Commuters drive profits at Go-Ahead September 1, 2011 GO-AHEAD, the rail and bus company, has posted better than expected profits, helped by a shift to public transport as high petrol prices keep drivers off the roads. The group, whose GoVia joint venture with France’s Keolis operates the South-Eastern, London Midland and Southern rail franchises, said pre-tax profits rose 11 per cent to £97.6m [...]
Smiths arm names new boss September 1, 2011 SMITHS Group’s troubled detection division, which supplies detectors for explosives and drugs, has appointed a new president. Mal Maginnis, who currently leads the division’s management group, will replace Stephen Phipson, who left in May after the group admitted that trading had “fallen short of the board’s expectations”. Announcing its interim results in March, the FTSE [...]
Shell selling its stake in Norway firm for £455m September 1, 2011 OIL major Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its interests in natural gas transport infrastructure joint venture Gassled to Infragas Norge AS for 3,925m Norwegian crowns (£454.7m), as Shell continues its process of divesting non-core assets. Gassled operates Norway’s integrated gas transportation system and processing facilities, moving most of the gas production on the [...]
OFT renews its probe of Ryanair deal September 1, 2011 THE OFFICE of Fair Trading has resumed its investigation into Ryanair’s minority stake in Irish rival Aer Lingus and said it expected to reach a decision by the end of next month. The move, which Ryanair slammed as “unnecessary” and “damaging”, is part of an OFT probe into whether Ryanair’s 30 per cent holding in [...]
Gulf of Mexico oil firms evacuate staff ahead of approaching tropical storm September 1, 2011 MAJOR oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico shut down some output and evacuated workers yesterday ahead of a weather disturbance that could become this season’s 12th named storm. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said the low pressure area over the central Gulf and moving northwestward had an 80 per cent chance of [...]
Cosalt chief quits amid losses September 1, 2011 Cosalt said its chief executive will step down following the sale of the offshore safety group’s marine unit, and it reported a wider adjusted pretax loss for the first half, hurt by lower volumes and raw material shortages. Mark Lejman, the chief executive since June 2008, has agreed to step down in October, Cosalt said. [...]
Rio Tinto forecasts iron ore jump September 1, 2011 The world needs at least 100m tonnes of additional iron ore supply each year for the next eight years to meet demand growth projections in steel making, miner Rio Tinto said yesterday. At that rate, global iron ore production would almost double over the period, based on industry trade data – largely covered in the early [...]
Pernod looks to organic growth September 1, 2011 French spirits group Pernod Ricard said it was confident about its growth prospects after strong Asian markets lifted its 2010-11 annual earnings and helped defy a fragile global economy. The world’s second-largest spirits group after Diageo said the start of the new fiscal year confirmed the resilience of its markets thanks to brands like Absolut [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 1, 2011 Brooks Madonald Funds The fund management arm of Brooks Macdonald Group has appointed Mark Watson as new business development manager. Watson, based in Brooks Macdonald’s London office in Mayfair, will develop relationships with IFAs, discretionary fund managers and other business professionals to promote BMF’s fund proposition. He joins from Zurich Assurance Company, where he worked [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 1, 2011 ALLIANZ Morgan Stanley reiterates its “overweight” rating on the insurance group with a target price of €117.20, and says it remains the broker’s preferred large cap insurance play. Despite Eurozone sovereign debt risk – Allianz chose to fully write down all of its Greek liabilities to market value – the broker still sees its financial [...]
