CITY VIEWS | HAVE YOU SEEN THE OLYMPIC TORCH? July 25, 2012 GRANT LOWDEN PORTWARE LLC Yes I saw the flame pass through our local high street a couple of weeks ago and was delighted to see people making the effort to get out and wave as it passed – even in the pouring rain. DORIAN TRANQUILLE-DAY ERNST & YOUNG No and I also think it is [...]
Capita boosted by acquisitions July 25, 2012 British outsourcing group Capita has posted a 10 per cent rise in first half profit, boosted by its acquisition spree, and said a buoyant sales market gave it confidence for a strong 2012 and beyond. Capita said yesterday underlying pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June was £190.7m.
Johnson Matthey disappoints July 25, 2012 Shares in Johnson Matthey fell yesterday after the chemicals firm posted a virtually flat first quarter, prompting worries it may miss forecasts for the first half. Johnson Matthey posted a profit rise of less than two per cent on a year earlier, and said the second quarter would be similar.
Petropavlovsk to up output July 25, 2012 Russia-focused gold miner Petropavlovsk aims to boost its gold production during the second half of 2012 after its first half output rose 27 per cent, the company said yesterday. Its first half gold production was 279,100 troy ounces, up from 219,100 ounces, year-on-year.
Better margins shore-up Informa July 25, 2012 British media group Informa posted a three per cent rise in adjusted profits yesterday despite a fall in revenue. The company, which publishes shipping guide Lloyd’s List and organises exhibitions, said pre-tax profit increased to £142.8m. However, with impairment costs related to the disposal of its central European operations, Informa fell to a £27.4m loss.
Nomura chief executive to resign July 25, 2012 Kenichi Watanabe, the head of Japanese bank Nomura, will resign to take responsibility for leaks of insider information to clients of the company’s brokerage unit, the Nikkei newspaper reported last night. Watanabe has already seen his pay docked by the board following the firm’s third insider trading scandal since he took the helm four years [...]
Moody’s threatens German banks July 25, 2012 Ratings agency Moody’s last night changed its outlook on 17 German banking groups to negative because their ratings incorporate support from the German state. The change follows Moody’s decision earlier in the week to change the outlook on German sovereign ratings to negative from stable.
Insurer MetLife names new CFO July 25, 2012 MetLife, the largest life insurer in the United States, yesterday announced it has appointed John Hele as its chief financial officer. Hele, who joins MetLife from Arch Capital Group, replaces Eric Steigerwalt who held the position on an interim basis.
Tullow will use Ugandan funds to boost output July 25, 2012 AFRICA-FOCUSED Tullow Oil is setting its sights on boosting production at its Jubilee field in Ghana and success from a busy drilling programme, putting to use $2.9bn (£1.8bn) of funds from partners which bought into its Uganda project. Reporting a 48 per cent increase in first-half pre-tax profit to $829m and an unchanged dividend of [...]
Cookson plummets as profits are pulled down by silica arm July 25, 2012 COOKSON Group said yesterday its first-half profit was dragged down by a loss at its fused silica business, and that it expected demand from the steel industry to soften as a result of slowing industrial production, particularly in Europe. Cookson, which receives about half of its revenue from supplying ceramic products to the steel and [...]
