… as it’s rebuffed in $1.2bn bid for oil firm Wellstream October 6, 2010 GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) was spurned in one of its largest recent efforts to build up its industrial businesses, when British oilfield services Wellstream rejected a $1.2bn (£755m) takeover approach. News of Wellstream’s rejection came on the same day GE said it would buy Dresser, a maker of gas engines used to power oil and natural [...]
EasyJet ups forecast on higher traffic October 6, 2010 EASYJET’S shares, soared yesterday as the budget airline boosted its 2010 profit expectations after reporting strong September traffic figures. The airline’s senior management, including newly appointed chief executive Carolyn McCall, have increased pre-tax profit expectations for the full year, despite recent problems with the airline’s punctuality, disruption from the Icelandic volcano and an ongoing bitter [...]
Goldman’s Weinberg dies October 6, 2010 SIDNEY Weinberg Jr, a scion of the banking family whose members led Goldman Sachs for the best part of the last century, has died aged 87. Weinberg Jr joined the firm in 1965, moving up to lead its investment banking division for ten years between 1978 and 1988. He had been a senior director since [...]
FACEBOOK BOWS TO PRESSURE ON PRIVACY October 6, 2010 Facebook will give users the ability to download all the information they have uploaded to the site and make it easier to see how individual applications are using personal information, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday, answering two main criticisms that have dogged the site for years. The feature, called “Download your Information,” will give [...]
Regulators may block Rio venture October 6, 2010 RIO TINTO and BHP Billiton shares gained more than three per cent each yesterday after Rio insisted that its $116bn (£73bn) joint venture plans are not close to collapse. The FTSE 100 firm warned however that competition watchdogs may scupper more than a years’ worth of efforts for a joint iron ore production plant in [...]
Arden chief makes a premature exit after Fairfax takeover plan stumbles October 6, 2010 STOCKBROKER Arden Partners said yesterday that its new chief executive officer Jeremy Grime is leaving the company after only four weeks in charge. It is understood that Grime, who was promoted internally from the group’s financials team, wanted to pursue a merger with Fairfax, the boutique investment bank run by Stefan Allesch-Taylor. But his plan [...]
Accenture to buy Ariba’s assets in $51m cash deal October 6, 2010 TECHNOLOGY outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture said it would buy Ariba consulting services and BPO assets for $51m in cash. Ariba, which provides procurement software and consulting services, said the businesses will account for about $40m of 2010 revenue and seven cents a share in adjusted earnings, it said in a regulatory filing. Accenture, which [...]
CITY GYM LAUNCHES FAT BANKER CHALLENGE October 6, 2010 HOT ON the heels of last week’s much-lauded “Best Dressed Banker” award, and The Capitalist’s own rundown of the top ten hunkiest gents and loveliest ladies in the City, published in the summer, comes another, err, extra-curricular competition for London’s financiers. Matt Roberts, personal trainer to the stars, is on a mission to help the [...]
Autonomy shares rocked by cut in profits forecast October 6, 2010 software firm Autonomy said it would cut its full-year revenue guidance by about three per cent after weaker-than-expected demand, sending its stock sharply lower. Shares in the group, whose meaning-based search software is used by multinationals and governments, plunged as much as 21 per cent to an eight-month low of 1,464p, the largest FTSE 100 [...]
Pay at FTSE firms grows October 6, 2010 PAY PACKETS in the private sector are growing at a faster rate than those in the public sector for the first time since March 2009, said research out today. Workers in for-profit companies saw their take-home pay increase at an annual rate of 1.4 per cent in September. Pay rises are still lagging far behind [...]
