American mortgage demand rises November 9, 2011 US mortgage applications increased 10.3 per cent in the week ending 4 November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The increase was driven by increased refinancing demand as interest rates dropped, the report said. The rise was a significant increase in comparison to the previous week when there was a more modest 0.2 per cent [...]
Energy firms sign carbon capture deal November 9, 2011 ENERGY giants Shell and Scottish and Southern Energy have teamed up on a project to build a carbon storage facility aimed at stopping harmful gases from entering the atmosphere. The carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology would be built at Scottish and Southern Energy’s gas-fired plant in Peterhead, Scotland. It will allow gases to be [...]
WHAT IS CARBON CAPTURE? November 9, 2011 Q.HOW DOES IT WORK? A.It is a strategy to prevent carbon escaping into the atmosphere. Power plants collect the carbon and store it in old gas and oil fields, the ocean or coal seams. Q.CAN IT GENERATE PROFITS? A.As companies exceed carbon quotas they could be forced to pay companies like SSE to offload some [...]
E.ON profits take a tumble November 9, 2011 Germany’s biggest power supplier E.ON said yesterday its profits dropped in the first nine months, a fall triggered by the shutdown of power plants as part of Germany’s policy to abandon nuclear energy. E.ON said in a statement its bottom-line net profit plummeted to €864m (£737m) in the period from January to September from €3.522bn [...]
Fenner does well from miners November 9, 2011 British industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner posted a rise in full-year profit, helped by strong demand and acquisitions, and said trading in its core businesses remained in line with its expectations. The company, whose belts are mainly used in the mining industry, said growing global electricity demand is leading to an increase in the amount [...]
Tullow hit as Liberia well disappoints November 9, 2011 TULLOW Oil downgraded its production forecasts for 2011 and said a well off the coast of Liberia would not provide oil in commercial quantities, disappointing investors on two fronts. Tullow, which has a reputation for opening up new oil basins, is yet to establish this frontier part of West Africa as a potential new producing [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 9, 2011 DLA Piper Tony Angel, the former firm-wide managing partner of Linklaters, has joined DLA Piper as global co-chairman and senior partner of the international law firm. He will serve alongside global chairman Francis B Burch Jr and work with the firm’s chief executives Sir Nigel Knowles and Lee I Miller. Following his tenure at Linklaters [...]
Rockhopper in Falklands boost November 9, 2011 British explorer Rockhopper said it made a second oil discovery in the Falkland Islands and the same well found more oil at a known field, raising the likelihood of the remote territory being transformed into a new oil producing region. The well made a new discovery at the Casper prospect, indicating a separate reservoir exists [...]
Vestas ditches 2015 targets November 9, 2011 Vestas, the world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer, yesterday dropped its long-term financial goals and pledged to cut costs and jobs as it struggles with weak demand for wind power. The Danish company, which confirmed third-quarter losses and a weakened full-year outlook given in a profit warning late last month, dropped its 2015 targets.
HOME FROM HOME FOR HYDE PARK OLIGARCHS November 9, 2011 LUCA del Bono has been busy ever since he exited Quintessentially, the concierge service he started with Ben Elliot, to start his property fund Del Bono & Partners. The leisure-focused fund has bought £150m-worth of property over the last two years, recently acquiring the C London restaurant in Mayfair and 50 St James’s, where del [...]
