CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PRIORITISE HIGH SPEED RAIL OR MORE AIRPORT CAPACITY? January 11, 2012 JOE BATTLE | ANTARES “Personally I think the high-speed rail, because there has never been a real problem with airport capacity, only a bit of hustle and bustle. A decent rail network around the UK would be fantastic.” DAN SILVEY | AXA “I think the government should favour high speed rail because it is a [...]
Amec and Babcock win new £650m National Grid work January 11, 2012 AMEC and Babcock’s five-year contract with National Grid to upgrade power lines has been extended by a further five years, the pair announced yesterday. The contract was awarded to the joint venture between the two engineering firms and Mott MacDonald Group. The firms will upgrade of overhead power lines and underground cables in west England [...]
PAI Partners sells off its £460m ingredients firm January 11, 2012 THE MORIBUND European private equity market showed some signs of life yesterday when PAI Partners agreed to sell its share in a Danish food ingredients firm for about €560m (£462m). PAI will sell its a 25.7 per cent stake in Chr. Hansen to Novo, which is the main owner of drugmaker Novo Nordisk and industrial enzymes producer [...]
HUNTER ATTRACTS MORE PRIVATE EQUITY January 11, 2012 HUNTER’S celebrity profile has helped the upmarket wellington boot maker attract more private equity funding. Hutton Collins said yesterday it was providing £32m to support Searchlight’s acquisition of the company. In the year to 31 December 2010 Hunter reported a turnover of £56m and profits of £16m. The company’s profile has been dramatically raised in [...]
Moneysupermarket trading well January 11, 2012 Comparison site Moneysupermarket.com said yesterday it expects earnings to rise by 20 per cent, after trading well in the fourth quarter. The group, which offers price comparisons on insurance, savings and loans and home utilities on its site, said it expects its earnings to rise in line with expectations to around £178m. This was helped [...]
Fenner sees profits up on 2010 January 11, 2012 Fenner, the British industrial polymers company, said yesterday its first quarter profits were ahead of the previous year after profits grew in its Advanced Engineering Products unit. The group said it has continued to see strong demand from the end of its last financial year and expects trading to be in line with expectations, but [...]
Demand rises for Big Yellow January 11, 2012 Self storage firm Big Yellow said yesterday its third quarter sales rose eight per cent on higher demand for its storage facilities from both domestic and corporate customers. The British firm’s occupancy levels at its 52 wholly-owned stores fell by 1.7 per cent in December compared to a 2.3 per cent decline last year. The [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 11, 2012 Heidrick & Struggles Heidrick & Struggles International, the leadership advisory firm providing executive search and leadership consulting services, has appointed Chris Seabourne as a partner in the global life sciences practice. Seabourne has 15 years’ experience in executive search, specialising in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical, medical devices and healthcare sectors. He previously worked with [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 11, 2012 INCHCAPE JP Morgan rates the car distributor and retailer as “overweight” with a target price of 440p, and says the company’s shares have fallen too far from their high of 425p in July 2011. The broker sees the discount of 18 per cent to the wider retail sector in 2012 as unjustified, given Inchcape’s wide [...]
Oil majors lead the FTSE 100 lower as investors avoid risk January 11, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue-chip FTSE 100 closed lower yesterday after bouncing once again off an important technical resistance level, led by heavyweight energy stocks on a fresh bout of Eurozone debt-inspired risk aversion. The index traded in a fairly tight range for the early part of the session, rising to test 5,700 before bearish comments from a [...]
