SABMiller chooses a new head for Foster’s business December 7, 2011 GLOBAL brewing giant SABMiller named Ari Mervis to take over as chief executive at Foster’s yesterday, fresh from completing a A$11.5bn (£7.5bn) takeover of Australia’s top brewer. Mervis, who will be based in Melbourne, will continue as head of SABMiller’s Asia Pacific region and joint venture in China, CR Snow, and will be responsible for [...]
Bilfinger to list fund in London December 7, 2011 Construction services group Bilfinger Berger plans to list an infrastructure fund in London later this month, raising £212m to invest in a portfolio of assets ranging from roads to prisons. The Luxembourg-incorporated Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure (BBGI) is offering 212m shares at a fixed price of £1 each, it said in a statement yesterday, and [...]
DS Smith sees second-half growth December 7, 2011 Packaging company DS Smith yesterday posted higher first-half pre-tax profit on improved volumes, better selling prices and an acquisition, and said it expected further volume increases in the second half. For the six months to 31 October, the company’s pre-tax profit rose to £42.8m from £35.6m last year. Revenue rose 26 per cent to £1.03bn.
Polymetal and Evraz join FTSE 100 December 7, 2011 Building materials group CRH, steel and mining company Evraz and precious metals producer Polymetal will be promoted to the FTSE 100 on 19 December as a result of this quarter’s stock exchange review. They will take the places of mobile satellite firm Inmarsat, asset manager Investec and platinum miner Lonmin. The reshuffle will also see [...]
Indian retail reform plans put on hold December 7, 2011 INDIA has suspended plans to open its $450bn (£286bn) supermarket sector to foreign firms such as Wal-Mart, backtracking from one of the government’s boldest reforms in years in the face of a huge political backlash. The retreat, within two weeks of the policy being mooted, is another nail in the coffin of Prime Minister Manmohan [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 7, 2011 FRESNILLO JP Morgan Cazenove rates the precious metals miner “overweight” without a target price after the positive surprise that the company will issue a $300m second interim dividend, equivalent to about $0.42 per share, on top of the $0.21 per share announced in July. The broker is treating this second interim payout as a special [...]
US mortgage applications jump December 7, 2011 Applications for US home mortgages jumped last week, recouping the previous week’s steep decline as interest rates continued to fall. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, spiked 12.8 per cent in last week. The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing [...]
SMEs finding it hard to recruit December 7, 2011 Despite high levels of unemployment, almost a third of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to find staff with suitable skills. A study from the Federation of Small Businesses, published yesterday, showed 27 per cent have difficulty finding suitable workers. Forty-seven per cent complained that regulation requirements are onerous, and 34 per cent had [...]
UK economy slow in November December 7, 2011 GDP growth slowed from 0.4 per cent in the three months ending in October to 0.3 per cent in the three months ending in November, according to research from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) out yesterday. The think-tank believes economic output will not pass its pre-recession peak until 2013. Under its [...]
FTSE see-saws on doubt over outcome of summit December 7, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares fell yesterday after comments from a German government official eroded optimism about a comprehensive deal to solve the Euro zone’s debt crisis at this week’s crunch EU summit. The FTSE 100 index ended down 21.81 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,546.91, after a choppy day when the index hit an intra-day [...]
