Thames Water drinks in profits but warns of rising bills to come June 22, 2009 THAMES Water said yesterday that tighter cost controls had driven a full year pre-tax profit rise of four per cent to £435.1m, but warned of a challenging year to come. The UK’s largest water company said that for every 100p of profit it made, it has invested 226p in a programme which included replacing London’s [...]
BA’s all-business class City flights set for take off June 22, 2009 TROUBLED British Airways (BA) said yesterday it would go ahead with its all-business class London City to New York service, despite having reported record losses earlier this year. The service, which will begin on 29 September, sees each Airbus A318 plane take just 32 passengers over the Atlantic. The plane will stop in Ireland for [...]
Williams not ready to end Lions career June 22, 2009 BRITISH and Irish Lions winger Shane Williams has admitted that tonight’s game against the Emerging Springboks could be his last in a Lions shirt. Williams has failed to live up to his IRB player of the year accolade in South Africa and insists he needs a big performance if he is to force his way [...]
Dragon Bird gets 16 months June 22, 2009 RUGBY LEAGUE: Catalans Dragons captain Greg Bird has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after being found guilty of hitting his girlfriend with a glass. The 25-year-old Australian was granted bail pending an appeal. Bird’s girlfriend had written him a character reference to persuade the court to give him a lenient sentence. The pair [...]
Bishop to exit BMI on a high June 22, 2009 GERMAN flag carrier Lufthansa yesterday made headway on wrapping up its acquisitions of BMI British Midland and Brussels Airlines after it addressed competition concerns voiced by the European Commission. Lufthansa also said yesterday it had struck a deal with Sir Michael Bishop to acquire his stake of 50 per cent plus one share in BMI [...]
Hamilton eyes German progress June 22, 2009 FORMULA ONE: Britain’s Lewis Hamilton is hoping constructors McLaren make a “huge improvement” at the next formula one meeting in Germany in three weeks’ time. Hamilton finished 16th at Silverstone on Sunday but the team remain confident of “an end of season push”.
Allied Irish Banks raises 1bn in bond exchange and considers disposals June 22, 2009 ALLIED Irish Banks (AIB) has raised €1bn (£848m) of capital by exchanging bonds worth €2.4bn for a new issue of €1.3bn, the lender said yesterday. “The securities will be exchanged for between 50 per cent and 67 per cent of their face value in line with the previously announced exchange prices,” AIB said in a [...]
Record-breaking suits get nod June 22, 2009 SWIMMING: World governing body FINA have reversed their decision to ban controversial hi-tech racing suits. The X-Glide and Jaked 01 were two of the 348 suits reviewed by FINA after more than 100 world records were broken in 18 months.
Brixton and Segro hammer out terms of takeover deal June 22, 2009 SHARES in Brixton property group plummeted 30 per cent to 43.5p yesterday after its board agreed to an all-share offer from larger rival Segro, which values the company at a 40 per cent discount to its market capitalisation on Friday. Segro has offered 1.75 of its own shares for each Brixton share, valuing Brixton at [...]
Great Portland’s cash call works June 22, 2009 Property group Great Portland Estates yesterday said it had received a 93.6 per cent take up for its fully underwritten rights issue to raise gross proceeds of £175m. The property company said it had received valid acceptances in respect of 126,777,488 new shares under the terms of its 8 for 11 cash call. JP Morgan [...]
