China row drags on Nissan sales as it cuts its full-year forecasts November 6, 2012 COUNTING the cost of anti-Japanese protests in a territorial dispute with China, Nissan Motors yesterday cut its full-year net profit forecast by a fifth to $3.99bn, and said it had lost share in its biggest market. July to September net profit rose 7.7 per cent to ¥106bn, Nissan said, despite lower than expected car sales [...]
Mercedes in record sales month November 6, 2012 Daimler’s flagship brand Mercedes-Benz overcame another weak month in the key growth market of China to sell six per cent more vehicles in October and mark a fresh record for that month, the company said yesterday. Including the 109,632 vehicles Mercedes sold last month, volumes rose by 5.1 per cent to about 1.07m cars in [...]
Shell seals $4bn Bashneft deal November 6, 2012 Royal Dutch Shell has sealed a two-year deal worth up to £2.5bn to supply oil to mid-sized Russian refiner and retailer Bashneft, the Russian firm said yesterday, extending an existing agreement between the two sides. The deal, worth 122.4bn roubles (£2.5bn), is signed until 25 November 2014, while the previous agreement expires this month, Bashneft [...]
DS Smith on target for year November 6, 2012 Recycled packaging supplier DS Smith said yesterday it expects “substantial” year on year earnings per share growth, and that the board is confident on its performance for the remainder of the year. DS Smith said that the packaging business is performing in line with expectations, with its Northern and Western Europe sectors performing particularly well [...]
Who’s switching jobs November 6, 2012 Sainsbury’s Bank Peter Griffiths has been appointed chief executive of the supermarket bank, effective 19 November. He was previously chief executive of Principality Building Society. Griffiths has also worked as chief operating officer at Morgan Chambers, a consultancy, and head of commercial services at NatWest Group IT. RBC Wealth Management Nick Reid has been appointed [...]
Best of the Brokers November 6, 2012 CHEMRING UBS has downgraded defence equipment maker Chemring from “buy” to “neutral” with a target price of 300p, down from 390p, citing uncertainty over future profits and revenue. IMI Panmure has reduced its recommendation for engineering group IMI from “buy” to “hold” and cut the target price to 1040p (from 1140p), because it forecasts long-term [...]
FTSE 100 lifted by strong results from Marks & Spencer and G4S November 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue-chip stock index rose yesterday, buoyed by some encouraging earnings reports in light trade ahead of what is expected to be a close US presidential election result. The FTSE 100 was up 45.84 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 5,884.90 by the close, remaining within the tight 200-point range it has held since September. [...]
US stocks lifted by promise of vote outcome November 6, 2012 US stocks climbed yesterday, the last day of trading before the US election results came to a close, as investors looked forward to a resolution to the drawn-out race for the White House. The rally defied a string of weaker-than expected results from US companies and was attributed in part to expectations that a victor [...]
Britain’s unstable pensions policies are holding back long-term saving November 6, 2012 THERE is widespread agreement in both government and in business circles that Britain’s pension regime needs urgent reform to make it fit for the long term. People are not saving enough for retirement and businesses are continuing to struggle to provide adequate pension schemes for their employees. So far, plenty of work has been done [...]
Monetary union is clipping the wings of regions outside the dynamic South November 6, 2012 LORD Heseltine’s recent report into economic growth has attracted a great deal of comment – almost all of which suggests that he longs for the old Regional Development Agencies and the state-planned decades of the 60s and 70s. But the report does, at least, outline a list of possible policy actions to deal with a [...]
