First Quantum row over Inmet stake heats up January 13, 2013 FIRST Quantum Minerals’s hostile C$5.1bn (£3.2bn) takeover bid for Inmet Mining took a tense turn over the weekend, as the Canadian base metal miner delivered a letter to its rival suggesting Inmet may be trying to scuttle the bid, which is now in the hands of shareholders. The letter, addressed to Inmet’s board chairman David [...]
Cable and Wireless tries to untangle itself from Macau January 13, 2013 CABLE and Wireless Communications (CWC) has lived through huge historical shifts since its beginnings in a company developing the world’s telegraph cable infrastructure. Today, once again it finds itself, like so many others, running to keep up with the pace of technological change. The firm has survived this long by being adaptable. Its current, ongoing [...]
HP chief Whitman makes $15m as company suffers annual loss January 13, 2013 HEWLETT Packard chief executive Meg Whitman took home $15.4m (£9.5m) in her first year in charge of the US technology company, filings have revealed. The compensation, which came as HP suffered a net loss of $11.9bn in the year to November, was made up mainly in stock awards and options, but included a $1.7m bonus [...]
Interim bosses leap in favour for businesses January 13, 2013 THE USE of interim managers, senior workers parachuted into firms on short-term contracts, has surged to its highest level in the private sector since 2007, according to a new survey. The private sector now accounts for more than two-thirds of all interim assignments, some 67 per cent, with the majority of these in the banking [...]
Hotel industry to face slower growth in 2013 January 13, 2013 THE HOTEL sector is set to slow down in all of the major European cities this year, as continuing economic headwinds and increasing competition combine to hold back growth, a new study shows. PwC’s latest European hotel forecast published today predicts that though 2012 proved a resilient year for the sector, revenue per available room [...]
Virgin starts paying for its US spaceport January 13, 2013 VIRGIN Galactic is this week due to start paying rent on a publicly funded spaceport in the United States, but a legal snare could jeopardise the first passenger trips. The spaceport, near the New Mexico city of Truth or Consequences, is grappling with local lawmakers to secure new rules on informed consent and ensure Virgin’s [...]
New glitch on a Dreamliner January 13, 2013 JAPAN Airlines (JAL) said yesterday that a Dreamliner jet was undergoing checks in Tokyo after the latest in a string of glitches on the new Boeing planes. The plane had leaked fuel on two occasions and remains out of service while it is tested, JAL said. On Friday, the US government ordered a wide-ranging review [...]
Raspberry Pi computer hits 1m sales to boost Premier Farnell January 13, 2013 BRITISH electronics firm Premier Farnell has been boosted by strong sales of the Raspberry Pi mini computer, with the device selling around 1m units in less than 12 months on sale. The FTSE 250 firm, which sells around half of the Raspberry Pis distributed worldwide, has previously attributed recently improved fortunes to momentum surrounding the [...]
UK entrepreneurs open world’s first Twitter trading platform January 13, 2013 TWITTER can be an accurate predictor of the stock market, according to a British company that is launching the world’s first social media-influenced trading platform. Derwent Capital Markets (DCM) is opening the spreadbetting platform today, after winning approval from the Financial Services Authority last year. The platform includes a feed detailing social media “sentiment”, which [...]
Construction to plunge further in gloomy 2013 January 13, 2013 OUTPUT in the construction industry will continue to collapse in 2013, according to forecasts out this morning. Construction output will drop by 2.2 per cent this year, the Construction Products Association (CPA) said today, adding to the nine per cent plunge the industry has suffered during 2012. CPA economics director Noble Francis blamed government cutbacks [...]
