Polymetal buys platinum project December 18, 2012 Precious metals miner Polymetal has agreed to buy its first platinum exploration project in Russia, with VTB Capital. The miner acquired a 24.99 per cent stake in the Svetlobor project from Ubergot Investments in exchange for 130,053 Polymetal shares, while VTB bought the remaining stake in the project, in exchange for 390,369 shares. The total [...]
CORRECTION December 18, 2012 In our edition dated 18 December, we said that DS Smith had investigated allegations of accounting irregularities at its new acquisition SCA Packaging. We should have said that the two parties have a disagreement over the appropriate value of SCA’s assets and liabilities before acquisition but there is no suggestion of accounting irregularities at SCA [...]
House prices edge up, driven by London and the south east December 18, 2012 HOUSE prices increased 1.5 per cent in the year to October with more than half of the growth driven by London and the south east, official figures revealed yesterday. The latest monthly survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that prices rose by 0.2 per cent in October compared with the previous month [...]
Standard and Poor’s upgrades Greece after euro bailout action December 18, 2012 EUROPEAN efforts to keep Greece afloat have prompted credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s to lift its rating on the country, it revealed last night. Greece’s sovereign rating had previous been “selective default” but is now raised to the less severe “B minus”, with a stable outlook. “The rating action reflects the completion on 17 [...]
Inflation stays high ahead of festive season December 18, 2012 INFLATION defied expectations to remain high in November, with consumer price inflation (CPI) staying unchanged at 2.7 per cent year-on-year, according to official figures released yesterday. A large part of the year-on-year increase is a result of price rises in food and non-alcoholic beverages as poor harvests around the globe push up the cost of [...]
Cyprus insists it won’t default December 18, 2012 Cyprus said yesterday that it would not default on its payments and had secured necessary financing to meet its immediate requirements. The island is awaiting a credit line of up to €17.5bn (£14.2bn) from international lenders after its banks suffered huge losses to debt-crippled Greece. The government had “secured all its current financing needs”, the [...]
European states reduce rates December 18, 2012 The central banks of Sweden, Turkey and Hungary all cut interest rates yesterday, united by the theme of the damage inflicted on their economies by Eurozone economic weakness. Sweden’s Riksbank lowered rates for the fourth time in a year to one per cent, while Hungary’s rate was trimmed to a two-year low of 5.75 per [...]
Small firms hope 2013 beats 2012 December 18, 2012 Small firms in the UK are less downbeat about prospects for the coming year than they were 12 months ago, according to survey results released yesterday. The Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) measure of morale was minus 5.6 – worse than in the third quarter of the year, but 18.8 points higher than during the [...]
For a glittering morning after December 18, 2012 FORMER City worker and founder of Chemist Direct Mitesh Soma has created an antidote to the dreaded holiday hangover – his and hers Christmas party survival kits. Soma, a former Deutsche Bank management consultant first put together the emergency packs last year, in response to demand from friends in the Square Mile. He told The [...]
Deloitte helps pants to poverty pop-up shop December 18, 2012 One of Deloitte’s self-styled Social Innovation Pioneers, the ethical retailer Pants to Poverty, has opened a pop-up shop in Sloane Square for the Christmas period. It promises organically farmed stocking fillers, all the way from “cotton to bottom” by buying directly from 12,000 farmers in Southern India, who are provided with funding and education.
