Thomas Cook chief executive apologises for reaction to Corfu deaths as it trims losses with “substantially improved” performance May 20, 2015 The travel agent may have reported higher profits, but its reputation has taken a battering this week, after it emerged it had failed to apologise to the parents of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, the two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Corfu hotel in 2006. Read more: Thomas Cook donates £1.5m Corfu compensation [...]
China’s Rundong Auto plans growth as Greenland Group buys controlling stake May 17, 2015 CHINESE developer Greenland Holding Group will pay HK$1.5bn (£123m) for a controlling stake in luxury auto dealer China Rundong Auto Group. Rundong Auto, backed by US private equity firm KKR & Co, said it will sell a 46 per cent controlling stake to Greenland and change its name to China Greenland Rundong Auto Group. The [...]
SABMiller falls flat as revenues lose sparkle after dollar woes May 13, 2015 Shares in SABMiller crept up yesterday as investors shrugged off the firm’s dollar woes and instead focused on the fundamentals. The world’s largest brewer saw its full-year results take a hit as the strong dollar weighed heavily on revenues. The firm continued to target the expanding markets of Africa and Latin America, spending $1.6bn (£1bn) [...]
Commodity firms: The new manufacturers? – CNBC Comment May 11, 2015 Resources firms were matter of fact about cutting capital expenditure when conditions took a turn for the worse in emerging markets. For too long, energy and base metals giants used their big diversified structures to bamboozle investors about returns stretching across vast geographies, while shoveling cash into more projects to achieve scale. That’s all changing. [...]
ITE Group share price jumps as it shakes off Russia woes May 11, 2015 A sign of the times? Exhibitions and conferences business ITE Group, whose largest market is Russia and Ukraine, says it's back on form. The figures Alright, so the company's pre-tax profits fell 3.9 per cent to £17.5m in the six months to the end of March, while revenues dropped from £71.2m in 2014 to £56.1m. And net debt rose to [...]
Alibaba share price jumps as it appoints new chief executive May 7, 2015 Shares in Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba leapt more than 10 per cent in pre-market trading today after it announced it has hired a new chief exec, after months of declines in its share price. The company – often described as the "Chinese Ebay" – said Daniel Zhang, currently its chief operating officer, will take the [...]
With Australia’s central bank the latest to cut interest rates, is the global recovery at risk? May 5, 2015 Steven Feng, a research fellow at Griffith University Asia Institute, says Yes The global economy risks slipping into a deflationary trap. The US recovery is built on shaky ground, the Eurozone faces an imminent threat to its integrity, hopes for supply-side reform in Japan have faded, and China is in de facto deflation. Emerging economies [...]
Ex-Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy’s investment firm eyes New Look bid with China’s CDH May 5, 2015 The investment firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which names supermarket supremo Sir Terry Leahy among its advisers, is assembling a bid for high street fashion chain New Look, according to reports. The private equity firm, which former Tesco boss Leahy joined in 2011, has held talks with Chinese group CDH to mount a bid for [...]
After weak growth in the first quarter, is the US still the driving force of the global economy? April 29, 2015 Richard Batley, senior economist at Lombard Street Research, says Yes US growth is going through a soft patch. This was initially the result of the negative impact of lower oil prices. A strong dollar then piled on the pressure. The port strike and a vicious winter also caused expansion to slow. Of all these negatives, [...]
Samsung Vs Apple: Galaxy S6 maker back on top despite record iPhone 6 sales April 29, 2015 Apple may have had another incredible quarter with the huge success of the new iPhone 6, but Samsung managed to steal back the much sought after smartphone crown from the world's biggest company. Samsung recaptured the title of the world's largest seller of smartphones by volume, shipping 83.2m devices in the first quarter of the [...]