MoD offloads Qinetiq September 10, 2008 QinetiQ shares took a nosedive yesterday after the Ministry of Defence announced it would sell the 18.9 per cent stake it retained after the defence technology company was floated two years ago. The government said that its 124.9m shares would be sold via an “accelerated bookbuild offering to be launched immediately”. However, it will retain [...]
Troubled Johnson in share bomb September 10, 2008 Dry cleaning to clothes hire company Johnson Service Group yesterday revealed an 80 per cent plunge in first half profits due to tough trading conditions. Johnson has been weathering a troubled period following its shares collapse last year. The group reported pre-tax profit of £0.4m, compared with £2.3m last year as revenue slumped 18 per [...]
Vodafone top brass change under Colao September 10, 2008 Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s new chief executive, announced a major reshuffle of the mobile telecoms giant’s top management yesterday – a move that will split its blossoming emerging markets division into two and see the departure of his most senior executive by the end of the year. Colao has appointed former France Telecom finance director Michael [...]
Tullow finds crude again September 10, 2008 Tullow Oil, the Africa-focused explorer, said yesterday it had made another crude discovery at its Kigogole-1 well in the Butiaba region of Uganda. Tullow, which holds more exploration licences than any other British firm in Africa, said that the well was drilled to a total depth of 616 metres and found two oil zones. The [...]
BG concedes defeat over deal with Australia’s Origin September 10, 2008 BG group said yesterday it would not increase its hostile takeover bid for Australian Origin Energy after the company agreed to a joint venture with American oil giant ConocoPhillips. BG’s offer of A$15.50 (£7.08) a share, which expires on 26 September, will not be extended and is expected to lapse, BG said in a statement. [...]
Boerse: cash equities are not for sale September 10, 2008 A Deutsche Boerse supervisory board member said yesterday that the exchange is unlikely to sell its cash equities business to the London Stock Exchange, contrary to a report in Handelsblatt earlier this week. Citing unnamed financial sources, the German business daily had reported that UK-based The Children’s Investment Fund wanted the Boerse to pursue a [...]
British banks given access to Vietnam September 10, 2008 HSBC and Standard Chartered have become the first foreign banks to be given permission to set up wholly owned subsidiaries in Communist Vietnam, the country’s state bank said yesterday. The two companies will be allowed to operate as commercial banks for a period of 99 years, according to a statement from the State Bank of [...]
Redrow cuts payout hit by housing slump September 10, 2008 Evidence of the housing market downturn became even more explicit yesterday as housebuilder Redrow announced a halving of profits and a new £450m debt facility to 2011. Shareholders are also losing out on a third dividend, due to an “unprecedented decline in the fortunes of the UK housing market in a very short period of [...]
More women make it to the top in City law profession… September 10, 2008 More women are landing top jobs at the UK’s leading law firms than ever before, according to a study released yesterday. The research, which was commissioned by The Lawyer magazine, showed that although men still outnumber females by four to one throughout the profession, ratios in the top ranks are slowly improving. Nearly 20 per [...]
…as 3i breaks glass ceiling September 10, 2008 Private equity firm 3i yesterday smashed through the City’s glass ceiling, announcing that it was appointing a female finance director. Julia Wilson, 41, will join the board at the end of the month to replace the outgoing finance director, Simon Ball. 3i chairman Baroness Sarah Hogg – who is the most powerful woman at a [...]
