MPC member cautions on deflation risk January 27, 2010 THE Bank of England (BoE) may find it hard to keep inflation on target as long as import and services prices keep rising strongly, Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance said yesterday. In a speech in London, Sentance said the economy was facing opposing pressures which the BoE would have to consider when it updated [...]
The big freeze hits January retail sales as shoppers avoid high street stores January 27, 2010 THERE was more gloom for the UK’s economy yesterday after retail sales for January look likely to have stalled after snow and the VAT hike kept shoppers away from the high street. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) monthly distributive trades survey showed that the balance of retailers reporting an increase in sales fell to [...]
Tullow down after £1bn share placing January 27, 2010 TULLOW oil shares plunged yesterday after the company raised £1bn to fund expansion in Uganda where it hopes to gain government support for a major acquisition. Shares fell as much as 5.6 per cent after the London-based oil explorer launched the placing. The firm – which has more licences in Africa than any other UK [...]
Heavey is testing shareholder patience January 27, 2010 AS the ivory hunter Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness taught us, trying to capitalise on Africa’s natural resources can often lead to ruin. Tullow is sure that it can steer a different course. Yesterday it launched the biggest-ever equity raising for oil exploration and production (E&P), placing some £1bn worth of new shares [...]
EX-FA BOSS BARWICK LANDS NEW CITY ROLE January 27, 2010 SOMETHING of a coup for law firm Lewis Silkin yesterday, as it announced the appointment of former Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick as a consultant in its sports law team. Barwick, of course, departed the FA under a bit of a storm cloud back in 2008, after fans and commentators alike placed the blame [...]
Pearl: Do not blackmail us January 27, 2010 PEARL, the insurance group that hopes to list in London sometime this year, said yesterday it wouldn’t allow itself to be blackmailed after it lost a key vote over a compromise offer to a disgruntled group of bondholders. Pearl, which was forced into a financial restructuring last year, withheld an interest payment worth £33m to [...]
Sportech pays £51.4m for US sports betting business January 27, 2010 POOLS operator Sportech is buying racing and venue management business SGR from US group Scientific Games Corp for up to $83m (£51.3m) in cash and shares to become a world leader in pools betting. Sportech said yesterday it would pay an initial $65m, followed by $10m on 30 September 2013 and up to $8m if [...]
Investcorp back in profit thanks to hedge funds January 27, 2010 BAHRAIN and London-listed Investcorp swung to a first-half net profit as its hedge fund business recovered from the financial crisis. Yesterday the investment house said net profit in the six months ended 31 December was $60.2m (£37.1m), after a $511m net loss a year ago. It said its hedge fund business posted income of $96.6m [...]
Banks suffer headache of reform plans January 27, 2010 THE SLEW of banking reforms being mooted by world leaders could lead to damaging credit rating downgrades for US banks and force their European counterparts to find €83bn (£72bn) of extra capital by 2012, two leading teams of analysts warned yesterday. Barclays Capital analysts Jonathan Glionna and Miguel Crivelli said US banks Citigroup, Bank of [...]
General Atlantic snaps up a small stake in Markit January 27, 2010 MARKIT, a data provider and index administrator, said yesterday that private equity firm General Atlantic had agreed to take a minority stake in the company. General Atlantic is understood to have paid $250m (£154.5m) in exchange for a 7.5 per cent stake in the market-data firm. General Atlantic chief executive Bill Ford will join Markit’s [...]
