Bubbly, Boris and banter all sparkle at our 2012 awards October 17, 2012 To the Grange Hotel in the heart of St Paul’s last night for City A.M.’s third annual awards ceremony. After a day of glorious autumnal sunshine, 500 of the City’s best and brightest worked the red carpet and were greeted in the atrium of The Grange with glasses of bubbly at the champagne reception, sponsored [...]
Polymetal ups sales guidance on high output October 17, 2012 PRECIOUS metal producer Polymetal yesterday posted record gold output of 317,000 ounces, up 48 per cent year on year, revising up its full-year production guidance. For the nine months to 30 September, gold production was up 46 per cent year on year. On a quarterly basis, production increased seven per cent. The Russian producer cited [...]
Xstrata copper production dips as flagship mine suffers slump October 17, 2012 COPPER production at miner Xstrata dipped by 16 per cent year on year in the third quarter, hurt by falling production at its Collahuasi mine in Chile. Xstrata, which is currently in the final throes of a merger with commodity giant Glencore, said yesterday total production of copper fell to 187,800 tonnes over the three [...]
EU approves state funding to UK’s Green Investment Bank October 17, 2012 EU REGULATORS said yesterday they had given approval for £3bn in British state aid being used for the creation of the Green Investment Bank, which is intended to spur private investment in low-carbon projects. The Commission said in a statement an investigation found sufficient safeguards to avoid the “crowding out of private investment”, and that [...]
Shanta Gold launches $30m share placing October 17, 2012 AFRICA-focused explorer Shanta Gold yesterday unveiled an equity offering to raise $30m (£18.5m) to fund the ramp-up of operations at the Aim-listed firm’s flagship New Luika Gold Mine in Tanzania. Combined with existing cash of $3m and expected fourth quarter gold sales of $9m, the proceeds from the placing will help finalise operating costs and [...]
Securitas launches cost-cutting plan following European slump October 17, 2012 SWEDISH security services group Securitas yesterday announced plans to cut costs and merge two divisions after posting seven straight quarterly earnings drops. The company, the world’s second largest security firm after British-Danish G4S has suffered from weakness in Europe during the sovereign debt crisis, which has affected key contracts. Profitability in the US market has been [...]
Japan Residential mulls offer October 17, 2012 Japan Residential Investment Company, the Aim-listed fund invested in Japanese homes, yesterday said it was mulling selling fund assets after being approached by a listed buyer. The company, which has a portfolio of 2,200 homes in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, said it had been approached by a firm to buy assets and was reviewing the proposal. [...]
Vertu Motors profits zoom ahead October 17, 2012 Car dealer Vertu Motors yesterday posted a 26.8 per cent increase in profits to £5.2m on the back of strong revenue growth for the half year. The revenue increase – up 14.8 per cent to £628.1m versus £547m last year – boosted the firms profits from £4.1m last year. However, a more normalised tax rate [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 17, 2012 RBS Invoice Finance James Shaw has been appointed head of portfolio, corporate at the invoice finance division of RBS. He joins from GE Capital, where he worked for 12 years. Shaw will be responsible for delivering audit and risk management to the firm’s corporate client base. Nomura Kaan Basaran has been appointed head of origination [...]
Best of the Brokers October 17, 2012 PEARSON Nomura has upped Pearson’s target price to 1,250p from 1,200p, while maintaining its “reduce” rating after the publisher said yesterday it is to purchase Embanet Compass for £406m. DIRECT LINE Numis has moved Direct Line from “buy” to “add” to reflect reduced upside following the eight per cent price uplift since its flotation last [...]
