QinetiQ first half figures up on delivery of grenade protectors September 24, 2012 DEFENCE technology company QinetiQ yesterday reported a better than expected first half performance, helped by strong trade at its global products and UK services divisions. QinetiQ, which makes high-tech military equipment such as bomb disposal robots and sniper detectors, said it had delivered the majority of two large orders for the Q-Net vehicle survivability product, [...]
Spirent sells off £61m PG Drives September 24, 2012 Communications tester Spirent yesterday announced the $61m (£39.5m) sale of its system division PG Drives Technology to US defence component maker Curtiss-Wright. PG Drives designs and makes power supply controllers for electric vehicles. Spirent chief executive Bill Burns said the disposal was a “step forward in Spirent’s strategy to focus the group’s activities on the [...]
Double digit growth at Diploma September 24, 2012 Technical products firms Diploma said it expects turnover to rise 13 per cent this year, but warned that profit margins had slipped due to a number of purchases and a stronger pound. The FTSE 250 firm, which supplies the life sciences and seals industries, bought US-based J Royal in December for £11m, boosting revenue. Diploma [...]
Smurfit Kappa expands in LatAm September 24, 2012 Irish packaging group Smurfit Kappa has agreed to buy a US containerboard manufacturer for £210m, in a deal that will boost its fast-growing Latin American business. Smurfit agreed to buy Orange County Container Group using its existing cash resources, the company said in a statement. OCCG, which employs 2,800 people, mostly in Mexico, will deliver [...]
Shore Capital’s shares soar as revenues rise September 24, 2012 INVESTMENT bank Shore Capital reported steady profits in the first half of 2012 yesterday, with strong growth expected to continue in part thanks to its German telecoms investments. Group revenues came in at £17.8m, up 28.3 per cent on the second half of 2011, and down 12.7 per cent on the first half of last [...]
Gleacher sees jump in turnover despite slow merger markets September 24, 2012 INVESTMENT bank Gleacher Shacklock will this week report increased revenues through 2011, despite choppy markets and falling profits in many larger institutions in the sector. However profits stagnated, and the firm increased spending on staff with overall headcount increasing by six to 48. Much of the firm’s income comes from fees on mergers and acquisitions [...]
Insurer Tawa sells unit for £17m September 24, 2012 British insurer Tawa yesterday announced the sale of its KX Reinsurance business to Bermuda’s Catalina Holdings for $28m (£17m) in cash. KX Re has total assets of $114m and its risks are mainly in the US, date from before 1985 and include asbestos liabilities. It was put into run-off in 1992 before being sold by [...]
Brazil prosecutor charges Petrobras September 24, 2012 A prosecutor from Brazil’s Public Ministry has charged state-run oil company Petrobras with environmental crimes for a spill at its Duque de Caxias refinery that allegedly contaminated the mangroves and estuary of Guanabara Bay off Rio de Janeiro. Public prosecutor Renato Machado also charged two employees of Petrobras in a statement released yesterday. The spill [...]
BP may need to pump billions into Azeri field September 24, 2012 BP WILL have to invest billions of dollars more than previously planned if it is to slow falling output at an Azeri oil project that is also Azerbaijan’s biggest cash cow, oil executives and diplomats say. The investments required to cut the decline at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields are so large that it may not [...]
Toyota is short of energy for wide release of battery cars September 24, 2012 TOYOTA has scrapped plans for widespread sales of a new all-electric minicar, saying it had misread the market and the ability of still-emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands. Toyota, which had already taken a more conservative view of the market for battery-powered cars than rivals General Motors and Nissan, said it would only sell [...]
