South Korea strikes gas deals with Shell and Total August 17, 2011 SOUTH Korea announced long-term agreements yesterday worth $84bn (£50.8bn) with Royal Dutch Shell and Total to buy gas from liquefied natural gas projects in Australia. Asia’s largest economies are competing for Australia’s rapidly growing supplies of LNG to secure the energy to fuel expansion. South Korea, the world’s second-largest buyer of LNG after Japan, needs [...]
TAXI TYCOON RETURNS FOOT MESSENGERS TO SQUARE MILE STREETS August 17, 2011 HAS THE City returned to 1975? Foot messengers, once a familiar sight on the streets of the Square Mile before computers killed them off, returned this week to deliver documents by hand as “the most environmentally friendly couriers in town”. Harbottle and Lewis, SJD Accountancy and Maxxim Consulting all signed up for the service, which [...]
Lookers sees flat profit as it eyes a sale August 17, 2011 CAR dealer and parts supplier Lookers, which was in offer talks with a consortium led by investor Jack Petchey recently, said it was no longer in discussions with anyone, but was still open to selling the group. The update came as the company posted a pre-tax profit of £22.6m in the half year to June [...]
Unilever invests in new areas August 17, 2011 CONSUMER goods group Unilever expects to see three-quarters of its turnover from emerging markets by 2020 as heavy investment in these fast-growing regions and sluggish growth elsewhere take effect. “Europe and the US will be, for the next 10 years, low-growth territories, I’m afraid. So, soon we will have 75 per cent of our turnover [...]
Pendragon underwriters hit as shares left unsold August 17, 2011 A THIRD of car dealer Pendragon’s £75.2m rights issue was left on the books of underwriters as the turbulence in the markets took its toll. The rights issue was part of a financial restructuring led by chief executive Trevor Finn. When Pendragon announced the nine-for-eight issue of new shares at 10p a share in mid-July, [...]
Target beats forecasts as its summer sales perk up August 17, 2011 US RETAILER Target reported a bigger-than-expected rise in quarterly profit and forecast a more profitable year than analysts were anticipating yesterday, as its credit card business continued to grow and sales picked up as the summer progressed. Target has more than 1,760 US stores and is getting ready to open stores in Canada. Target has been adding [...]
Vestas’ full order book impresses August 17, 2011 DANISH wind turbine maker Vestas wrong-footed investors yesterday, announcing a bulging order book that contrasted with solar power Evergreen Solar’s bankruptcy filing two days ago. “Despite global uncertainty, we feel that Vestas is in a good position to get the order intake that we have outlined,” chief executive Ditlev Engel said, referring to a forecast [...]
AEA Technology confident of progress despite gloomy outlook on UK growth August 17, 2011 AEA TECHNOLOGY Group continues to be cautious about market conditions in the UK and Europe but overall remains confident of its business position. AEA – an AIM-listed technical, energy and sustainability consultancy – said yesterday the actions taken to reduce its cost base in the last year combined with additional reductions this year are helping [...]
Anglo Irish cuts 350 jobs as part of restructuring August 17, 2011 Nationalised lender Anglo Irish Bank yesterday said it will cut up to 350 jobs by the end of next year, 130 of which will come from its workforce in Ireland. The Irish Bank Officials Association, a union for finance workers, will today start talks with the failed bank over how cuts will be handled.
Irish Nationwide loses chief exec after takeover August 17, 2011 The chief executive of Irish Nationwide building society is leaving the defunct lender following its takeover by Anglo Irish Bank, management at Anglo told staff yesterday. Gerry McGinn took charge of the failed lender two years ago. The bank is being wound down, together with Anglo, as part of the country’s bailout.
