VW sells $2.5bn in a convertible note mega deal November 6, 2012 EUROPE’S biggest car manufacturer Volkswagen sold one of the largest convertible bonds on record yesterday, tipping the scales at €2.5bn (£2bn). The firm, which sells Audis and Porsches, lined up three heavyweight banks, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, to sell the bond to investors around the globe. The bond, which [...]
Luxury carmaker BMW starts to feel pain despite rise in profits November 6, 2012 BMW, the world’s largest premium carmaker, warned yesterday it was starting to feel the pain of a sickly European market, overshadowing strong quarterly results and a forecast record annual profit. Chief executive Norbert Reithofer said conditions were weakening, after the German company posted a 14 per cent rise in third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ forecasts. [...]
British Airways helps boost IAG traffic by 3.2 per cent in October November 6, 2012 INTERNATIONAL Airlines Group yesterday posted a strong rise in October traffic, as a robust performance from British Airways made up for weakness at Spanish sister firm Iberia. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose by 3.2 per cent versus October 2011, while passenger load factor – a measure of how well it fills its planes [...]
Low cost airlines Aer Lingus and EasyJet deliver passenger gains November 6, 2012 LOW COST carriers EasyJet and Aer Lingus posted passenger growth for October yesterday, though both showed signs of slowing momentum. EasyJet said passenger traffic rose 6.2 per cent to 5.25m in October, but this growth is lower than the seven per cent increase seen over the past year. The carrier’s load factor, a measure of [...]
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 [...]
