CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 12, 2009 RSAThe insurer has appointed Christian Torkington as its new UK chief operating officer. Torkington joins from Scottish Widows, where he was managing director of operations. Prior to that, he worked at Barclays in a variety of senior roles, and was also the chief executive of an economic development agency. RSIM Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management has [...]
Burden of pensions for ex-staff mounts August 12, 2009 BLUE CHIP companies are now being forced to spend more covering shortfalls on the pensions of former staff than they do on the future pensions of existing employees, according to research released yesterday. Within five years, payments made to top up the pensions of previous employees will outstrip those for current staff by a ratio [...]
CBA profits drop but number of bad debts starts to fall August 12, 2009 COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia, the country’s third-largest lender, saw full-year pre-tax profit fall nine per cent to A$5.8bn (£2.9bn) yesterday, compared to A$6.4bn in 2008. However second half profit at the bank registered an 18 per cent improvement, rising to A$3.2bn from $2.7bn in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on 30 [...]
BEER MONEY August 12, 2009 SAB MILLER’S chief executive Graham Mackay yesterday said he was prepared to “make the right acquisition” and predicted the beer industry will recover from the downturn at a sluggish pace. Mackay said there was “money available” but refused to be drawn on how much the brewer would be willing to spend.
Continental boss gets the chop August 12, 2009 Germany’s Schaeffler Group finally claimed the scalp of car parts manufacturer Continental’s chief executive Karl-Thomas Neumann yesterday by breaking down union opposition to his ousting with a last-minute compromise offer. The ball bearings manufacturer that controls 90 per cent of Continental installed the head of its own automotive components business, Elmar Degenhart, as the new [...]
SOCO profits boost exploration August 12, 2009 Oil and gas explorer SOCO International said yesterday it will launch a major exploration programme in West Africa over the next 18 months after swinging to a first-half pre-tax profit of $31.6m (£19.1m). Chief executive Ed Story said he hoped to find 500m barrels of oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congo [...]
Aquarius loses as demand drops August 12, 2009 Aquarius Platinum, the world’s fourth-biggest producer of platinum, said yesterday it had swung to a full-year net loss of $45.7m (£27.6m) on weaker metal prices and reduced output. Aquarius said production fell to 455,675 ounces from 500,203 ounces in its last financial year, hit by the suspension of operations at its South African Everest mine [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 12, 2009 MICHAEL PAGEAhead of the firm’s first half results on Monday, Panmure Gordon rates Michael Page a “sell” with a 94p target price. The broker said the current outlook cannot be anything but cautious, making valuation difficult. Rival Adecco’s acquisition of Spring Group makes the chances of it buying Page slim, said Panmure. COOKSONUBS introduced a [...]
ING back to profit but banking suffers August 12, 2009 DUTCH banking group ING returned to the black yesterday, posting second-quarter pre-tax profit of €74m (£63.5m), but saw its banking operations fall to a surprise loss. The financial services group turned around its dismal performance during the credit crunch, which saw it post a €4.3bn loss in the final quarter of 2008, followed by a [...]
Fury over McDonalds’ 2012 exclusivity August 12, 2009 THE organisers of the 2012 London Olympics came under fire yesterday as it emerged that McDonald’s will be the only food brand seen at the event. Other vendors will be present at the Olympic venues but, as official sponsor, the golden arches will be the only brand seen by hungry visitors. The agreement seemingly undermines [...]
