Talvivaara looks to the future as it hits its downgraded nickel output targets January 3, 2012 SHARES in Talvivaara Mining shot up more than 27 per cent yesterday after the Finnish nickel miner said it has met its downgraded production targets. The FTSE 250-listed firm’s stock was caught in a downward spiral last year as it repeatedly slashed its output targets in the wake of longer-than-expected maintenance stoppages. But the firm [...]
Balfour Beatty in £800m government contract win January 3, 2012 INFRASTRUCTURE group Balfour Beatty has won preferred bidder status for an £800m Essex waste contract. The project is a 28-year public-private partnership (PPP) contract to design, build and operate a new sustainable waste treatment facility for Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. The group will invest around £7m, or around 30 per cent of [...]
BENTLEY REVS UP AS CHINESE MARKET GROWS January 3, 2012 VOLKSWAGEN’S extravagant Bentley brand has jumped back to pre-recession levels of demand after it saw a 37 per cent rise in sales for 2011, strengthened by booming sales in China. The US is still Bentley’s number one market, with sales up by over a third to 2,021 cars – an increase of 32 per cent. [...]
Vialogy lifted by contract hopes January 3, 2012 Shares in seismic data analysis software company Vialogy soared by up to 30 per cent yesterday after the group said it was confident of securing future oil and gas work with major exploration companies. Vialogy said that in Asia, a contract with a national oil company is waiting for government approval before it is signed.
Fiberweb loses finance chief January 3, 2012 Industrial materials group Fiberweb said its finance chief, Daniel Abrams, will be leaving the group at the end of March 2012. Abrams has held the role since 2008, and prior to joining Fiberweb he was finance chief at Cambridge Display Technology and was finance director of Xenova Group. Replacing Abrams will be Kate Miles, currently [...]
Lonrho raises £25m for expansion January 3, 2012 London-listed Lonrho, which invests in infrastructure projects and other investments in Africa, said yesterday it had completed a £25.4m fundraising to bolster its war chest going into the new year.
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 3, 2012 Avanti Communications Group Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, has joined the board of satellite data company Avanti Communications as a non-executive director. He is also a non-executive director of FedEx Corporation and Unilever. Prior to joining Diageo, Walsh held financial and commercial positions with InterContinental Hotels and in the GrandMet food business, becoming CEO [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 3, 2012 AFREN Brewin Dolphin rates the oil group “add” and has put its 128p target price under review following a group production update this week. The broker notes that Afren has underperformed on its original production targets for the year, though it beat its revised figures after ramping up work on its Nigerian project. But Brewin [...]
US markets begin the year on a high January 3, 2012 STOCKS and the euro started the year with a sharp rally yesterday, boosted by better-than-expected global data and hopes the Fed could ease monetary policy further, even as crude surged on tensions between the US and Iran. A number of Federal Reserve officials believed economic conditions could “well” warrant a further easing of monetary policy, [...]
Manufacturing data sparks FTSE’s racing start to 2012 January 3, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares powered ahead at the start of the new trading year yesterday as upbeat economic data from the United States, Europe and China boosted risk appetite and helped investors set aside fears over the Eurozone debt crisis. The pace of growth in the US manufacturing sector accelerated in December, its best month since [...]
