Builders miss out on £6bn of school projects August 17, 2010 BUILDERS have already lost out on more than £5.7bn worth of work after Britain slashed investment in new schools and Balfour Beatty is most exposed to the cutbacks, Reuters research shows. A survey of the 26 local authorities worst hit by a decision to freeze the last government’s £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) [...]
GM set to go ahead with a $20bn float August 17, 2010 GENERAL?Motors (GM) is poised to press ahead with one of the biggest ever IPOs, raising an estimated $20bn (£12.8bn). The momentous flotation of one of the most recognisable US firms will see the government begin to loosen its grip on the troubled carmaker. The initial prospectus was filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, [...]
Rok’s accounting woes halve profits August 17, 2010 ROK, the troubled building and maintenance group, posted a 50 per cent fall in first-half pre-tax profit and cut its dividend yesterday. The Exeter-based firm issued its second profit warning in four months last week after saying it had discovered “serious mismanagement” of contracts in its plumbing, heating and electrical business. The firm, one of [...]
New contract wins enable Mears to raise its dividend August 17, 2010 Mears Group, the social housing maintenance company, posted a 42 per cent increase in first-half pre-tax profit to £13.2m on the back of new contract wins. The Gloucester-based firm said yesterday it booked a significant amount of new business from local councils during the past 12 months. The new wins include a £200m contract with [...]
Asda warns of shopper misery as sales drop August 17, 2010 SUPERMARKET chain Asda said yesterday shoppers were being hit in the pocket by government cuts as like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 0.4 per cent in the second quarter. The chain said its market share had reduced in the 12 weeks to 11 July as total sales crept up “in the low single digits”. Chief executive [...]
BAA fends off strike with 2pc pay offer August 17, 2010 THE UNITE union told its workers yesterday they should accept a pay offer by airport operator BAA, as strike action over the August bank holiday was averted. BAA has offered ground staff a two per cent pay rise plus a one-off payment of at least £500 depending on company results, the union said yesterday, following [...]
FSA bans five insurance execs and hands out £150,000 fine over fraud August 17, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned five individuals in relation to insurance fraud and given one director a near-record fine of £150,000. The FSA said yesterday that the five insurance executives whom it had banned had shown complete disregard for the interests of their customers. Andrew Jeffery, a director of Jeffery Flanders Limited, was [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK BAA WAS RIGHT TO OFFER UNITE WORKERS A BETTER PAY DEAL TO AVOID STRIKE ACTION? August 17, 2010 JONATHAN RUMBALL | ROYAL LONDON “It’s not really right, everybody else is having to struggle, ask how many other people are getting pay rises this year? It’s typical union stuff, putting a gun to BAA’s head. They had them over a barrel.” GREG BEALER | CORNHILL CAPITAL “If it stops strike action then maybe it [...]
Cairn claims red tape may hold up deal August 17, 2010 TOP executives from Cairn Energy met Indian government officials yesterday to seek approval of its plans to sell a controlling stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for up to $9.6bn (£6.1bn). Cairn Energy chief executive Bill Gammell flew to New Delhi to meet oil minister Murli Deora and other officials to discuss implications of the [...]
Profits up at London Capital August 17, 2010 spread betting company London Capital Group, said first-half adjusted pre-tax profit rose 12 per cent yesterday, helped by strong spread betting performance, but cut its interim dividend by 60 per cent. “If the rest of the year follows the route of the first half, we would expect to be paying quite a substantial dividend at [...]
