BP puts $15bn more assets on the block October 25, 2011 BP has reached “a definite turning point” since last year’s Gulf of Mexico disaster, its chief executive said yesterday as he announced plans to expand its disposal programme to $45bn (£28bn), double its cash flow, and boost returns to shareholders. Chief executive Bob Dudley said the oil major would sell-off a further $15bn in assets [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: DO BP’S RESULTS SIGNAL A TURNING POINT FOR THE FIRM? October 25, 2011 STUART JOYNER | INVESTEC BP is still bumping along the bottom but as we expected, the divestment target has been increased to $45bn and the chief executive sees 50 per cent cashflow growth by 2014.. With Anadarko settling its spill bill a few weeks ago, we are seeing a more confident message from BP on [...]
High oil prices and LNG boost BG Group profit October 25, 2011 BG Group, the UK’s third largest oil and gas explorer, reported better-than-expected profits yesterday, boosted by a strong performance from its liquified natural gas business (LNG) and high energy prices, despite problems at its North Sea oil fields. Shares in the group closed 3.84 per cent higher yesterday after it posted a four per cent [...]
Polyus Gold delays London listing October 25, 2011 RUSSIA’S biggest gold miner shelved its plans to list on the London Stock Exchange yesterday, saying the Russian government had delayed giving its consent to the deal. Polyus Gold, which is headed by billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, said it had postponed its main market listing until a Russian government commission approved its plans. “The company [...]
G4S chief in flurry of ISS meetings October 25, 2011 NICK Buckles, the chief executive of security group G4S, has held more than 20 meetings with key investors over the last fortnight in an attempt to convince them to back the £5.2bn takeover of rival ISS. City A.M. understands Buckles has met several institutional investors more than once and will continue to hold the sessions [...]
Female CEO for IBM as Palmisano steps down October 25, 2011 IBM’s long-serving chief executive Sam Palmisano will step down at the end of the year, the tech giant said as it unveiled a beefed up buyback programme. Palmisano, credited with helping transform the once PC-focused company into a services company during a near-decade-long run starting in 2002, will stay on as chairman. Global sales head [...]
Intl Personal Finance profits up October 25, 2011 Emerging markets lender International Personal Finance posted higher third-quarter profit yesterday, helped by growth in customer numbers and credit volume issued, and said it could weather the global economic turmoil. The company said pre-tax profits for the third quarter had risen by 11 per cent to £27m, with revenues rising by nine per cent over [...]
Greencore gets takeover interest October 25, 2011 Shares in Irish food group Greencore jumped almost 10 per cent yesterday after it revealed a preliminary takeover approach from an unnamed company. Greencore, whose merger with Northern Foods fell through in March, bought rival Uniq in July to improve its ties with Marks & Spencer. The maker of Weight Watchers meals and Bisto gravy [...]
Abu Dhabi bank doubles profits October 25, 2011 Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, the fourth largest bank in the UAE by market value, nearly doubled its third-quarter net profit yesterday to 607.6m dirhams (£103.4m), beating analysts forecasts, helped by lower impairment provisions and higher net interest income. Net interest and Islamic finance income grew to 1.33bn dirhams in third quarter compared with 877m dirhams [...]
Babson fund shelves London IPO October 25, 2011 Market turbulence claimed the scalp of another IPO yesterday, as US fund manager Babson Capital said it was shelving the imminent £125m float of one of its funds. Babson said the Global Floating Rate Loan Fund, which hoped to use the money raised in London to invest in European and North American assets, said that [...]
