BEST OF THE BROKERS December 15, 2010 HMV Deutsche Bank rates the retailer “hold” with a target price of 45p. The broker has cut its profit forecast by 20 per cent after a gloomy set of results last week, and sees an eight per cent drop in like-for-like sales in the second half of the year. It has concerns about the focus [...]
Have a swinging New Year December 15, 2010 GOING OUT NEW Year’s Eve can often be a disappointment if you don’t get it right. Here is a list of the hottest parties in London, so you have no excuse. Sanctum Hotel: This rock’n’roll boutique hotel is throwing the ultimate house party. Kick the evening off with a four-course dinner before taking to the [...]
Australia sells power assets December 15, 2010 Hong Kong’s CLP Holdings and Origin Energy agreed to buy energy businesses for $5.3bn (£3.4bn) from Australia’s New South Wales state, which raised less money than expected in a long-awaited sale. The win catapults Origin Energy to the number one position among Australia’s energy retailers, overtaking AGL Energy, a surprise loser in the bid.
Deutsche Tel pays Vivendi £1bn December 15, 2010 Deutsche Telekom is to pay Vivendi €1.25bn (£1.07bn) to settle an 11-year dispute over ownership of Polish mobile phone operator PTC, in a boost to the German company’s expansion plans in Eastern Europe. For Vivendi, the deal provides a welcome cash infusion that could be used for acquisitions, such as buying out minority shareholders in [...]
Otsuka gains 2pc following IPO December 15, 2010 Shares of drugmaker Otsuka Holdings eked out a modest two per cent gain in their debut yesterday after the drugmaker priced its record-setting $2.4bn (£1.5bn) IPO conservatively, underscoring the sluggish market for new listings in Japan. The lacklustre first-day was widely expected due to investor worries over Otsuka’s heavy reliance on Abilify, a schizophrenia drug [...]
Fed’s doves will keep cash cheap December 14, 2010 INTEREST rates will stay “exceptionally low for an extended period”, the US Federal Reserve announced last night. And despite claims from home and abroad that it is fuelling a fresh bubble, the Fed will continue its lastest phase of quantitative easing (QE2), buying around $75bn (£47.5bn) of Treasury assets every month. Markets reacted to the [...]
UK banking bailouts to break even December 14, 2010 THE UK is likely to break even or make a profit on its bailout of the banking system, a report from the National Audit Office claimed today. The NAO said the country will probably suffer “no overall loss” from its £850bn injection into Britain’s struggling institutions, despite a lingering £512bn exposure to banks including Northern [...]
Rivals eye up Virgin Atlantic December 14, 2010 RICHARD Branson’s Virgin Atlantic could fall into American hands after several rivals including US-based Delta approached the company about a merger or tie-in deal. A handful of airlines have made enquiries about an eventual partnership with the carrier, according to Sky News, and Virgin has asked Deutsche Bank to help examine its options. Virgin Atlantic [...]
Inflation now a real problem for UK December 14, 2010 IN the long-term, we are all dead – or so claimed John Maynard Keynes. True, of course, but only in a meaningless kind of way, as yesterday’s dangerously high UK inflation figures demonstrate. For ages now, the Bank of England has been justifying its failure to meet its inflation target in the short-term by repeatedly [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES INVESTOR IRE OVER SIG CHIEF’S PAY Investec Asset Management has hit out at the board of SIG for ignoring investor outcry about the amount its chief executive is being paid. Investec, which owns 3.3 per cent of the Sheffield-based insulation and plasterboard maker, has written a letter to SIG to protest against a [...]
