Businesses must speak out on blight of 50p tax August 17, 2011 WELL, everyone else has been having their say – what do you think? Is it a morally justified punishment on bankers who got us in this mess? Or a tax that our economy, and raises nothing for the Treasury? The 50p tax debate has been loud enough over the silly season not to get drowned [...]
Integration of Gartmore is going well but risks of market paralysis remain August 17, 2011 HENDERSON’S figures held little surprise, having been flagged for months, but its warning on the effect of the current market carnage hit home yesterday. Henderson hiked its performance fee income, made great progress integrating Gartmore, and cut its costs. But the volatility in equities still has the potential to hold back future performance, it admitted. [...]
UK cuts dent Balfour gains August 17, 2011 BALFOUR Beatty, the UK’s largest construction company, said it expects markets to remain tough for the next two years as government cutbacks in the UK and US continue to weigh down on its operations. The group, whose projects include the refurbishment of London Blackfriars station and the aquatics centre for London’s 2012 Olympic Games, reported [...]
ENRC dodges governance questions as it reports an increase in half year profits August 17, 2011 EURASIAN Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) reported a surge in half year profits yesterday, but faced criticism after it gave little information regarding its corporate governance review that has been going on since June. The Kazakh miner reported a 33 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to $1.6bn on revenues that increased by 32 per cent [...]
Rothschild’s Bumi posts a pre-tax loss in first results since takeover August 17, 2011 MINING group Bumi, founded last year by billionaire financier Nat Rothschild as acquisition vehicle Vallar, posted a pre-tax loss of $243m in its maiden results, but said production for the year was on track. Indonesia-focused Bumi said it expected to produce 86m tonnes of coal this year, up from 77m, when posting its first interim [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS BALFOUR BEATTY ON TRACK? August 17, 2011 CHRIS ALEXANDER | BNP PARIBAS Despite solid numbers and the dividend uplift the stock is down due to the caution contained in the outlook statement. The impact of the reduction in UK government spending is evident in the order book. While commercial markets in London are showing signs of recovery it is too early to [...]
Maersk sees slow growth August 17, 2011 DENMARK’S AP Moller-Maersk saw its half-year profits rise eight per cent, beating analyst forecasts, despite a steep fall in profits at its core shipping division. The group, whose Maersk Line is the world’s biggest container shipper and a barometer of global trade, posted pre-tax profits of $6.1bn (£3.7bn), up from $4.82bn a year ago. Its [...]
Income and net asset values up at CLS Holdings August 17, 2011 CLS Holdings, the international property investment company, saw profits jump by a third in the first half of the year, benefitting from investments spread across four European property markets and three currencies. The firm, which owns properties in London, Germany, Sweden and France, said pre-tax profits rose by 32 per cent to £37.1m in the [...]
Flybe passenger traffic rise fuels lift in revenues August 17, 2011 THE number of passengers travelling with Flybe increased in the second quarter of the year, the airline said yesterday. In the three months to 30 June, the carrier saw passenger numbers rise by 7.7 per cent to 1.98m. In a tough economic climate Flybe also saw revenue increase by 8.3 per cent to £160.4m. Revenue [...]
Tudou manages to float but its shares plummet August 17, 2011 SHARES of Chinese online video company Tudou Holdings fell in their stock market debut yesterday after the company became one of the few IPOs to actually price and begin trading amid tumultuous markets. The Nasdaq-listed shares closed at $25.56, or 11.9 per cent below the float price. The IPO of 6m American Depositary Shares priced [...]
