Apple stock soars after stellar sales April 24, 2012 SHARES in Apple jumped seven per cent in after-hours trading last night after it posted a fresh set of forecast-smashing sales figures. America’s largest public company said its fiscal second-quarter revenue rose 59 per cent to $39.2bn (£24.28bn), better than the analysts’ estimates of $36.8bn. Strong demand for iPhones, particularly in China, helped drive a [...]
Email trail shows Hunt’s closeness to Murdoch Jr April 24, 2012 E-MAILS showing culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s close relationship with News Corp during a probe into the firm’s BSkyB takeover were released by the Leveson inquiry yesterday. The 163-page trail of correspondence shows that Frederic Michel, News Corp’s director of public affairs in Europe, was in frequent contact with Hunt’s advisers from before the culture secretary [...]
Yet another self-inflicted wound as Cameron’s gamble fails April 24, 2012 WHEN David Cameron set up the Leveson inquiry into the media, he thought it would be a clever way of deflecting attention from the disgrace of his former head of communications, the ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, and his own lack of judgement in hiring him. He did this knowing full well that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 24, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES COMMODITY HOUSES COURT INVESTORS The world’s largest commodity trading houses have revealed how they are courting outside investors including private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds as they seek to expand beyond their traditional business of buying and selling raw materials. PRICE RISES LIFT HERSHEY’S EARNINGS Shares of Hershey jumped almost six per [...]
Deficit falls but state spending keeps on rising April 24, 2012 GOVERNMENT borrowing fell £11bn in the last financial year, official figures showed yesterday, leaving the budget deficit right on target. Borrowing came in at £126bn for 2011-12, down from £136.8bn in the previous financial year, with March’s deficit hitting £18.2bn, just up on the £17.95bn of the same month last year. Those figures bring the [...]
RBS mulls share split in bid to cut volatility April 24, 2012 ROYAL Bank of Scotland wants to slash the number of shares it has in issue to reduce price volatility and enable a more consistent valuation of the bank. RBS, which is 82 per cent taxpayer-owned after being rescued in 2008, plans to give shareholders one new ordinary share for every 10 shares they currently hold. “The [...]
Union agrees fuel strike deal April 24, 2012 FUEL distribution firms and the Unite union have agreed a preliminary deal that could see off the threat of strike action by tanker drivers. Mediation service Acas said last night that the two sides will now take the confidential deal back to their respective organisations to decide on whether to accept. The Unite union has [...]
Watson to bid €4b for Actavis April 24, 2012 US pharma group Watson is expected to unveil a €4.25bn (£3.5bn) takeover bid for Swiss rival Actavis today, in a deal that will put it among the world’s biggest generic drugs suppliers. Targeting Actavis is a bold move for Watson, whose previous acquisitions include the $1.75bn purchase of Arrow Group in 2009. The purchase of [...]
Ex-BP man is charged in US April 24, 2012 A FORMER BP engineer was arrested and charged yesterday with intentionally destroying evidence linked to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in April 2010, the US Justice Department said. Kurt Mix, 50, was accused of deleting text messages between himself and a supervisor that included “sensitive internal BP information collected in real-time” as BP tried [...]
Shell makes a £1.1bn offer to acquire Cove April 24, 2012 SHELL yesterday announced that it had agreed to sweeten its bid for Cove Energy with a $1.8bn (£1.1bn) cash offer. Cove’s directors have recommended that shareholders accept the bid rather than an equivalent offer from Thai state-controlled oil firm PTTEP. Chief executive John Craven and two other directors are in line for a combined windfall [...]
