Shell says rate of North Sea oil leak has reduced further August 14, 2011 INVESTORS will be watching oil giant Royal Dutch Shell closely this morning after the company said that the oil leak from its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea was “under control”. Shell, which detected a leak in a flow line on Wednesday last week, stressed that an inspection by a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) on [...]
ConAgra signals plan to play the long game after Ralcorp bid fails August 14, 2011 CONAGRA Foods said last night it will consider its options after the rejection on Friday of its sweetened $5.2bn (£3.19bn) offer to buy private-label food company Ralcorp Holdings. ConAgra had raised its offer to $94 a share from its previous unsolicited bid of $86 a share. Its original offer for Ralcorp was $82 a share. [...]
Republicans battle it out for 2012 race August 14, 2011 MICHELE Bachmann scraped to victory in the weekend’s Iowa straw poll of Republicans, with the race to challenge President Barack Obama set to heat up. Bachmann narrowly pipped libertarian Ron Paul to the post, winning with nearly 29 per cent of the vote — just 152 votes ahead of Paul. Supporters of the more-ideological Paul [...]
House prices drop throughout London August 14, 2011 LONDON’S house prices have collapsed in August, yet a leading analyst has said that global financial worries will not impact the housing market across the UK. Asking prices were down in all 32 London boroughs this month, plummeting 3.4 per cent across the capital, according to the Rightmove index released this morning. Prices in London [...]
Supermarkets kick off price war over petrol August 14, 2011 TESCO today reduced its fuel prices by up to two pence per litre (ppl). The price cut covers both unleaded and diesel and is in addition to the price cut of up to 1ppl announced earlier in the week. Yesterday Morrisons took two pence off the price of a litre of unleaded and diesel. The [...]
UK confidence dips on ailing factory sector August 14, 2011 BUSINESS morale has slumped again this month, according to research released this morning by accountants’ group BDO. Economic growth in the UK has been “profoundly hampered by ongoing fragility in the manufacturing sector”, the group’s business trends report said. The factory sector has been in contraction for two straight months, BDO said, with the risk [...]
Think tank attacks green taxes August 14, 2011 Green taxes are imposing “excessive” costs averaging £500 per year for every British family, the Taxpayers’ Alliance will argue today. The social costs of carbon emissions total £16.9bn, according to government estimates – around £13bn less than the £30.1bn net amount raised by domestic green taxes, the TPA has calculated.
Wages rise in motoring sector August 14, 2011 Pay in the automotive industry is rising for the first time since before the recession, according to the latest data from Incomes Data Services (IDS), released this morning. Figures for the year to June show that median pay rises across the industry grew to 3.4 per cent this year, up from zero growth the previous [...]
United Biscuits nears break-up of brands August 14, 2011 UNITED Biscuits, which makes tea-time favourites including Digestives and Jaffa Cakes, could be broken up as its owners plan to renew efforts to sell the company. Private Equity owners Blackstone and PAI Capital will hold fresh talks in coming months that may see the savoury brands, which include KP Peanuts, spun off from its biscuits [...]
Sisu Capital sees second annual loss as fee income falls August 14, 2011 JOY Seppala’s secretive hedge fund Sisu Capital posted a £434,000 net loss for the year to the end of March after being hit by a huge tax charge by HMRC, accounts show. Sisu Capital, co-founded 14 years ago by Seppala and business partner Dermot Coleman, posted a £272,300 loss before tax, slightly better than the [...]
