Virgin Media’s sales rise but losses widen April 28, 2010 VIRGIN Media continued its roaring run of form with its fastest ever customer growth last quarter. It surpassed analyst expectations as it added 38,300 net cable customers to solidify its position as the UK’s second biggest pay-TV provider. Chief executive Neil Berkett said the firm had benefited from both record new customers and the lowest [...]
F&C surprises with Thames River buyout April 28, 2010 F&C Asset Management’s shares slumped yesterday after the City fund manager said it would pay £33.6m in cash and shares for hedge fund boutique Thames River Capital. F&C, which will hope to spur growth with the deal after a spell of lacklustre performance, saw its shares slip 3.1 per cent to 63.25p yesterday despite positive [...]
Swedish banking sector buoyed as loan-loss pain eases April 28, 2010 Sweden’s top banks got a lift from the economic recovery and an easing of problem credit in the Baltic region in the first quarter, though growth in core income is expected to be subdued this year. Nordea, Handelsbanken and SEB all posted higher-than-expected profits yesterday, as did Swedbank, which reported on Tuesday. The banks capitalised [...]
Trafficmaster confirms it is locked in takeover talks April 28, 2010 vehicle tracking firm Trafficmaster yesterday confirmed it was in takeover talks with an unnamed party, sending its stock up over 16 per cent. Trafficmaster, which also provides navigation and journey data to drivers in the US and Britain, issued the statement in response to movement in its share price and recent press speculation. The company [...]
Shell profits soar on high crude prices April 28, 2010 OIL major Royal Dutch Shell, yesterday announced a 49 per cent rise in profits on the back of higher oil prices and growth in production. Europe’s largest oil producer said earnings on a current cost of supply basis, were $4.9bn (£3.2bn) for the first three months of the year, up from $3.3bn in the equivalent [...]
Rolls-Royce expects little growth in 2010 April 28, 2010 ROLLS-ROYCE, the aircraft enginemaker, forecasted that its sales and profits for the year to come will be flat as the group said the business environment remained challenging. A statement from Rolls-Royce said yesterday it expects underlying revenue, average net cash and underlying profits to be broadly similar to those achieved in 2009, despite a modest [...]
Two BA executives labelled liars in price-fixing trial April 28, 2010 TWO British Airways (BA) executives embroiled in price-fixing allegations were labelled as “liars” in court yesterday on the third day of the trial. Richard Latham QC told a jury at the Southwark Crown Court yesterday that accounts given to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) by BA executives in 2007 did not “sit side by [...]
Allied Irish to launch rights issue in 2010 April 28, 2010 Allied Irish Banks yesterday confirmed plans to launch a rights issue in the second half of 2010 as it seeks to catch up with Bank of Ireland in the race for fresh capital and minimise state ownership. Bank of Ireland this week became the first of five Irish lenders to tap markets looking to plug [...]
Deutsche bond trader in court April 28, 2010 A DEUTSCHE Bank bond salesman accused of illegal insider trading in the US market regulator’s first credit default swaps case neither broke securities law nor bank policy, his lawyer said in a closing statement at trial yesterday. The SEC’s summation focused on trial evidence of phone calls between the defendants, who switched from recorded landlines [...]
Galleon probe continues in US April 28, 2010 FEDERAL prosecutors are continuing “covert investigations” of two people in the Galleon hedge fund insider trade case, according to a court document made public yesterday. The disclosure raises the prospect of additional arrests in a case described by prosecutors as the biggest probe of illegal insider trading involving hedge funds in the United States. Twenty-one [...]
