Sri Lanka opens port to investors August 1, 2010 Sri Lanka yesterday said it would invite outside investors into its $1.5bn (£956m) Hambantota port project, the keystone of a $6bn post-war infrastructure revitalisation drive. The invitation for external investment will coincide with the November opening of the port on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, along an ancient “Silk Road” trading route and one of the [...]
CBI’s Lambert gets Indian offer August 1, 2010 Richard Lambert, the outgoing director general of employers’ group the CBI, is set to be asked to take up a post as high commissioner of India as part of a government drive to sign up businessmen and women for diplomatic roles. Lambert, a ex-Financial Times editor and former external member of the Bank of England’s [...]
CORUS CHIEF’S £2M PAY DAY August 1, 2010 OUTGOING Corus boss Kirby Adams is understood to have been paid more than £2m last year. He quit the firm for “personal reasons” just 18 months after taking the helm. His tenure was controversial, with 1,000 steelworkers losing their jobs after a major production plant in Teesside was mothballed.
Investors eye Pru dividend growth rate August 1, 2010 PRUDENTIAL will be under pressure to maintain its rate of dividend growth next week as chief executive Tidjane Thiam tries to recover from the insurer’s failed bid for AIA. Investors will be looking for at least five per cent growth in the interim payout, in line with the past three years, to 6.6p. The number [...]
Insurers set to raise dividends in results week August 1, 2010 THE INSURANCE sector earnings season is expected to deliver growing profits and dividend increases this week, though uncertainty over new European rules could dampen forecasts, according to analysts. Legal & General is set to kick off on Wednesday with a widely tipped dividend rise. Analysts have forecast operating profits of up to £412m for the [...]
PMI data will show growth slowing down August 1, 2010 LEADING economic surveys are expected to show this week that the UK continued to grow at a solid pace in July, though economists warned it was unlikely that we would see a repeat of the blistering pace of growth recorded between April and June. All three purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) to be reported this week [...]
Experts split on dangers of hike in interest rates August 1, 2010 AS the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) looks set to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent for another month, economists are divided on when the loose monetary policy should finally be tightened. There is increasing pressure to raise interest rates for the first time since March 2009 to try and halt inflation, [...]
ECONOMIST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE PMIS THIS WEEK? August 1, 2010 JONATHAN LOYNES | CAPITAL ECONOMICS “Services output is estimated to have risen by 0.9 per cent in the second quarter but the sharp drop in the business expectations balance in June suggests that the headline activity index could have fallen further in July.” DAVID PAGE | INVESTEC “The manufacturing and services PMIs are likely to [...]
Claridge’s owner is close to loans deal August 1, 2010 THE OWNER of the five-star Claridge’s, Berkeley and Connaught hotels is close to a deal to refinance its £600m debts. Maybourne Hotel Group is in talks with Westbrook Partners, an American real estate investor, and another unidentified firm over selling a £200m stake in the hotelier. Maybourne has spent months seeking investors for the refinancing, [...]
Spotlight turns to US over huge budget deficit August 1, 2010 THE debt spotlight seems to be panning across the Atlantic from Europe to the United States. The Congressional Budget Office in the US has warned that – unless politicians act fast – growing budget deficits will cause public debt to rise to unsupportable levels. In fact, it points out that US government debt has grown [...]
