Goldenport plans £220m LSE float November 3, 2005 Greek shipping line Goldenport said it plans to raise £80m through an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange to buy more ships and pay off debt. Analysts put its market value at around £220m. A spokesman for Goldenport said that it plans to issue its prospectus and float on the LSE’s main market [...]
CSR profits soar on Bluetooth November 3, 2005 Bluetooth wireless communications specialists CSR has rung up a 151 per cent growth in third quarter profits and the company has hired more staff to meet demand for its technology. CSR said pre-tax profits were $45.5m (£25.8m) in the period compared with $18.1m in the same quarter of 2003. The Cambridge-based firm also announced that [...]
RSA in $11m settlement November 3, 2005 Insurer Royal & SunAlliance (RSA) has moved to extricate itself from legal action over the Student Finance Corporation (SFC) by agreeing to pay $11m (£6.19m) to Wilmington Trust. The company revealed the latest payment yesterday as shares in the insurer spiked. City traders said that French rival Axa could be lining up a bid, although [...]
No more US deals for RBS November 3, 2005 Sir Fred Goodwin has reiterated Royal Bank of Scotland’s stance on acquisitions in America, saying there are no plans for further deals following last year’s purchase of Charter One Financial. In an interview with news agency Bloomberg in New York, the Edinburgh bank’s chief executive said: “Organic growth is our number one priority (in America).” [...]
Boomtime for Credit Suisse November 3, 2005 Credit Suisse became the latest big bank to report soaring profits on the back of stronger financial markets. The Swiss bank reported a 42 per cent rise in third quarter profits to Sfr1.92bn (£846m) thanks to growth across its investment banking, private banking and asset management divisions. Oswald Grübel, chief executive, called the results “satisfactory”. [...]
Deutsche Telekom to axe 32,000 jobs November 3, 2005 Deutsche Telekom is axing 32,000 jobs in a radical restructuring as the German phone group ruled out making a counter-bid for O2, leaving Telefonica with a clear run at the British mobile phone firm. The job losses, which amount to 12 per cent of the workforce, include 7,000 employees being outsourced. The remaining 25,000 will [...]
Blunkett quits after new allegations November 3, 2005 David Blunkett resigned yesterday as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, following intense criticism of his ill-judged directorship of a DNA company as yet more allegations of financial impropriety emerged. In a statement Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said: “David Blunkett chose to resign because he had reached the conclusion that the position was [...]
Ryanair gambling on giving away its seats November 3, 2005 Fancy a flutter when you fly? Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary says the no-frills carrier is hoping to sign a partnership with a gaming company to introduce inflight gambling in a move which could mean passengers travel for free on Europe’s largest carrier. O’Leary said his bold plan to introduce an airborne Las Vegas could see [...]
BCCI £1bn case ended ‘month late’ November 3, 2005 Judge tells court of his surprise that the Deloitte action against BoE had been allowed to drag on for so long BCCI’S liquidator Deloitte was instructed by the collapsed bank’s creditor committee to immediately halt its action against the Bank of England on 26 September, but only managed to extricate itself from the £1bn litigation [...]
England batsmen fail again November 2, 2005 England will do well to avoid defeat in their opening tour match in Pakistan this morning. They will resume on the final day of three on 39 for six — a lead of just 84 runs. Although the tourists’ bowlers performed well on a misbehaving wicket, England suffered a second successive batting collapse. Andrew Strauss, [...]
