Qantas starts flights after union ruling October 31, 2011 QANTAS Airways planes returned to the skies yesterday morning, after the Australian firm grounded its entire global fleet over the weekend to force the government to intervene in the nation’s worst labour dispute in a decade. Shares in the firm jumped 4.3 per cent yesterday after a labour tribunal, at the government’s request, ordered Qantas [...]
Honda withdraws its earnings forecast after double disaster October 31, 2011 HONDA withdrew its annual earnings guidance in an unusual move yesterday due to uncertainty surrounding currency markets and floods in Thailand just as the manufacturer was starting to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami. Among Japanese automakers, Honda has been hit the hardest by both disasters this year, recovering slowly from the supply disruption [...]
TNK-BP inks $1bn Brazil deal October 31, 2011 BRAZILIAN oil start-up HRT said yesterday it signed a $1bn (£619.4m) agreement with BP’s Anglo-Russian oil joint venture TNK-BP for the sale of a stake in oil fields in the Amazon. HRT said it would receive the funds over two years for the sale of a 45 per cent stake in 21 exploratory blocks located [...]
Clegg announces winners of regional growth funds October 31, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday announced the latest projects that will get funding from the government’s regional growth fund, identifying 119 programmes across the UK that will receive some of the £950m available. Clegg said that the funds would create or safeguard more than 200,000 jobs across the UK, either through direct job creation [...]
Labour drops support for third runway at Heathrow October 31, 2011 THE LABOUR Party has dropped its support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, all but sounding the death knell for the controversial expansion. Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said “the local environmental impact means that this is off the agenda” during a conference in London. The coalition government dropped Labour’s plans to expand the [...]
LUXURY CAR SALES ON THE SKIDS October 31, 2011 SHARES in HR Owen, the luxury car dealer, shed 5.19 per cent yesterday, after it issued a profit warning – just weeks after its chief executive Andy Duncan quit. HR Owen said “demand conditions in the luxury car market have deteriorated in recent weeks” and that it now expected to post a “small loss” the second [...]
Mondi eyes more cost cuts October 31, 2011 Paper maker Mondi said yesterday it plans more cost cuts as the sector struggles to recover from a slump caused by weak demand and overcapacity, exacerbated by a slowdown in the global economy. Mondi, which also said its third-quarter underlying profit was higher than a year earlier, added that the weak economy was putting moderate [...]
Picton drops Invista trust bid October 31, 2011 Picton yesterday dropped its plans to take over the Invista Foundation Property Trust (IFPT) after failing to agree a deal with the Invista Foundation board. The trust, which has around £145m of assets under management, will now be managed by Schroders, having ended its agreement with Invista Real Estate Management. Picton said it would focus [...]
GTL agrees to £32m takeover October 31, 2011 GTL Resources, the owner of an ethanol and bio-refining company, has agreed to a £32m cash offer from marine firm Siem Kapital and fund manager North Atlantic Value (NAV), the companies said yesterday. Siem and NAV will pay one pound a share for GTL, which produces over one million gallons of ethanol per year through [...]
Stats hint at a drop in UK house prices October 31, 2011 MORTGAGE lending slipped for the second straight month in September, the Bank of England revealed yesterday, while a separate study released this morning exposes dwindling confidence in the likelihood of house prices holding up. More people expect house prices to fall over the next year than those expecting any rise, a survey by the Halifax [...]
