Should Vince Cable replace Nick Clegg as Lib Dem leader? September 20, 2012 NEIL ALLISON | ICON SOLUTIONS Yes. It’s a question of credibility and being realistic. Clegg will never win in polls now, and the Lib Dems need a fresh face and a new voice if they’re going to restablish themselves in parliament.” PAUL SMALLWOOD | RBCIS Yes. People have lost confidence in Clegg, and the Lib [...]
United Utilities on track as bid talk continues September 20, 2012 WASTE and water group United Utilities said in a trading update today that it enjoyed a solid start to 2012 and is on course to deliver a good financial performance for the year. The firm, which is currently the target of takeover bid speculation, said current trading is in line with group expectations in a [...]
Google set to overtake Facebook as new leader in US display ads September 20, 2012 GOOGLE is set to become the biggest earner in US display ads this year, taking the number one rank away from Facebook and cementing its dominant presence in online advertising. Google’s rising clout in display ads – the boxes with images and video found on websites – has come on the back of growth in [...]
Liberty bids $2.6bn to buy the remainder of Belgium’s Telenet September 20, 2012 US-BASED cable group Liberty Global is bidding €1.96bn (£1.57bn) to take full control of Belgium’s Telenet, seeking to strengthen its grip on a company benefiting from expansion across a range of telecoms services. Shares in Telenet, which also raised its profit and revenue forecasts yesterday, leapt 13 per cent to as high as €35.3 – [...]
Ryanair carries enough fuel September 20, 2012 ■ Aviation watchdogs have cleared Ryanair of breaching safety rules after three emergency landings in Valencia in July, but recommended that the airline and the Spanish authorities review their fuel policies. The planes were carrying sufficient fuel when they departed from Madrid, but after diversions during thunderstorms made Mayday calls as fuel dropped close to [...]
Centrica inks deal with Gazprom September 20, 2012 ■ Utility Centrica yesterday signed a 2.4bn cubic metre, three-year gas supply deal with the UK arm of Russian export monopoly Gazprom, it said in a statement. Gas deliveries will begin from 2014 and will be priced against the UK’s freely traded spot gas market, the National Balancing Point (NBP). “Centrica is at the forefront [...]
Nexen investors okay CNOOC bid September 20, 2012 ■ Nexen shareholders overwhelmingly approved the oil producer’s takeover by China’s CNOOC yesterday. Shareholder blessing of the deal had been seen as a formality, given the rich 61 per cent premium that CNOOC offered on the price of Nexen’s shares. But the shares remain well below the $27.50 bid price due to uncertainty over the [...]
Who’s switching jobs September 20, 2012 Cording Group John Partridge has been appointed executive chairman of the real estate investment firm. He is the founder and former executive chairman of Cordea Savills. Partridge also previously served as chief executive of the property fund management businesses at Morgan Grenfell and Henderson. Altium The investment bank has appointed Aksana Pekun as managing director [...]
Best of the Brokers September 20, 2012 RANK GROUP Peel Hunt’s Nick Batram has reiterated his “Buy” recommendation on leisure firm Rank Group and upped his target price to 206p. He says the firm has “evolved from a disparate leisure conglomerate” to be “a focused, fully regulated, gaming group with a high quality management”. Batram believes there is a 50 per cent [...]
FTSE drifts lower as fears over UK’s economic outlook leads to caution September 20, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index wilted yesterday after economic data painted a bleak picture of prospects for a rebound in activity in the United States, Europe and China, heightening concerns over company earnings and valuations. The UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 33.84 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5,854.64, continuing to edge away from 6-month highs [...]
