Rail boost for Invensys ahead of strong year January 24, 2013 ENGINEERING group Invensys yesterday forecast an improved performance this year, as it was boosted by solid trading in its rail business. The FTSE 250-listed firm, which makes control systems for nuclear power stations, industry, railways and domestic appliances, said overall performance in the three months from 20 September had continued in line with the first [...]
US corporate results round up January 24, 2013 Lockheed Martin is confident on 2013 despite fourth quarter blow LOCKHEED Martin, the Pentagon’s biggest supplier, yesterday reported a 19 per cent drop in earnings per share to $1.73 for the fourth quarter from $2.14 a year earlier, reflecting one-off costs including a large non-cash pension adjustment. Excluding these, Lockheed earned $1.91 per share, beating [...]
Boris Island airport plan would need billions in public subsidy January 24, 2013 A NEW London airport in the Thames Estuary would need up to £30bn in public subsidy to make it viable, a report commissioned by MPs warned yesterday. The commercial value of any newly built airport is likely to be significantly lower than the £20bn to £50bn it would cost to build, consultancy Oxera said in [...]
Bumi leadership war heats up as crucial meeting gets closer January 24, 2013 THE BOARD of Bumi yesterday said it was confident it can retain control of the troubled coal miner at the general meeting next month. It is understood that chief executive Nick Von Schirnding has spoken to many of Bumi’s top shareholders, and as a result is confident of a victory over Bumi co-founder Nat Rothschild [...]
Hurricane Sandy knocks profit at rail and bus firm First Group January 24, 2013 HURRICANE Sandy has wiped $15m (£9.5m) from transport company FirstGroup’s operating profits this year, but the firm said yesterday it had otherwise traded as expected in the final quarter of 2012. First, which operates Greyhound coaches and school bus services in the United States and Canada, said the storms that battered America’s east coast in [...]
Chemring profit tumbles 42pc January 24, 2013 Defence equipment manufacturer Chemring said yesterday that pre-tax profit sank 42 per cent over the year to October, in a difficult 12 months that saw profit warnings and failed takeover talks. The company, which makes defence equipment such as flares and explosive device detectors, said underlying pre-tax profit fell to £70.1m, down from £120.2m over [...]
London Mining beats targets January 24, 2013 London Mining yesterday hailed better-than-expected output over 2012, as it continued to ramp up operations at its Marampa mine in Sierra Leone. The iron ore miner posted full-year production of 1.63m wet metric tonnes, which beat targets set last January. Over the fourth quarter, production at the flagship West African mine hit 546,000 wet metric [...]
Oz consortium for Balfour Beatty January 24, 2013 Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has formed a consortium with Transfield Services to target government contracts to maintain highways on the east coast of Australia. London-listed Balfour has joined forces with the Australian company to win state outsourced contracts which would include maintaining services such as street lighting, bridges, drain clearing and road and footway resurfacing.
City Moves for 25 January 2013 | Who’s switching jobs January 24, 2013 Vestra Wealth Management Heinz Schmid has been appointed fixed income strategist in the wealth management firm’s investment team. He joins from Investec, and was previously head of UK fixed income at BNP Paribas. Schmid has also managed HSBC Investment Management’s sterling fixed income team, and held a number of roles at UBS. Centrus Advisors Geoff [...]
Best of the brokers January 24, 2013 DARTY UBS has slashed its rating on the electrical goods retailer – formerly known as Kesa – from “buy” to “neutral”, citing an increasingly competitive French electricals market. “Darty requires an improvement in French profits above and beyond the cost savings we have factored in,” the bank says, despite increasing the target price on the [...]
