Disney feels the force with $4bn Star Wars deal October 30, 2012 DISNEY yesterday shocked the film industry by announcing it was buying Lucasfilm, the owner of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, for $4.05bn (£2.52bn). The American media giant’s purchase follows on from multi-billion dollar acquisitions of superhero franchise Marvel and animation studio Pixar in recent years. Disney, famous for animated films featuring the likes [...]
HBOS risk boss says lessons of failure have not been learned October 30, 2012 A FORMER whistleblower and risk head at failed bank HBOS yesterday warned lessons had not been learned from the crisis. Paul Moore told peers and MPs that there was a “threatening” culture at the bank, where senior executives ignored his warnings over risk and stability. “If your job was to check people out, there was [...]
Hurricane Sandy leaves insurers with $10bn bill October 30, 2012 INSURERS yesterday began counting the cost of this week’s US superstorm, amid predictions that it will be even costlier than last year’s Hurricane Irene. Disaster exposure specialist RMS said the insurance bill will be larger than the $4.5bn (£2.8bn) that the industry paid out after Irene. This follows early estimates from rival firm Eqecat that [...]
New York Stock Exchange set to resume full trading today October 30, 2012 THE NEW York Stock Exchange will re-open today, little more than 24 hours after the passing of the monster storm and severe flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy. “NYSE Euronext will open for normal trading operations in coordination with all US equities, bonds, options and derivatives markets,” the exchange said. “Trading will commence on the New [...]
Freeze delays firms’ results October 30, 2012 DOZENS of US companies were forced to delay the release of earnings reports yesterday as the market was frozen for a second day. The likes of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, financial news provider Thomson Reuters and power firm NRG, were all set to report either today or yesterday, but delayed until later in the week. Others [...]
Obama consoles heartbroken cities ahead of looming vote October 30, 2012 PRESIDENT Barack Obama cancelled campaign appearances in Ohio due today and scheduled a trip to New Jersey instead to survey damage caused by powerful storm Sandy, a move designed to portray him as a strong leader a week before the election next week. Obama, who is in a close race with Republican rival Mitt Romney, [...]
UBS trader Adoboli tells court that he lost control October 30, 2012 FORMER UBS trader Kweku Adoboli told a London court yesterday he “lost control” in the summer of 2011 but insisted he never acted dishonestly in the frantic weeks that resulted in losses of $2.3bn (£1.43bn). Ending an emotional three-day defence against charges of fraud and false accounting, a tearful Adoboli said he was “devastated” and [...]
Bayer swallows Schiff Nutrition October 30, 2012 GERMAN pharma group Bayer is to buy US vitamins maker Schiff Nutrition International for an agreed $1.2bn (£747m) as it seeks stable sources of growth to complement its more volatile prescription drugs business. Bayer said it was offering $34 per share in cash to Schiff shareholders, a 47 per cent premium over Friday’s closing price. [...]
Russian sale helps BP hike its dividend October 30, 2012 OIL giant BP yesterday announced a quarterly dividend hike of 12.5 per cent, as it reported a jump in third quarter profit. The dividend increase to nine cents a share, which will be paid in the fourth quarter, was announced just days after BP confirmed it is to sell its 50 per cent stake in [...]
Were BP’s results what you were expecting? October 30, 2012 RICHARD HUNTER | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The recently announced agreement with Rosneft leaves BP with exposure to the important Russian region without some of the previous distractions, and the hike in the dividend is proof of management’s optimism for prospects. JONATHAN JACKSON | KILLIK & CO The results are strong, and they provide reassurance that the [...]
