Tepco investors launch lawsuit March 5, 2012 Shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Co, operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan, are suing the utility’s executives for a record 5.5 trillion yen (£42.5bn) in compensation, lawyers said. In the biggest claim of its kind in Japan, 42 shareholders filed a lawsuit accusing 27 current and former Tepco directors of ignoring [...]
Petrofac sees profits surge by a quarter March 5, 2012 BRITISH oil services firm Petrofac said it was confident it would win new contracts this year, a must to put it on track to meet its growth targets, after it posted a forecast-beating 25 per cent jump in profit in 2011. Petrofac said it was seeing a strong pipeline of opportunities across both parts of [...]
Rio Tinto to pump $2bn into iron ore expansion in India March 5, 2012 RIO Tinto plans to invest $2bn (£1.2bn) in an iron ore project in the Indian state of Orissa – making it the largest Australian investor in the country. Sam Walsh, head of the miner’s Australia-based iron ore division, said: “It is a $2bn project. We expect to ramp up quickly to 15m tonnes per year.” [...]
Intertek eyes 2012 growth March 5, 2012 FTSE 100 testing firm Intertek said a robust commodities market and improving consumer goods division had left it confident of strong growth in 2012, after full-year profit surged 23 per cent. The company, which tests products from toys to oil to renewable technology, said 2011 adjusted pre-tax profit was £260.1m, comfortably above a company provided [...]
EMED in deal with Goldman March 5, 2012 MINER EMED yesterday sealed a $175m (£110m) funding package from Goldman Sachs to help it restart work on the Rio Tinto copper mine in Spain. EMED will deliver the equivalent value of copper once the Rio Tinto mine is fully operational, it said in a statement. At current levels, this would mean Goldman gets 15 [...]
Abcam soars on £98m US investment March 5, 2012 BRITISH biotech company Abcam said yesterday it would buy US peer Epitomics International for $155m (£97.7m) to boost its antibody technology, sending its shares up more than eight per cent. San Francisco, California-based Epitomics, develops and distributes rabbit antibodies for research and diagnostic applications. It had revenue of $24.7m in 2011. Abcam’s products cover research [...]
S&P 500 stocks at cheapest for 23 years, report claims March 5, 2012 A DOUBLING in corporate profits since 2009 means the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is cheaper than any time during its 34 peaks since 1989, according to new research. Companies in the US index trade at 14.1 times earnings after increasing 102 per cent since March 2009, Bloomberg data shows. But the information provider also said [...]
OFT won’t open IAG deal probe… March 5, 2012 BRITISH Airways parent IAG has come a step closer to buying loss-making carrier BMI, after the UK consumer watchdog said it will not review the proposed deal. The Office of Fair Trading said there was no need for a fresh investigation, given that the European Commission is already looking into the acquisition, worth up to [...]
…as BMI Baby gets second bid March 5, 2012 A SECOND mystery bidder has signed a term sheet to buy regional unit BMI Baby, which is being sold off as part of IAG’s purchase of BMI from Lufthansa. An unnamed EU-based airline group has tabled an offer to buy 100 per cent of the business. The term sheet is non-exclusive, and allows an anonymous [...]
THE ICEMAN COMETH TO TRIAL March 5, 2012 FORMER Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde went on trial yesterday for failing to prevent the island nation’s 2008 financial crash. Haarde, who denies the charges, said nobody realised “there was something fishy within the banking system”. PIC: GETTY
