Fortum disappoints on Russia February 2, 2011 Finnish utility Fortum reported a surprise fall in fourth-quarter profit yesterday, hurt by a weaker than expected performance by its main power generation unit and in Russia. October to December comparable operating profit fell five per cent to €541m (£461m), missing the average forecast of €613m. Fortum also proposed a 2010 dividend of €1.00 per [...]
SCANIA’S PRE-TAX REVENUE DISAPPOINTS February 2, 2011 TRUCK MAKER Scania posted a smaller-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter pre-tax earnings yesterday and said it expected demand to remain flat at the start of this year. Scania is majority-owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, and is currently in merger talks with rival MAN.
FTSE closes above 6,000 as traders pick miners and banks February 2, 2011 BANKS and miners pushed Britain’s top share index higher yesterday, lifted by further proof that the economic recovery in the United States is on track. The FTSE 100 index closed up 42.25 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 6000.07, extending Tuesday’s 1.6 per cent rise. The index has recovered from a sharp dip at the [...]
Wall Street starts to stall after rally February 2, 2011 US stocks lagged yesterday as technical measures suggested a five-month rally was growing long in the tooth. Investors were reluctant to make big bets even though a report showed US private employers added more jobs than expected in January. The S&P 500 started to look overbought again after reaching two and a half year highs [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 2, 2011 Betfair The bookies have appointed a new non-executive director to its board: Baroness Denise Kingsmill. She will also sit on the company’s audit committee in this role. Kingsmill has experience serving on the competition commission, of which she was deputy chairman 1996-2003, and she has also chaired three reviews and taskforces for various government departments. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 2, 2011 NORTHUMBRIAN WATER JP Morgan Cazenove has upgraded the utility to “overweight” with a target price of 340p. The broker points out that the shares are the worst performing of the European utilities, but can find no fundamental reason for the underperformance. It adds that Northumbrian’s dividend cover remains strong at two times with a high [...]
SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND GIVE YOUR BRIGHT YOUNG THING A CITY JOURNALISM START February 2, 2011 WITH Apprentice Week kicking off on Monday, readers should be wise to a special charity sale going on next week as City A.M. gives some bright young thing a two-week internship to kickstart their business journalism career. The auction is taking place at the Square Mile Salute, a charity banquet supported by City A.M. next [...]
Strong squad keeps injury-hit England in pole position February 2, 2011 RUGBY TRADER DAVID WILD, CITY AM’S RUGBY TRADER, LOOKS AHEAD TO THE RBS SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP RATHER than those winning rucks, scoring tries and kicking goals, absent players could come to decide where the RBS 6 Nations Champion-ship trophy resides in six weeks’ time. A sizeable collective injury list has dominated the build-up to the [...]
Dragons will struggle against the Red Rose with weak front row February 2, 2011 ENGLAND vs WALES TOMORROW – 7.45PM BBC1 THE FIXTURE list committee have got it spot on this year. What better way to start the 2011 RBS 6 Nations than by sending England to Cardiff on a Friday night? Seventy-odd-thousand well-oiled Welshmen are capable of producing quite an atmosphere under the closed roof of the magnificent [...]
Sentance: Act now on rates or risk sharp hike in future February 1, 2011 Interest rates must be steadily increased now to avoid a sudden and heavier rise down the line that would “jolt” the recovery, Bank of England monetary policy committee member Andrew Sentance told City A.M. in an exclusive interview. If the inflation “genie” comes out of the bottle, he said, the UK would face a “hard [...]
