Kodak soars as its patents hit £1.8bn August 17, 2011 PHOTOGRAPHIC film-maker Eastman Kodak saw its stock soar by almost a quarter yesterday after its portfolio of digital-imaging patents was valued at up to $3bn (£1.8bn) by MDB Capital Group. In the wake of Google’s $12.5bn patent-led acquisition of Motorola, patents have become hot property. The valuation means Kodak’s patents could be worth five times [...]
Insurers warn on capital adequacy rules August 17, 2011 TOUGH new capital requirements to be imposed on European insurance companies could restrict them from investing in bank debt, a think tank said yesterday. The Institute of International Finance said new Solvency II rules being brought into force in the next two years could prevent them from buying large tranches of long-dated bank bonds despite [...]
BarCap star trader quits August 17, 2011 Todd Edgar’s arrival at BarCap from JP Morgan in 2009, along with his highly-prized team, was seen as a coup for the bank. But just two years later he and the team have decided to quit to set up their own hedge fund. The 39-year-old trader, known for his nerves of steel and Midas touch [...]
Henderson: turmoil will last all year August 17, 2011 GLOBAL political paralysis will hit markets for the rest of this year, the head of Henderson warned yesterday as he hailed the fund manager’s swift integration of its latest acquisition. Andrew Formica, chief executive, said investor confidence had been damaged by the UK riots, the Eurozone crisis and squabbles over raising the US debt ceiling. [...]
Businesses must speak out on blight of 50p tax August 17, 2011 WELL, everyone else has been having their say – what do you think? Is it a morally justified punishment on bankers who got us in this mess? Or a tax that our economy, and raises nothing for the Treasury? The 50p tax debate has been loud enough over the silly season not to get drowned [...]
Integration of Gartmore is going well but risks of market paralysis remain August 17, 2011 HENDERSON’S figures held little surprise, having been flagged for months, but its warning on the effect of the current market carnage hit home yesterday. Henderson hiked its performance fee income, made great progress integrating Gartmore, and cut its costs. But the volatility in equities still has the potential to hold back future performance, it admitted. [...]
UK cuts dent Balfour gains August 17, 2011 BALFOUR Beatty, the UK’s largest construction company, said it expects markets to remain tough for the next two years as government cutbacks in the UK and US continue to weigh down on its operations. The group, whose projects include the refurbishment of London Blackfriars station and the aquatics centre for London’s 2012 Olympic Games, reported [...]
ENRC dodges governance questions as it reports an increase in half year profits August 17, 2011 EURASIAN Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) reported a surge in half year profits yesterday, but faced criticism after it gave little information regarding its corporate governance review that has been going on since June. The Kazakh miner reported a 33 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to $1.6bn on revenues that increased by 32 per cent [...]
Rothschild’s Bumi posts a pre-tax loss in first results since takeover August 17, 2011 MINING group Bumi, founded last year by billionaire financier Nat Rothschild as acquisition vehicle Vallar, posted a pre-tax loss of $243m in its maiden results, but said production for the year was on track. Indonesia-focused Bumi said it expected to produce 86m tonnes of coal this year, up from 77m, when posting its first interim [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS BALFOUR BEATTY ON TRACK? August 17, 2011 CHRIS ALEXANDER | BNP PARIBAS Despite solid numbers and the dividend uplift the stock is down due to the caution contained in the outlook statement. The impact of the reduction in UK government spending is evident in the order book. While commercial markets in London are showing signs of recovery it is too early to [...]
