews, vehicles and ships” while a make-or-break court hearing decides whether to sell [...]
TalkTalk loses market share November 15, 2011 TalkTalk has succumbed to intense pressure from BT and Sky in the broadband market in recent months, shedding a net 70,000 customers. Revenues for the first six months fell 4.8 per cent to £844m but profits surged 36 per cent to £68m. Its net debt remained broadly flat at £475m.
Henderson’s China fund is biggest riser November 15, 2011 A GAIN of more than 30 per cent made Henderson’s China vehicle the top equity fund performer in October, according to new research. The 32.42 per cent monthly rise put the $175m (£110m) Henderson HF China fund, run by Caroline Maurer and Andrew Mattock, ahead of Legg Mason’s Brazil Equity Fund on 25.24 per cent, [...]
Worries among rich clients cut revenues for Swiss Life November 15, 2011 SWITZERLAND’S biggest life insurer said premium revenues fell by a fifth in the third quarter to SwF2.8bn (£1.9bn), as wealthy clients fearing for their privacy stayed away from investing in its funds. Swiss Life said a healthy ten per cent growth in its Swiss corporate pensions and life business was wiped out by a 48 [...]
HarbourVest’s fund ups NAV November 15, 2011 INVESTMENT scheme HarbourVest Global Private Equity yesterday said its net asset value (NAV) rose 1.5 per cent last month. The listed fund of funds said NAV per share hit $11.19 (£7.06), up from $11.02 on 30 September. The rise was driven by increases in the value of its publicly traded holdings and foreign currency movements [...]
