Investors puzzled by shock exit of SAP boss February 8, 2010 GERMAN software group SAP has ditched its chief executive of just seven months, surprising a market he failed to win over during his tenure and leaving investors wondering where the world’s top business software firm heads next. SAP announced Leo Apotheker’s abrupt departure, replacing him with immediate effect with a new management team expected to [...]
Portuguese bank buys half of broker Execution Noble February 8, 2010 CITY stockbroker Execution Noble yesterday bounded ahead with its aggressive expansion plans after Banco Espirito Santo (BES), one of Portugal’s largest banks, snapped up a majority stake in the business. BES said it had paid around £50m for the 50.1 per cent stake in Execution, which bought up its smaller rival Noble just seven weeks [...]
Approval near for Solvay deal February 8, 2010 Abbott Laboratories is expected to win EU approval this week for its takeover of Solvay’s drugs unit after offering remedies to soothe competition concerns. The €4.5bn (£3.9bn) deal, announced last September, would give US drugmaker Abbott full control of its Belgian development partner’s cholesterol treatments and boost its presence in fast-growing emerging markets. The European [...]
Big four dominate beer market February 8, 2010 The world’s four biggest brewers now account for over half the global market for beer after recent deals such as Dutch brewer Heineken’s takeover of Mexico’s Femsa, researcher Plato Logic said yesterday. Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, London-listed SABMiller, Heineken, and Denmark’s Carlsberg have moved ahead of the rest of the pack led by China’s Tsingtao Brewery [...]
Roche unearths flu treatment February 8, 2010 Roche’s Genentech unit has licensed an experimental new technology that uses antibodies to fight influenza, including H1N1 swine flu, Harvard’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute said yesterday. Dana Farber said it and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute had signed a licence agreement with Genentech, giving the company exclusive rights to manufacture, develop and market human monoclonal [...]
Xstrata set to reinstate its divi payout February 8, 2010 MINING group Xstrata is re-introduce dividend payments despite reporting a fall in full-year profits. The company’s pre-tax profits fell to $1.87bn (£1.2bn) in 2009 – down from $6.05bn the previous year. One-off costs and lower commodity prices hit the company’s profits. But it said the medium-term outlook for commodity demand remained “very promising”. Xstrata scrapped [...]
Randgold reserves set to surge February 8, 2010 West African-focussed gold miner Randgold Resources expects its reserves to grow more than 60 per cent when it releases its updated figures in March, chief executive Mark Bristow said yesterday. “That will definitely be more than 60 per cent because we should have Gounkoto reserves in by then,” he said. The latest estimates for the [...]
Anglo Platinum launches $1.6bn rights issue in an effort to pay down its debts February 8, 2010 Mining bellwether Anglo Platinum said it would pay off most of its debt via a $1.6bn (£1.02bn) rights issue backed by its owner, and forecast its markets would turn around in 2010. Angloplat, which supplies close to half the world’s platinum, announced the discounted cash call yesterday together with sharply weaker full year earnings in [...]
Gold mines will glitter in future February 8, 2010 RANDGOLD IS LIVING PROOF OF THE OLD ADAGE “ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD”. INVESTORS THAT BOUGHT THE STOCK BACK IN 2006 AT AROUND 1,200P WILL BE OVER-THE-MOON; YESTERDAY IT CLOSED AT 4,480P. ITS FORTHCOMING PROJECTS WOULD SUGGEST THAT RANDGOLD CAN STILL CREATE SHAREHOLDER VALUE. ONE-TIME FLAGSHIP MINE MORILA MIGHT BE ON ITS LAST LEGS NOW [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DOES XSTRATA’S DECISION TO RESUME DIVIDENDS SAY ABOUT THE MINING INDUSTRY? February 8, 2010 CHARLES GIBSON | EDISON The resumption of the dividend is a sign of confidence as no company likes to bring back a dividend and then scrap it. The announcement confirms the anecdotal evidence which suggests a positive time for mining, with the price of metals rising. The figures all support what we have seen. CHARLES [...]
