Anglo offloads Scaw for $440m April 24, 2012 ■ Miner Anglo American yesterday said it has sold the South African arm of steelmaker Scaw Metals for $440m (£272m) to an investment consortium in a long-awaited deal, bringing proceeds from its drive to divest non-core assets to $3.7bn over two years. The sale is to a group led by South Africa’s government-owned Industrial Development [...]
Smiths News buys Hedgelane April 24, 2012 ■ Smiths News, Britain’s biggest wholesaler of newspapers, magazines and books, has bought education products distributor Hedgelane for £38m to diversify outside its core newspaper and magazine business. Hedgelane supplies stationery and curriculum products principally to the education market. Smiths News also reported results for the first half of fiscal 2012, saying like-for-like revenue had [...]
Novartis hit by US factory halt April 24, 2012 ■ Swiss drugmaker Novartis yesterday stuck to its outlook for lower profitability this year, as a stoppage at a US manufacturing site and tough annual comparisons for its Sandoz division hit first-quarter core earnings. The stoppage to sort out quality issues sent net sales in the consumer health division down 20 per cent in the [...]
AB Foods given lift by Primark and sugar arm April 24, 2012 ASSOCIATED British Foods yesterday forecast a significant rise in full year profits, fuelled by its Primark chain and sugar business. The food and retail group said earnings in the six months to 3 March rose by five per cent with higher sugar prices giving the FTSE 100 group momentum. The company, whose brands include Silver [...]
Carpetright issues yet another profit alert as bed sales flop April 24, 2012 CARPETRIGHT yesterday issued another profit warning, this time blaming disappointing bed sales and poor trading in Europe. After a warning in January, analysts had trimmed profit forecasts for Britain’s biggest floorings retailer to about £6m – but the firm admitted this has dipped again. “The level of bed sales in the UK has been below [...]
Walmart drops after bribery probe reports April 24, 2012 SHARES in Walmart continued to fall yesterday as the firm set out further anti-corruption measures in a bid to staunch growing criticism over a potential bribery scandal in Mexico. Walmart said it will hire a new global compliance officer, who will monitor the firm’s actions worldwide to ensure it stays within the US Foreign Corrupt Practices [...]
Dutch finances remain healthy after fiscal row April 24, 2012 THE NETHERLANDS saw borrowing costs hold steady at a bond auction yesterday, despite the fall of its government on Monday, but the Italian government again saw yields rise on its debt. The Dutch government sold €1.995bn (£1.63bn) in two- and 25-year bonds, with yields of 0.523 per cent and 2.78 per cent respectively, both almost [...]
Greek recession gets worse but central bank calls for more cuts April 24, 2012 GREECE’S recession will be even worse than thought just a few months ago, the country’s central bank warned yesterday, slashing the troubled country’s GDP forecast yet again. The economy is now set to contract by five per cent this year, following 2011’s 6.9 per cent recession and worse than previous expectations of a 4.5 per [...]
Hungary close to ending EU row April 24, 2012 ■ The EU will not take Hungary to court to resolve a row over a central bank law that has frozen aid talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it emerged yesterday, fuelling optimism that Budapest may be nearer a deal to stabilise the country’s economy. Signs of progress came as Prime Minister Viktor Orban [...]
Draghi insists €1 trillion is helping April 24, 2012 ■ The European Central Bank’s (ECB) €1 trillion (£818bn) injection of three-year funds is working its way through the banking system and will serve the economy, the central bank’s head Mario Draghi said yesterday. The ECB lent banks the ultra-long term money in December and February, and Draghi has previously said the operations helped avoid [...]
