Lonmin looks at dividend as profits return November 15, 2010 LONMIN, the world’s third-biggest platinum producer, is to resume dividend payments after posting a better-than-expected swing to full-year profit yesterday as prices and output recovered. Investors were heartened that the London-listed company met its annual sales target despite repeated processing problems and targeted platinum sales growth of seven per cent this fiscal year. Shareholders had [...]
Serco on track to hit targets November 15, 2010 GOVERNMENT moves to cut costs by contracting out services have paid off for support service group Serco, putting it on course to hit targets and boosting its shares. The group’s stock rose 8.5p to 571.5p after it said it was on track to boost revenue to about £5bn by the end of 2012 and to [...]
Caterpillar to buy mining equipment firm Bucyrus International for $7.6bn November 15, 2010 DIGGER maker Caterpillar is snapping up mining equipment group Bucyrus International for $7.6bn (£4.7bn) to cash in on the demand for minerals in tiger economies. Caterpillar is buying Wisconsin-based Bucyrus to create a huge global supplier of trucks, hydraulic shovels, blasting drills and coal-mining equipment in a deal worth $8.6bn including $1bn of Bucyrus debt. [...]
EMC set to buy its smaller rival Isilon in $2.3bn deal November 15, 2010 EMC, the biggest maker of corporate data storage equipment, plans to buy smaller rival Isilon Systems for $2.25bn (£1.4bn) as consolidation in the technology sector gains steam. EMC’s $33.85-a-share cash offer for Isilon, announced by both companies yesterday, represents a 29 per cent premium over Isilon’s closing share price on Friday. Isilon shares were at [...]
VW to take driving seat in plan to merge truck giants MAN and Scania November 15, 2010 GERMAN lorry giant MAN and Swedish rival Scania are in talks about a link-up that could pave the way for Volkswagen to take full control of both. VW, which owns stakes in both companies, is understood to be planning to boost its holding in Scania to between 75-80 per cent from nearly 46 per cent [...]
BP sells southern Africa forecourts for £184.2m November 15, 2010 OIL giant BP is offloading its southern African forecourt network to international commodities trader Trafigura for $296m (£184.2m), continuing a trend of big oil companies quitting the fuel retail market. BP hopes to sell interests in forecourts and supply businesses in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi to Puma Energy, part of Netherlands-based Trafigura, by [...]
Rolls-Royce is set to replace A380 engines November 15, 2010 ROLLS-ROYCE is temporarily replacing engines on Airbus super-jumbos to fix a part that caused an engine on a Qantas jet to break up in mid-flight, it emerged yesterday. The jet engine maker is thought to be planning to remove Trent 900 engines with the faulty component from Airbus A380s in service and to replace them [...]
Bullish Vivendi beats forecasts November 15, 2010 EUROPE’S largest entertainment and telecommunications group, Vivendi, posted forecast-beating third-quarter results yesterday, fuelled by strong sales at its video game and Brazilian telecom units. But weaker results at its French telecom operator SFR, which is a key driver of Vivendi’s revenue and profit, showed how competition is intensifying in France, forcing SFR to spend more [...]
SAP’s co-chief apologises to Oracle for improperly downloading software files November 15, 2010 A CO-CHIEF executive of German software maker SAP yesterday apologized to rival Oracle for improperly downloading thousands of software files, but that didn’t bring the two companies closer to agreement on financial reparations. “I am sorry,” SAP co-chief executive officer Bill McDermott said in testimony yesterday as SAP kicked off its defense in a high [...]
France’s Iliad hit as price competition gets tougher November 15, 2010 FRENCH telecoms group Iliad, struggling to keep market share as larger rivals go on marketing offensives, yesterday reported a five per cent rise in third-quarter revenue as growth at its Free brand offset weakness in Alice. Iliad, which sells low-cost bundles of TV, internet and fixed-line telephony in France, said yesterday that third-quarter revenue rose [...]
