Impax completes £287m fundraising for its green power private equity pot September 29, 2011 ENVIRONMENTAL investment fund Impax has completed the €330m (£287m) fundraising for its second private equity fund. Impax New Energy Investors II is a private equity and infrastructure fund set up to invest in renewable power projects and companies across Europe. Ian Simm, chief executive of Impax, said the climate for raising new assets is challenging. [...]
Shanks on track for the full year September 29, 2011 Waste management firm Shanks said yesterday that trading is in line with its expectations for the six months ending 30 September, and remains on track to meet company expectations for the year. Underlying market conditions have been as anticipated, with stable recyclate prices, and ongoing pricing pressures in the Netherlands have been offset by cost [...]
Homeserve expects profit growth September 29, 2011 HomeServe, the international home emergency business, said yesterday that it expects its first-half profits to be ahead of last year and in line with company expectations. The company said that customer numbers last year were more than 5m and it expects the total to be around five per cent higher this year. Total policies are [...]
Tepco faces $110bn financing hole September 29, 2011 Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, faces a funding shortfall of up to $110bn (£70bn) over 10 years, according to sources citing a government report. Tepco, which must submit a business plan by the end of October, said it would not comment on the report until it [...]
Weak demand keeps house prices steady September 29, 2011 PRICES increased slightly in September compared with August’s level but fell over the last quarter and year, a leading poll showed yesterday. Nationally, prices rose by 0.1 per cent on a monthly basis, but declined by 0.1 per cent over the past three months, and by 0.3 per cent over the year to September. The [...]
Loans to businesses increase September 29, 2011 LENDING to non-financial companies increased over August, though banks reduced their holdings of corporate securities by a greater amount, the Bank of England announced yesterday. Businesses borrowed £800m more in August than in July. However, overall lending from banks fell by £2.7bn as banks reduced their holdings of corporate securities. The Bank of England’s figures [...]
Major economies leading confidence dip across EU September 29, 2011 ITALY, France and the UK reported the largest declines in economic confidence in September, the European Commission reported yesterday. The economic sentiment indicator declined by 3.4 points in the EU and Eurozone, falling to 94.0 and 95.5 respectively. Italy, France and the UK suffered sentiment declines of 5.1, 3.5 and 3.4 points respectively, taking the [...]
RETAIL SENTIMENT SLIDES ON CONTINENT September 29, 2011 RETAILERS in both Germany and Italy are suffering from the weakening economy, according to yesterday’s purchasing managers’ index from Markit. Germany’s retail PMI declined from 53.9 in August to 51.4 in September, approaching the “no change” level of 50. Italy’s increased from 42.4 to 44.9 indicating a slower rate of decline. “Households looked to rein [...]
Positive US jobless data gives hope September 29, 2011 US ECONOMIC growth for the second quarter was revised up while initial jobless claims dropped, according to US data out yesterday. The Bureau of Economic Analysis revised second quarter annualised growth up from one per cent to 1.3 per cent. Economists are warning that much of the increase on the previous quarter, which recorded growth [...]
German unemployment falls to lowest level since reunification 21 years ago September 29, 2011 UNEXPECTEDLY strong hiring by German businesses pushed unemployment to record lows, figures out yesterday from the Federal Labour Office revealed. A seasonally adjusted fall of 26,000 over the last month greatly exceeded the 8,000 predicted by economists. That takes the total unemployment level down 231,000 over the year to September, to 2.79m – the first [...]
