Woodford back in Japan but ex-chief could abandon bid to win back old job January 5, 2012 THE FORMER head of Olympus returned to Japan yesterday where he said he will decide the future of his bid to return to his old post. Michael Woodford (pictured), who was fired as chief executive in October and blew the whistle on a $1.7bn (£1.1bn) accounting scandal, faces long odds in his battle with current [...]
Asian banks fight to buy RBS’s £5bn aviation arm January 5, 2012 CHINA Development Bank and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group are slugging it out in the final days of an auction for Royal Bank of Scotland’s aircraft leasing business in a deal that could fetch up to $7.5bn (£4.8bn), a source with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday. RBS, 83 per cent-owned by the British [...]
Broker sees trouble ahead as clients stay on the sidelines during Eurosaga January 5, 2012 TULLETT Prebon boss Terry Smith must have seen almost everything in his 35-plus years in the City. Even this veteran must have been surprised, however, by the gloom which gripped the City late last year, perhaps explaining why Tullett cut around 80 brokers in the second half – equivalent to five per cent – and warned of [...]
Blockbusters boost Cineworld January 5, 2012 Movie giants such as The King’s Speech, the latest Harry Potter instalment and Twilight helped UK cinema chain Cineworld post a revenue increase of 1.5 per cent last year. While suffering sales of 3D glasses and a fall in screen advertising will bring other income down, Cineworld is looking at a rise of 2.7 per [...]
Nokia eyes a new chairman January 5, 2012 Finnish mobile phone company Nokia is said to have its eyes on Risto Siilasmaa to succeed its current chairman Jorma Ollila. Siilasmaa, who has sat on Nokia’s board since 2008, is the founder and chairman of Finnish software maker Secure and chairman of telecoms firm Elisa Oyj. The decision is awaiting confirmation from the board [...]
Fiat drives towards Chrysler January 5, 2012 Italian car maker Fiat is one step closer to merging with Chrysler after it raised its stake in the struggling automotive group from 53.5 per cent to 58.5 per cent, paying approximately $2bn (£1.29bn). Chrysler filed for bankruptcy in 2009, leading President Obama to instigate a turnaround plan between the two companies. Healthcare trust VEBA [...]
Tata could move plants to India January 5, 2012 Ratan Tata, the retiring head of the Tata conglomerate, said his firm could move some of its car production to India or China. He told a conference that Tata Motors, which makes Range Rovers and Jaguars in the UK, could at some stage shift its manufacturing to capitalise on a growth spurt in emerging markets. [...]
Three bosses at Cove in line for a windfall January 5, 2012 A TRIO of top executives at Cove Energy are in line to share a pot of tens of millions of dollars after the company was officially put up for sale yesterday. Chief executive John Craven and executive chairman Michael Blaha will share most of the payout. Michael Nolan, Cove’s finance director, will pocket the rest. [...]
Balfour Beatty bags £750m deal January 5, 2012 Building group Balfour Beatty yesterday clinched a five-year contract worth up to £750m to upgrade Britain’s electricity transmission network. The work involves maintaining and refurbishing overhead transmission lines, as well as designing and implementing National Grid’s network upgrade plans. The company has an existing contract to carry out some work for the National Grid. This [...]
Costain ends year on track January 5, 2012 Costain said yesterday that it finished the year strongly and has an order book worth £2.5bn. The civil engineering group said it had targeted major public and private sector customers and secured significant new contracts during the year, including the London Bridge Station redevelopment for Network Rail and Crossrail Paddington Station. The company increased its [...]
