Rivals hit back at Heathrow’s bid to remain top UK hub November 15, 2012 CHALLENGER airports hit back at Heathrow’s bid to remain Britain’s major hub airport yesterday, arguing any plan for extra air capacity “needs to look to the future and not to Heathrow’s monopoly past”. Gatwick, owned by Global Infrastructure Partners since 2009, said adding a second runway to its airport would be better for the environment [...]
JP Morgan unit is suspended from the US electricity market November 15, 2012 AMERICAN regulators have banned JP Morgan from trading in the US electricity market for six months, after finding that the bank made factual misrepresentations and omissions during a probe into market fixing. JP Morgan Ventures Energy is not allowed to sell power at market rates for six months from 1 April 2013, the Federal Energy [...]
Megafon set to list in London by December November 15, 2012 TELECOMS firm Megafon re-started the flood of Russian firms looking to list in the City yesterday, announcing the price on its joint London-Moscow listing as its delayed initial public offering (IPO) comes to market. The offering was held up by the group’s acquisition of handset maker Euroset and by the third quarter financial results. Speculation [...]
Don’t scare away signs of life in City flotations market November 15, 2012 After several nerve-wracking days’ delay, Alisher Usmanov’s telecoms group Megafon finally launched its London IPO yesterday, giving the moribund market a timely boost ahead of the naturally quiet festive season. Megafon’s flotation, which is expected to raise more than £1.5bn for the selling shareholders, will run just slightly ahead of the London and Almaty float [...]
Cable promises tax crackdown from chancellor November 15, 2012 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable said yesterday he expects George Osborne to use his upcoming Autumn Statement to address the controversial issue of tax avoidance, after a string of companies were accused of diverting tax revenues away from the UK. Speaking to Sky News, Cable said moves to prevent “systematic abuse” could be announced as early [...]
Resolution hit by charges on AXA takeover November 15, 2012 SHARES in insurance buyout vehicle Resolution slumped yesterday after the firm said it will have to pay an extra £35m as part of its purchase of AXA’s UK life insurance business. Tim Tookey, chief financial officer, told City A.M.: “The AXA charge [relates to] some of the costs in the final stage of separation of [...]
Zurich misses profit target due to troubled German business November 15, 2012 ZURICH Insurance shares plunged nearly four per cent to a three month low yesterday after missing third quarter profit targets. The group, which does car and home insurance, saw net profit fall 62 per cent to $477m (£300m) compared to last year. For the nine months up until 30 September this year net profit was [...]
Amlin shrugs off Sandy and unveils increase in premiums November 15, 2012 LLOYD’S of London insurer Amlin yesterday said it is “well placed to absorb claims” from Hurricane Sandy thanks to a strong performance in the first nine months of the year. Total insured losses from the storm, which devastated the east coast of the US last month, have been estimated at around $20bn. Amlin, the second-biggest [...]
Will resolution’s turnaround plan be successful? November 15, 2012 KEVIN RYAN | INVESTEC The recovery process is far from assured and shareholders may have to endure further cost hikes. This, combined with no news on the corporate restructuring, leads us to view the outlook as cloudy and we retain our ‘sell’ recommendation. ALAN DEVLIN | BARCLAYS [The results] are further evidence of the company’s [...]
Asda sales slow as it forecasts a bleak Christmas November 15, 2012 ASDA, the UK’s second largest supermarket, reported a slowdown in third quarter like-for-like sales growth yesterday and struck a sober note in its outlook on the Christmas quarter. Like-for-like sales rose 0.3 per cent in the three months to 30 September, down from 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter and 2.2 per cent in [...]
