BUSINESS HONOURS FOR INDIAN TYCOONS October 20, 2011 THERE was a reason Boris Johnson couldn’t attend the launch of Sonia Purnell’s Just Boris biography on Tuesday night. The London mayor was otherwise engaged presenting KP Singh, the chairman of India’s largest real estate developer DLF, with the entrepreneur of the year award at the Asian Awards. Singh, the Forbes billionaire who has made [...]
Sky profits as customers spend more October 20, 2011 BSKYB, the satellite TV giant, yesterday said it had increased first quarter profits in “tough” circumstances by squeezing more cash out of existing customers. The average Sky customer spent £535 in the three months to the end of September, a £25 increase on the same period last year, after the satellite broadcaster boosted the number [...]
Subscriber slowdown is not important October 20, 2011 Analysis by INVESTORS in BSkyB shouldn’t get too wound up about slowing growth in subscriber numbers. While the timing might have something to do with the consumer downturn, new customer additions were always going to tail off after the company passed the 10m mark. Indeed, just two years ago, many bearish analysts thought the 10m target [...]
Motorola in phone launch to rival Apple October 20, 2011 MOTOROLA yesterday set out to show it is still a force in the mobile market with a “reboot” of its top-selling Razr handset, saying the phone is “out of the league” of rivals Apple and Samsung. The ultra-thin device, the first launched since Google announced its $12.5bn (£7.91bn) takeover of the firm, looks set to [...]
Blackstone buys historic camera firm October 20, 2011 PRIVATE equity giant Blackstone bought a piece of European cultural history yesterday when it took a stake in German camera-maker Leica. Blackstone spent upwards of €122m (£106.47m) to buy a 44 per cent share in Leica Camera from Austrian billionaire Andreas Kaufmann. The roots of Leica go back to 1907, when Max Berek began producing [...]
Permira buys telecoms firm in $1.5bn deal October 20, 2011 PRIVATE equity house Permira sparked hopes of a gradual recovery in buyouts yesterday as it agreed to pay $1.5bn (£950m) for the call centre software business of Alcatel-Lucent. Permira clinched the cash deal for Genesys, at the top end of expectations, after six months of talks between Alcatel-Lucent and possible bidders. Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and Siemens [...]
CIC: problem is Europe’s sloth October 20, 2011 EUROPE’s problems are down to its work-shy population, according to the head of China’s sovereign wealth fund. Jin Liqun, chairman of the China Investment Corporation, which manages about $300bn in assets, said: “The root cause of trouble is the overburdened welfare system, built up since the second World War in Europe — the sloth inducing, [...]
BAE shake-up to its reporting October 20, 2011 BAE Systems yesterday announced a shake-up of its reporting structure, creating a new division for its Cyber and Intelligence activities, which analysts say could pave the way for radical changes within the company. The defence giant said it is revising its reporting segments “to align with the group’s strategic direction.” “There is clearly a strategy”, [...]
Olympus hits out at ousted ex-chief exec October 20, 2011 OLYMPUS, the Japanese camera maker, yesterday threatened to sue its former chief executive yesterday, accusing him of causing disruption to the business and creating a loss of “corporate value”. The camera group fired Michael Woodford on Friday over what it claimed were differences in management direction and methods. Since then he has made a number [...]
Six million to get tax rebate as HMRC overhauls its IT systems October 20, 2011 SIX MILLION UK workers will see a total £2.5m of their tax money repaid by the government as a new IT system corrects overpayments dating back to 2003, HMRC said yesterday. The repayments will be on average about £300 per person with any interest generated on top of that, and will be returned automatically any [...]
