Coty selects banks for planned IPO May 16, 2012 Beauty company Coty has selected Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co to be the lead underwriters for a planned initial public offering this autumn, a source close to the deal said last night. The IPO would value Coty at more than $7bn, the source said, adding that the company would file [...]
Yell continues brand transition May 16, 2012 Yell Group, the struggling publisher of the Yellow Pages, yesterday announced the acquisition of Moonfruit, an online shop and website builder. The £18m purchase is the latest step in Yell’s efforts to rebrand itself as a digital services provider. Moonfruit.com, valued at £4.8m, has created nearly five million websites and 230,000 online shops.
C&C cautious on Olympic boost May 16, 2012 Irish cider-maker C&C is uncertain whether a sales boost from this summer’s Olympics and European football championships will be enough to grow its bottom line this year, its chief executive said yesterday. C&C, which sells cider under the Magners and Bulmers brands, posted a nine per cent rise in operating profit to €111m (£88.45m) for [...]
BHP warns of cooling market in commodities May 16, 2012 BHP BILLITON said yesterday it expects commodity markets to cool further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy, in the most cautious comments yet from the world’s biggest miner. BHP also put the brakes on a plan announced by chief executive Marius Kloppers in 2011 to spend $80bn [...]
E.ON sells European gas grid to Macquarie-led group for £2.6bn May 16, 2012 E.ON, Germany’s largest utility, said yesterday it has sold its Open Grid Europe gas distribution network to a consortium led by Australian bank Macquarie for €3.2bn (£2.6bn), raising cash to pay down debt and fund expansion. The deal brings E.ON’s tally of divestments to more than €12bn, well on its way toward its goal of [...]
Production soaring at Soco May 16, 2012 Soco International said yesterday that oil and gas production for the first quarter was soaring, averaging 11,690 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). The total is three-and-a-half times higher than the amount produced in the same period last year. The company also said production at Te Giac Trang in Vietnam would begin ahead of [...]
Total stops North Sea gas leak May 16, 2012 Total has succeeded in plugging a well from its North Sea Elgin platform that has been leaking gas for more than seven weeks, the French oil group said yesterday. The leak, 240km off the coast of Scotland, has been costing Total around $3m a day in relief operations and lost net income.
Interserve sees boost from Asia May 16, 2012 Interserve said yesterday that rising demand for equipment services in Australia and Asia was helping to balance out pressure on its construction unit, combining to give a stable outlook for 2012. The company said it had won £600m of work in the year to date.
Miner NWR surprises with profit May 16, 2012 Coal miner New World Resources (NWR) yesterday posted a more than 80 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit due to lower financial expenses, improved cost controls and a better product mix, surprising analysts who had expected a loss. Net profit rose to €6.2m (£4.9m) but revenue dropped 10 per cent year-on-year to €346.6m.
Perform snaps up RunningBall for up to €120m May 16, 2012 SPORTS MEDIA rights group Perform said yesterday it will pay up to €120m (£93m) in cash and shares to buy sports data company RunningBall, the largest acquisition it has made since floating last year. RunningBall produces real-time data coverage of sporting events – covering more than 35,000 events last year including over 30,000 football games around [...]
