BarCap downbeat on UK growth March 2, 2011 Barclays Capital has revised down its forecast for UK growth in 2011, it revealed yesterday. Citing the revised 0.6 per cent drop in GDP for the final three months of last year, it announced a gloomier outlook of 1.7 per cent growth for 2011, down from its previous two per cent projection.
HEADACHE FOR AVIVA INVESTORS OVER THEIR LIBYAN LANDLORD March 2, 2011 INTERESTING times at 14 Cornhill, the commercial property with a prime location opposite the Bank of England. Its owner has become embroiled in a little local difficulty involving global asset freezing. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the sovereign wealth fund that administers the troubled country’s oil billions, has owned 14 Cornhill since December 2009, when [...]
PPL to pay £3.5bn for E.ON arm March 2, 2011 US POWER firm PPL is buying German utility E.ON’s UK power networks for £3.5bn in cash to create one of the largest electricity distributors in the country, the firm announced yesterday. PPL, which beat a rival bid from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing according to people familiar with the matter, also plans to assume £500m [...]
Serco insists it will grow despite cuts March 2, 2011 OUTSOURCING group Serco posted a 21 per cent rise in full-year profit yesterday, helped by strong revenue growth in the Americas, as the firm insisted that UK government spending cuts will not damage the firm. Chief executive Chris Hyman told analysts yesterday that “if we’ve got the skills and capabilities, we will see the growth” [...]
International Power profits rise March 2, 2011 INTERNATIONAL Power (IP), the producer majority owned by French utility GDF Suez, yesterday posted yearly profit slightly above market expectations, with growth in the Middle East offsetting slowing sales in the UK and US. The firm, which was formally taken over by GDF last month, said yesterday underlying profit from operations was down about three [...]
China is yet to dent US in busy mining M&A market March 2, 2011 THE DOMINANCE of the US and Canada in the mining M&A market is not yet being challenged by Chinese competitors, according to figures out yesterday. Just six per cent of buyers were based in China during 2010, PwC said in a report, though the number of acquirers from Asia has jumped from less than 10 [...]
Unite warns that drop in university places will mean rent hikes in halls March 2, 2011 STUDENT housing provider Unite Group said yesterday cuts to university places will mean tenant growth is likely to remain flat over the next five years, forcing the firm to raise rents to drive growth. Unite, which swung back into profit in 2010 with a pre-tax profit of £24.2m, said it expects rental growth of 3.1 [...]
Five tactics for dealing with Schwarzenegger-sized egos March 2, 2011 YOU can’t be successful unless you can persuade people to do what is in your interests, but often before you can persuade them, you have to defuse their prickly egos. Chris St. Hilaire has dealt with some of the trickiest around – he worked as a communications strategist on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign to become governor [...]
Capital & Counties posts maiden profit after split March 2, 2011 LONDON-focused developer Capital & Counties issued a cautiously positive outlook for its prospects in 2011 and 2012, after posting a rise in net asset value (NAV) in its maiden results. Capco, which was spun out of Liberty International last May, said NAV per share for 2010 was 148p, up 17 per cent from the pro-forma [...]
BG Group finds more Brazilian oil March 2, 2011 BG Group reported another success in Brazil yesterday after its Iara Horst well struck good quality oil in a thick reservoir section. The offshore well, 230km off the Rio de Janeiro coast, has found better oil than that struck two-and-a-half years ago in the original discovery well 8km away. The firm said partner Petrobras, which [...]
