Al Gore fund quadruples its profits to £32m September 22, 2010 AN investment fund set up by former US Vice President Al Gore and Mark Ferguson, the son of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, saw its pre-tax profits almost quadruple last year to £31.9m, according to accounts filed in Companies House. Generation Investment Management – which was launched in 2004 under the guidance of the former [...]
Merchant Securities says outlook is good as trading improves September 22, 2010 Investment services firm Merchant Securities said yesterday that trading in its first half has been “very encouraging” and that it is on target to beat last year. Chairman John Green told investors at the company’s annual meeting that the improvement “resulted from our strategy to diversify the business base.” The group saw its business surge [...]
Airbus sells 40 planes to Lufthansa in bumper deal September 22, 2010 AIRBUS is celebrating after cutting a bumper $4.3bn (£2.74bn) deal with Lufthansa for 40 aircraft. The deal, which was signed yesterday, will see Lufthansa increase the size of its own fleet, and give extra aircraft to subsidiary airlines SWISS and GermanWings. As part of the agreement, Lufthansa, Airbus’ biggest commercial customer, will receive 20 A320 [...]
Qantas chief says he’s not interested in a BA merger September 22, 2010 Australia’s Qantas Airways is not keen on reviving merger talks with British Airways and is instead focused on chasing organic growth in Asia, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said yesterday. British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh is keen on reopening merger talks with Qantas if the Australian carrier was interested. “Been there, done that,” Joyce [...]
Ambrian swings to loss but is buoyed by China September 22, 2010 Investment bank and broker Ambrian Capital swung to a first-half pre-tax loss as weak market conditions hurt its corporate finance and equities unit. The company, which provides corporate finance, stock broking and commodity trading services, said its January to June pre-tax loss was £196,000, compared with a profit of £2.3m a year ago. Total income [...]
Yield on Portuguese bonds at record high September 22, 2010 INVESTORS buying Portuguese debt demanded record high yields yesterday, forcing the Eurozone country to scale back the amount of money it wanted to borrow from the bond markets. Portugal’s debt agency raised €750m (£640m) in a government bond auction, falling shy of the €1bn it had initially hoped to raise. The Public Debt Agency sold [...]
Ofgem to review cost of plugging into National Grid September 22, 2010 THE energy regulator, Ofgem, announced a “wide-ranging and comprehensive review” into the cost of energy supplied to the National Grid yesterday. Ofgem said Britain faced an “unprecedented challenge” as it moved to a low-carbon energy system. Under the Energy Act 2010, Ofgem is tasked with pricing access to the grid in a way that keeps [...]
European Investment Bank will lend £250m to improve liquid gas network September 22, 2010 The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to lend £250m to upgrade UK gas distribution networks operated by Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks, the EIB said yesterday. The two companies, wholly owned by Scotia Gas Networks, will get £150m and £100m respectively to replace old pipes and lay new pipelines. The three-year upgrade programme [...]
New York Time forecasts heavy quarterly losses September 22, 2010 THE New York Times forecast a third-quarter revenue decline yesterday that is worse than Wall Street was expecting because of advertising and circulation revenue declines, dashing hopes of a rapid recovery at the US newspaper publisher. The newspaper publisher expects revenue to fall two per cent to three per cent in the third quarter. Market [...]
SCOTTISH & SOUTHERN GIVES NISSAN ENERGY September 22, 2010 SCOTTISH and Southern Energy, headed by chief executive Ian Marchant, yesterday agreed a contract with Nissan to provide the carmaker with its own electricity network. Nissan is investing over £200m in building an electric car battery factory at its Turbine Business Park in Sunderland, and will need a network so customers can re-charge their cars.
