New markets help Iberdrola July 25, 2012 IBERDROLA posted a two per cent rise in first-half core profit yesterday thanks to diversification away from its energy business in Spain into new markets like Brazil, the US and Britain. Its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation reached €4.1bn (£3.2bn), driven by a 12.2 per cent rise in its renewables business. The [...]
Providence reveals more oil off the coast of Ireland July 25, 2012 DUBLIN-BASED oil explorer Providence Resources yesterday said estimates of oil found off the coast of southern Ireland have more than trebled, slightly higher than analysts had expected, as it eyes investment from larger players. Providence said oil in place at the wells stood in a range of 1bn to 1.6bn barrels of oil, against a [...]
US corporate results round-up July 25, 2012 Boeing revenues up PLANE-MAKING giant Boeing weathered cuts in US defence spending and higher pension costs as it said yesterday that revenue rose 21 per cent and quarterly profits were up three per cent. Commercial unit sales that rose 34 per cent to $11.8bn and defence sales that rose seven per cent buoyed profits as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 25, 2012 Tullow Oil Anne Drinkwater has been appointed non-executive director at the oil and gas exploration group. She joins after a long career at BP, where she was most recently president and chief executive of BP Canada. Akbank Josef Ackermann has been appointed to the international advisory board of the Turkish bank. He will work alongside [...]
BEST of the BROKERS July 25, 2012 JULIUS BAER UBS has downgraded the Swiss bank from “buy” to “neutral” with a target price of SwFr36 after decent first half results, and lifted its earnings per share forecast by five per cent for 2012. LANCASHIRE HOLDINGS Numis has moved the insurer from “hold” to “add” after second quarter profits came in ahead of [...]
FTSE ends flat as patchy earnings steal focus away from Eurozone July 25, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index steadied yesterday, pausing after three days of falls thanks to a mixed batch of corporate results that pitted a weak showing in Europe for GlaxoSmithKline and BT against a sterling performance for chipmaker Arm. The international backdrop also offered conflicting signals, with weak US data on the one hand and growing [...]
Rare miss by Apple pushes Nasdaq lower July 25, 2012 THE S&P 500 fell for a fourth day and the Nasdaq dropped yesterday after a rare earnings stumble from Apple, while strong results from Boeing and Caterpillar lifted the Dow. Apple, the most valuable US company by market capitalisation, reported sales late on Tuesday that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations as the European economy [...]
Stagnation Britain: Osborne has played his hand extremely badly July 25, 2012 THE statisticians will be arguing about the last quarter’s growth figures for years. Was it really a 0.7 per cent fall in national income, a 0.9 per cent fall or a 0.5 per cent fall? If it were not for the soggy weather and extra Bank Holidays, might we have managed just a 0.2 per [...]
Romney’s trip to Europe draws attention to Obama’s diplomatic blunders July 25, 2012 MITT Romney’s overseas schedule this week is not just about creating the optics of a statesman. In Britain, Poland and Israel, the Republican presidential nominee will seek to showcase what he says is the damage caused by Barack Obama to America’s principles and three of her most important strategic allies. As a marked contrast to [...]
Be mistrustful of the ONS data on economic growth July 25, 2012 BY THE time you read this, I will have been to see a play, The Doctor’s Dilemma. To enter into the atmosphere, I’ll have to embrace a willing suspension of disbelief. Inevitably, the fiction of the play will conflict with the reality of what I know – or, more precisely, of what I think I [...]
