Pharma arm too reliant on heroin addict drug July 25, 2011 RECKITT Benckiser’s pharmaceuticals (RBP) arm has always been an odd fit for the rest of the company, which specialises in big bright cleaning brands like Harpic and Finish dishwasher tablets. The drugs division is interested in something altogether darker: heroin addiction. Things aren’t looking good for Suboxone, RBP’s drug for opiate addicts. It lost US [...]
Aberdeen in fees boost as funds grow July 25, 2011 ABERDEEN Asset Management pleased the market yesterday with a better-than-expected jump in funds under management and higher fee earnings over the past quarter. The fund manager’s assets hit £185.8bn at the end of June, up 2.5 per cent in the past three months as it added £10.9bn gross new funds. Analysts also welcomed the news [...]
London Stock Exchange warns on NYSE-Deutsche Boerse tie up July 25, 2011 THE London Stock Exchange claimed yesterday that the planned tie up between its rivals, Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext, would create a derivatives giant that would stifle competition in Europe. The LSE, which had to abandon its own merger with Canada’s TMX Group last month, stepped up its opposition to its competitors’ plan. The merger [...]
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT ABERDEEN’S BUSINESS MODEL? July 25, 2011 STUART DUNCAN | PEEL HUNT Aberdeen continues to tick many of the boxes we look for in an asset manager. The group has a diverse business mix, improving revenue and operating margins, and a focus on cash that is delivering a strengthening balance sheet and giving rise to the possibility of our dividend forecasts looking [...]
AssetCo to issue £10m new equity July 25, 2011 CASH-STRAPPED fire engine operator AssetCo said it had turned to its investors for money yesterday as it could not reach agreement with its potential buyer. AssetCo’s board has been in exclusive talks with Bahraini bank Arcapita for months to try and secure a last-ditch sale that would see it saved from bankruptcy. But it admitted [...]
Wolseley sells two more low earning firms July 25, 2011 BUILDERS merchant Wolseley said it had agreed to sell two of its underperforming businesses to French rival Saint-Gobain for a total £310m yesterday. The world’s biggest plumbers and building merchant said Saint-Gobain would buy its UK building materials distribution business Build Center for £145m and was in exclusive talks to buy its French plumbing and [...]
Shares in Holidaybreak soar over takeover talks July 25, 2011 SHARES in Holidaybreak, the specialist holiday provider, rose 15 per cent yesterday after the company revealed it was in takeover talks. Holidaybreak, which provides outdoor education and adventure trips for school children, confirmed yesterday that it is in discussions with a third party, sending shares up to 367p last night to give a market cap [...]
Melrose wants access to Charter’s books before it raises its offer price July 25, 2011 INDUSTRIAL turnaround firm Melrose hit back at the board of its takeover target Charter International yesterday, claiming it could raise its offer further if shown evidence the engineering group was worth it. Charter has so far rejected two offers from Melrose, the most recent of which valued it at £1.4bn, as it believes Melrose undervalues [...]
WSP cuts workforce as profits drop July 25, 2011 ENGINEERING consultancy WSP Group has reported a lower first-half adjusted pre-tax profit, hurt by a squeeze in the UK public sector spending, and said it had cut its workforce by four per cent. Last month, the company had warned of posting lower 2011 results as the UK’s government cuts spending. The company said it expects [...]
Apple loss bites into Wolfson forecasts July 25, 2011 EDINBURGH-BASED chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics slashed its sales forecast again yesterday in the face of a tough market for electronics goods that lack an Apple logo. The downgrade, its second in a month, sent shares in the maker of audio processing chips down 10.7 per cent to a 15-month closing low. The company reported second-quarter revenue [...]
