Veolia Environment plans transport business sale in a bid to cut its debt December 6, 2011 VEOLIA Environment, pressured by a slumping share price and two straight profit warnings, aims to sell its transport business as part of a plan to shed €5bn (£4.3bn) of assets in the next two years. The world’s biggest listed water group also plans to slash its dividend by 42 per cent and aims to cut [...]
European Goldfields gets fresh takeover approach December 6, 2011 EUROPEAN Goldfields shares were halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange after a report the developer of mines in Greece has been approached about a takeover by Eldorado Gold. In a statement, European Goldfields acknowledged its “recent trading activity” and confirmed it had “received preliminary and indicative approaches from third parties regarding potential corporate transactions.” It [...]
MOUCHEL NAMES FOURTH CHAIR OF 2011 December 6, 2011 STRUGGLING infrastructure group Mouchel named former Deloitte senior partner David Shearer its new chairman yesterday, making him the fourth holder of the post this year. Describing him as a “turnaround specialist”, Mouchel said Shearer would replace interim chairman Sir Michael Lyons on 9 January next year. Shearer joins Mouchel after a string of profit warnings [...]
Total to buy GDF Suez stake December 6, 2011 Total, operator of the Elgin/Franklin fields in the British sector of the North Sea, yesterday announced it was buying GDF Suez’s share in the two fields for €590m (£507m). This participation is held through a 22.5 per cent interest in the company Elgin Franklin Oil & Gas (EFOG). By giving Total control of the whole [...]
Northgate driving profits December 6, 2011 Van-hire group Northgate said it would focus on current assets rather than growth, after that approach enabled it to post a 19 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £32.3m yesterday.
Frontline plans restructuring December 6, 2011 Frontline, the largest independent global oil tanker operator, has unveiled a restructuring plan that should spare its investors a lot of pain and force Ship Finance International to take a big hit. Industry bellwether Frontline will split in two, with the listed entity relieved of much debt and handed new charter rates, in an attempt [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 6, 2011 Callatay & Wouters Callatay & Wouters, which provides IT solutions to retail, private and direct banks, has appointed Diederik Van Der Linden to the new position of sales and marketing director. Van Der Linden, who specialises in retail and private banking, joined the company in 2001 to lead the international business development team, before becoming [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 6, 2011 PETROFAC JP Morgan rates the oil and gas group as “overweight” with a target price of 1,479p after a meeting with management in which growth opportunities across the business were highlighted. The broker also sees an attractive bid pipeline, particularly in the integrated energy services and offshore engineering divisions, with a backlog of expansion in [...]
FTSE ends flat as S&P eyes Eurozone rating downgrades December 6, 2011 THE UK’s top share index ended flat yesterday, with banks and retailers falling and sentiment hurt as credit agency Standard & Poor’s warned of a possible downgrade to most Eurozone countries. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 0.76 points or 0.01 per cent at 5,568.72 following a see-saw session, having closed at [...]
US stock lift shows hope for debt plan December 6, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as investors bet European leaders would take strong steps this week to end the region’s debt crisis, including bolstering its financial rescue fund. The latest source of optimism came from a Financial Times report that European leaders will discuss boosting the firepower of the Eurozone’s rescue fund at the summit. The [...]
