CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE EFFECT OF GREECE’S PUBLIC FINANCES ON THE UK? March 7, 2011 TIM EDWARDS | WILLIS RE “Yes, it affects our economic situation too. It’s right that we support them, but the case to say it’s unfair to subsidise them is clear too. They clearly have to tighten up regulatory requirements.” BARRY HENLEY | RSA “I would be concerned if we were funding their problems and not [...]
Rolls-Royce and Daimler open bid talks with rival March 7, 2011 ROLLS-ROYCE and car group Daimler and British may make a joint bid for German enginemaker Tognum, in a deal sources said could be worth €3bn (£2.6bn). Shares in Tognum, which was formerly owned by Daimler, closed up 23 per cent at €22.77 on the news yesterday. “Daimler confirms that together with Rolls-Royce, it is in [...]
STEADY PROGRESS AT STAGECOACH March 7, 2011 Stagecoach, the bus and rail group led by chief executive Brian Souter, said yesterday like-for-like revenues at its UK rail business, which includes the South West Trains London commuter franchise, grew 6.9 per cent in the 40 weeks to 6 February. While sales at its UK bus unit rose 1.9 per cent, and its US [...]
Aer Lingus sees passengers fall March 7, 2011 Aer Lingus, the Irish flag-carrier, saw its passengers fall 13.6 per cent in the year to the end of February, according to traffic figures published yesterday. The airline said the number of long-haul passengers it carried hit 38,000 last month, down 17.4 per cent compared to the same month a year ago. Its short-haul passengers [...]
LVMH makes Bulgari move to crack Asia March 7, 2011 LVMH will take over Italy’s Bulgari in a €3.7bn (£3.18bn) deal to fuel more sales in emerging markets. The offer could herald a flurry of consolidation in the luxury market, which has bounced back from the 2009 slump much faster than analysts expected. Bulgari shares were up 58 per cent at one point after yesterday’s [...]
Inmarsat dips as its revenue growth slows March 7, 2011 FTSE 100 satellite telecoms firm Inmarsat saw its shares tumble more than 13 per cent yesterday after warning of slower-than-expected growth in its core maritime business. The firm told City A.M. uptake of its terminals was “very strong” but that revenue growth will take a temporary hit as customers switch from high-margin voice-calls to text [...]
Pearson snaps up EDI in £113m deal to bolster its education unit March 7, 2011 Pearson has agreed a deal to buy Education Development International (EDI) for £113m to further boost its presence in the training and assessment market. The publisher, which owns the world’s largest education business and the Financial Times, said yesterday it had already received support for the deal from over 30 per cent of EDI’s shareholders, [...]
Western Digital in $4.3bn deal March 7, 2011 Western Digital, the world’s second-biggest hard drive maker, yesterday agreed to buy Hitachi’s hard disk drive operations for about $4.3bn (£2.7bn) in cash and stock. After the deal, Hitachi will own 10 per cent of Western Digital. Western Digital said it had secured a term loan of $2bn and a revolving credit facility of $500m [...]
BATM sees its profit tumble March 7, 2011 Israeli telecoms equipment firm BATM Advanced Communications posted a fall in its full-year profit, hurt by a decline in sales to its key customer Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Although the firm maintained its final dividend of 0.8p per share, it scrapped its interim dividend for 2011. For the year ended 31 December pre-tax profit was [...]
SDL pays maiden dividend March 7, 2011 Translation software firm SDL posted a profit rise for 2010 and said it would pay a maiden dividend to reflect its confidence going forward. SDL, which provides translation software and services for multinationals including Dell, Canon and Ford, said demand for its services looked solid going into 2011. Pre-tax profit rose 20 per cent to [...]
