China Construction Bank boosts profit but growth slows August 22, 2010 PROFITS at China Construction Bank (CCB) rose by a fifth in the second quarter as the world’s second-biggest lender by market value seeks to raise 75bn yuan (£7.1bn) to fuel growth. Profit growth at CCB, China’s biggest lender to home buyers and construction projects, beat market expectations, but slowed from a rise of more than a [...]
Cairn focuses on Greenland after Indian sell-off August 22, 2010 INVESTORS will seek signs that Cairn Energy can repeat its Indian success in Greenland when the oil explorer unveils half-year results tomorrow. Cairn, which is selling most of its stake in Indian business Cairn India to miner Vedanta Resources for up to $9.6bn (£6.16bn), is tipped to update the market on drilling two offshore wells in [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 22, 2010 BALFOUR BEATTY UBS said it saw solid first-half performance in the construction firm, with pre-tax profit 13 per cent ahead of expectations. But the broker warned investors of cyclical issues, in particular its exposure to public sector projects in the UK leading up to the government spending review in October. UBS maintains its “buy” recommendation. [...]
Ed Miliband in living wage pledge August 22, 2010 Ed Miliband, the Labour leadership contender, has said he would make the government’s corporation tax cut conditional on firms paying a “living wage” of at least £7.60 an hour. “The government is already cutting corporation tax from 28 per cent to 24 per cent, let’s make that conditional on companies paying a mimum wage,” the former [...]
EBS bidders want guarantees August 22, 2010 Private equity groups looking to take a majority stake in Irish building society EBS are to seek assurances from the Irish government that it will help bear any future exceptional losses. The state-run group received bids from private equity groups JC Flowers, Doughty Hanson and Cardinal Asset Management, and bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent this [...]
WPP could buy own shares after upturn August 22, 2010 WPP, the advertising and media research conglomerate, could surprise investors by announcing a fresh share buyback programme starting next year, analysts at investment bank UBS believe. With the group expected to announce a reduction of debt at its interim results tomorrow, UBS said management could restart the share repurchasing scaled back last year. “Although the [...]
Square Mile roadworks are a necessary evil August 22, 2010 LAST week, London First published a report entitled “Road Sense”, looking at how to best strike a balance between the costs and benefits of works taking place on the streets of London. As anyone who visits the City with any degree of regularity will be able to testify, streetworks (for, traditionally, there are no highways [...]
Advertising recovery is in full swing August 22, 2010 THE light at the end of the tunnel for the advertising industry was not a mirage: all the evidence points to a broad and sustained recovery. The large agencies reported robust revenue growth in the second quarter, with Interpublic growing sales by nine per cent, and Omnicom and Publicis up by six and seven per [...]
Shell and BASF to appeal ruling August 22, 2010 Royal Dutch Shell and German chemicals maker BASF plan to appeal a Brazilian court ruling on health injuries related to pollution at a former pesticide plant. A Brazilian court has sentenced BASF and Shell to pay £1.1bn Brazilian real (£403m) for soil and ground water pollution. “We expect that the Brazilian courts at a higher [...]
Recovery will be choppy, say economists August 22, 2010 REVISIONS to second quarter GDP growth this Friday are expected to leave the headline figure unchanged at a robust 1.1 per cent. However, economists warn the breakdown of growth by expenditure could reveal some truths about the shape and duration of the recovery. Capital Economics’ Jonathan Loynes said: “The second release relating to second quarter [...]
