Resolution calls time on further takeover plans August 15, 2012 LIFE insurance takeover firm Resolution yesterday shelved its ambitious acquisition and flotation plans as it said it would become a more “conventional” business. The group, which was set up by Clive Cowdery to take over struggling firms and sell them on for a profit, said poor market conditions meant its original plan to buy firms [...]
If you can’t eat them, join them August 15, 2012 TIME for a new direction: that is the conclusion of insurance M&A specialist Resolution, which announced plans yesterday to give up on its strategy of aggressive acquisitions and focus on becoming “an entirely conventional company”. In Silicon Valley, they call this a pivot. It’s something of a badge of pride among the Californian tech start-up [...]
School leavers scramble for finance roles August 15, 2012 AS students across the country wake up today to collect their A-level results, several City firms have announced initiatives to encourage school leavers into finance and business roles. In an attempt to lure pupils away from the conventional route of a university degree, accountancy firm KPMG said yesterday it has doubled the number of training [...]
ENRC rocked as commodity prices tumble August 15, 2012 KAZAKH mining group ENRC yesterday blamed falling commodity prices and a “challenging economic environment” for declining revenues over the first half of the year. The FTSE 100-listed miner reported lower underlying earnings of $1.14bn, down 41 per cent over the first half of the year. Earnings per share also fell 60 per cent to $0.36. [...]
Analyst Views | What are your thoughts about enrc’s quarterly results? August 15, 2012 CAILEY BARKER NUMIS SECURITIES Neutral overall. It sustained good demand for key products and cost control is helping keep costs below expectations, despite the sharp rises. Overall, it was an in-line statement with caution to the outlook. ASH LAZENBY LIBERUM CAPITAL The balance sheet looks more constrained than we anticipated. Cost pressures experienced are ‘slightly [...]
Getty Images bought out by Carlyle Group in $3.3bn deal August 15, 2012 GETTY Images, the world’s biggest photo agency, has been taken over by Carlyle Group after the American private equity firm won the bidding for a majority share in the company. The deal sees Carlyle take just over 50 per cent of Getty from another private equity outfit, Hellman and Friedman. The remainder of the agency [...]
Tobacco giants hit as Australia set for first plain packets law August 15, 2012 TOBACCO firms saw share prices dip yesterday after the Australian high court upheld a law enforcing plain cigarette packaging, the first of its kind in the world. Shares in FTSE 100 companies British American Tobacco (BAT) and Imperial Tobacco both closed almost two per cent lower as suggestions spread that the UK and other markets [...]
Better Capital’s Moulton slams banks’ attitude August 15, 2012 PRIVATE equity veteran Jon Moulton yesterday said low lending rates were strangling the flow of buyout deals as banks propped up distressed companies with cheap capital. Moulton, who is chairman of turnaround specialist Better Capital, said banks were content to lend money to bad businesses rather than crystalise their losses and sell to a private [...]
Facebook fall could worsen as stock freed August 15, 2012 FACEBOOK is braced for further falls in its value today as shareholders who invested in the company before it went public become able to sell shares for the first time. Analysts are not predicting a firesale, with most of the unlocked shares owned by venture capital funds rather than Facebook staff, who are deemed more [...]
Olympics boom sees 5.5m flock to Stratford City August 15, 2012 STRATFORD City, Europe’s biggest shopping mall, attracted 5.5m visitors during the Olympic Games, its Australian developer Westfield said as it reported a 31 per cent increase in its first-half profits. Stratford’s bustling shops contrast with retailers in west London that lamented a lack of visitors, particularly in the first week of the Games, after warnings [...]
