Jefferies tops its estimates December 18, 2012 JEFFERIES Group saw its trading revenue more than double to $293m (£180.5m) from $141m a year earlier. The midsized investment bank benefited from higher earnings from its fixed-income unit, and said its business expansion in Asia has started delivering. Jefferies said it also benefited from a pickup in trading across the board in September thanks [...]
Laidlaw struggles to pin blame over failed West Coast contest December 18, 2012 A POOR chain of command helped cause the West Coast rail franchise fiasco, the author of a report into the failed contest told MPs yesterday – but confidentiality rules mean some officials involved have not been identified. Sam Laidlaw, a non-executive director at the Department for Transport (DfT), said the department redacted parts of his [...]
Heathrow sees surging earnings December 18, 2012 Heathrow Airport has forecast a 16.6 per cent earnings rise to £1.34bn for next year as airline charges are hiked. Heathrow told investors yesterday that passenger traffic is likely to rise 1.2 per cent to 70.9m next year, as carriers switch to bigger planes, though the near-full airport forecasts a “marginal” rise in flights. Revenues [...]
Gambling deadline gets punted December 18, 2012 William Hill has been given more time to finalise a £485m takeover of rival gambling group Sportingbet. Britain’s largest bookmaker is making a joint bid with smaller betting firm GVC Holdings.The companies have provisionally agreed a cash and shares deal which would value Sportingbet shares at 56.1p each. The deadline for a formal offer to [...]
Aim debut for Fusionex December 18, 2012 Fusionex, the Malaysia-based company specialising in software products and solutions delivery debuted on the Aim market yesterday. The group’s shares were priced at 150p each, valuing the company at £64.5m. The offering raised £12m, placing 7.6m shares, and was three times oversubscribed. Panmure Gordon acted as nominated adviser and sole broker. This was Panmure’s fourth [...]
Sandy batters Lloyd’s insurers with £286m hit December 18, 2012 SUPERSTORM Sandy has left members of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market with a bill of at least £286m, it was revealed yesterday. The enormous storm swept through the Caribbean and north-eastern US at the end of October, hitting New York and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The resulting damage is expected [...]
Women motorists face cover hikes from Friday December 18, 2012 WOMEN are set to pay more for many insurance products from this Friday as the industry takes advantage of rule changes to hike premiums, according to ratings agency Fitch. An EU ruling that comes into force on Friday will ban insurers from considering gender when pricing products, hitting groups that currently enjoy favourable rates such [...]
Samsung ends Apple lawsuits December 18, 2012 SAMSUNG has shelved a number of legal attempts to have Apple products banned in European countries including Britain. The Korean company announced the move yesterday following a US judge’s refusal to hand down a ban on Samsung devices including its popular Galaxy smartphones. Samsung said that the retreat showed its preference to compete in the [...]
Insurers can weather disasters December 18, 2012 THE losses to insurers from Hurricane Sandy are substantial, although not in the league of last year’s natural catastrophes with their appalling toll of human misery in New Zealand and Japan, floods in Thailand and Hurricane Irene in the US, all of which made 2011 the year with highest catastrophe-related economic losses in history, according [...]
Britons are feeling less than festive about Europe December 18, 2012 EVERY month YouGov runs its EuroTrack survey, a multi-country study tracking public opinion in the UK, Germany, France and the Nordic countries. Looking at the latest data, the results of two questions (one a serious political issue, the other more light-hearted) grabbed my attention. First, the serious political issue: how would people in the countries [...]
