JP Morgan private equity buys up £56.5m portfolio August 16, 2011 JP MORGAN’s private equity division bought a portfolio of mid-market investment assets from the suspended Arch Cru funds for $91.9m (£56.5m) yesterday. The package of 38 mid-market co-invested companies are being bought from three of the fund cells now run by Spearpoint, the fund manager appointed to take charge of the funds after their suspension [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW IS RESOLUTION’S STRUCTURAL OVERHAUL GOING? August 16, 2011 MARCUS BARNARD | ORIEL SECURITIES These results look fine and the decision to separate the heritage book will focus management’s responsibilities in the right areas. One highlight was the dividend, as Resolution said it would pay the same amount of dividend following the buyback across the lower number of shares in issue. TREVOR MOSS | [...]
US housing starts edge down August 16, 2011 US housing starts fell less than expected in July as builders broke ground on new multifamily units likely to meet demand for rental apartments, while permits for future construction dropped, a government report showed yesterday. Housing starts were down 1.5 per cent to 604,000 in July from a downwardly revised 613,000 in June. Meanwhile, import [...]
American industry spikes in July August 16, 2011 US industrial output recorded its best gain in seven months in July as the auto sector bounced back from supply disruptions wrought by Japan’s devastating earthquake in March. Industrial output increased 0.9 per cent, the Federal Reserve said yesterday, after a 0.4 per cent gain in June – nearly double economists’ expectations for a 0.5 [...]
Republican hopefuls attack Fed August 16, 2011 GOP candidates for the presidential race lined up to attack the Federal Reserve yesterday, as the race prompted some fiery rhetoric. Right-wing Texan governor Rick Perry said it would be “treasonous” if Fed chairman Ben Bernanke announced more quantitative easing, also adding: “We would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Rival Michele Bachmann was [...]
Fitch confirms US is gold-plated August 16, 2011 Fitch Ratings said on yesterday that it affirmed the US’s top-notch credit rating at AAA, giving the world’s largest economy a reprieve after it was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s little more than a week ago. Fitch said the outlook for the rating was stable. However, it said the US government had to show tangible [...]
Statoil makes giant North Sea discovery August 16, 2011 STATOIL, the Norwegian state-controlled oil and gas company, announced yesterday that two previous North Sea oil discoveries are connected and together may represent the biggest find in Norway’s part of the continental shelf in 30 years. Statoil said the Aldous Major South discovery in the North Sea, may hold twice as much oil and equivalents [...]
Pennon’s Viridor is doing well August 16, 2011 WATER and waste company Pennon said it expects higher full-year profits at its waste management unit, Viridor, on the back of strong trading. Waste management, recycling and renewable energy company Viridor accounts for a third of group profits and Pennon had said in May the unit would boost growth, as projects to generate energy from [...]
Shell says Gannet Alpha oil rig has a second leak August 16, 2011 ROYAL Dutch Shell said oil continued to escape into the North Sea after it discovered a second leak from its Gannet Alpha platform, in what has been the largest spill there in a decade. The Anglo-Dutch company confirmed that whilst the main leak in the flow line was stopped on Thursday last week, it was [...]
Harvey Nash upbeat August 16, 2011 BRITISH recruitment and IT outsourcing services firm Harvey Nash Group said it expected a 40 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit on strong growth in placements, particularly in Europe, Germany and the Nordics. The company also said it planned to raise its interim dividend by 10 per cent. “A strong financial position, combined with [...]
