UK renewables policy attacked by think tank December 11, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT’S policy of pushing the UK towards renewable energy sources faces attack today from a Westminster think tank. “Wind and solar power do little to reduce carbon emissions, as they need large-scale back up generating capacity to compensate for their intermittency,” the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) will state in a new report. The government [...]
First fall in the capital’s output since April ‘09 December 11, 2011 LONDON’S private sector output contracted last month, according to a business survey released this morning by Lloyds TSB. The worrying finding marked the first decline in the capital’s business activity for over two and a half years. The business activity index slipped to a reading of 49.3 in November, down from 50.4. Scores below 50 [...]
Animator to be first AIM listed Portuguese firm December 11, 2011 SPORTS personality animation business Sports Stars Media (SSM) will today announce its intention to float in a move that would make it the only Portuguese AIM-listed company. The company, which has its creation and production facilities in Portugal, is looking to go public in February 2012, raising £1.75m and giving the company a market cap [...]
Olympic Media Buzz LONDON 2012 PARTNERS December 11, 2011 IN ASSOCIATION with Repskan, the media monitoring and analytics platform, City A.M. is measuring the relative Olympic media buzz around the partners for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, week by week. The leaderboard, right, reflects their ranking over the past week, in this case from Wednesday 12 October to Wednesday 19 October. BT [...]
M&A to dine out next year December 11, 2011 BRITAIN’S restaurants and bars sector is expected to enjoy a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions next year, thanks to a pick-up in private equity demand, a report by the accountancy firm BDO has revealed. While sales across the industry are predicted to remain subdued, top high street chains such as Yo! Sushi, Pizza Express and [...]
Why this week’s oil meeting matters for Opec December 11, 2011 IT was one of the worst Opec meetings ever,” exclaimed the most important man in world oil, Ali al-Naimi, back in June to a gob-smacked press pack in Vienna. Seriously, this was a truly amazing utterance from a man who, despite his enormous power, likes to let others do the talking at Opec meetings. Fast [...]
Samsung mobile sales best ever December 11, 2011 Samsung Electronics said yesterday its annual mobile handset sales this year had exceeded 300m units for the first time in the company’s history. The world’s second largest handset maker by volume said in a statement it had broken its sales record by the end of last month. Sales including 10m of the new Galaxy S [...]
StanChart eyes Islamic banking December 11, 2011 Standard Chartered is in discussions with regulators to offer Islamic banking services in Oman and Nigeria, now that both countries are revamping their regulatory environments to encourage Islamic finance, the bank’s global head of Islamic banking said yesterday. Wasim Saifi said the company may be able to offer the services as early as next year.
US tech firm crosses pond December 11, 2011 AMERICAN online marketing adviser Constant Contact is today opening a London office in a bid to help the UK catch up with the technologically superior US. The company, which helps small and medium businesses use and monitor their online presence from email to Facebook, is backing the trend of American IT firms basing themselves in [...]
Centerra Gold linked to bid talks with European Goldfields December 11, 2011 ADVISERS to European Goldfields remained silent yesterday after reports suggested that Canadian-listed Centerra Gold, had made an approach for the company. “There have been no formal offers for the group,” an adviser said. Last week European Goldfields, which owns the rights to three sites in northern Greece, revealed to the London Stock Exchange that it [...]
