Forget past performances – it’s new contracts that matter now November 6, 2012 YESTERDAY, shares in support services firms G4S and Babcock went on two rather different journeys. G4S rose almost four per cent after shaking off Olympic embarrassments and growing revenues excluding acquisitions by 5.5 per cent, while Babcock slumped by the same amount despite a 13 per cent rise in profits. But look a little closer [...]
Costain on track for targets November 6, 2012 Engineering solutions firm Costain yesterday said it was on track to meet its full-year targets, despite challenging economic conditions. Around 28 per cent of 2012 revenues are from support services, and this is expected to grow. The forward order book currently stands at £2.4bn for the group, with around £1.6bn in revenues secured for 2014 [...]
Terry Price to retire from Tesco November 6, 2012 Tesco is set to lose yet another to another of its senior executives, as it confirmed yesterday that its head of non-food Terry Price, is leaving after 18 months in the role. The supermarket group said Price, who returned to the UK from Tesco’s China division to take up the role, is due to retire [...]
Hodge calls for better use of data November 6, 2012 Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said yesterday that the state remains too secretive when it comes to official data. Speaking at a roundtable organised by IT firm EMC, she told City A.M. that while she was “extremely cynical” about large government IT projects, she was certain that “proper use of [...]
Hannover Re unconcerned by Sandy payouts November 6, 2012 GERMAN reinsurer Hannover Re said yesterday that it expects to post a substantial rise in profits this year, despite the possibility of payouts following Hurricane Sandy. The company, which offers secondary cover for some of the world’s biggest insurers, predicted that net profit for 2012 will pass €800m (£641m). This represents increase of a third [...]
Hedge funds forced to reveal most shorted stocks by FSA November 6, 2012 HEDGE funds have had their short selling activities made public for the first time, as regulations enacted this week expose some of the massive bets made by firms involved in the secretive industry. The Financial Services Authority will now force all funds to declare any short position that represents more than 0.5 per cent of [...]
Swiss Re issues bond to guard against US hurricane damages November 6, 2012 SWISS RE yesterday announced that it has completed a pioneering $200m (£125m) bond that provides cover for both North American hurricanes and extreme mortality events in the UK. This is the first time that storm and mortality cover have been combined into the same issue. Dual-risk bonds provide greater diversification for investors, with cover provided [...]
BATS Chi-X applies to be stock exchange November 6, 2012 LONDON could gain a new stock exchange after BATS Chi-X Europe applied to become a fully-fledged stock exchange, a source close to the firm said yesterday. The Financial Services Authority could take between six months and a year to process the company’s application to become a Registered Investment Exchange. Once completed it would allow the [...]
Output in the Eurozone drops even further November 6, 2012 THE EUROZONE came in for even more pain in October, according to a prominent business survey out yesterday. But it was Germany that dragged the bloc down this month – outweighing slight improvements in Italian, French and Spanish indices. The composite Eurozone purchasing managers’ index (PMI) sagged to 45.7 in October, Markit said yesterday, from [...]
Hollande slashes payroll taxes to give competitiveness boost November 6, 2012 FRENCH President Francois Hollande yesterday announced a raft of tax cuts as part of a battle plan attempting to improve French competitiveness, but analysts said the moves didn’t go far enough to reform labour markets. The effective U-turn comes after a report from former EADS boss Louis Gallois, and a separate report from the International [...]
