Thomas Cook plans Chinese tie-up as it moves in to emerging markets November 28, 2010 TOUR operator Thomas Cook is hoping to forge a tie-up with a Chinese travel company to expand into tiger economies. The holiday group is understood to want to move into the Chinese market by 2012 as part of its drive to cash in on growth in emerging markets. The company last week announced a deal to [...]
Catalyst demand and price hikes lift Johnson Matthey November 24, 2010 GROWING demand for vehicle catalysts and higher metal prices yesterday helped speciality chemical group Johnson Matthey to boost profits by nearly half, beating forecasts. The platinum refiner and world’s largest supplier of catalytic converters posted underlying pre-tax profit of £164.3m in the six months to 30 September, compared to £114.4m the previous year, against an [...]
Xinmao: We’re serious about Draka offer November 24, 2010 XINMAO Group’s financial adviser said yesterday that the group had Chinese bank financing lined up for its $1.3bn (£820m) offer for Dutch cable maker Draka, in a bid to dispel doubts over its proposed bid. Xinmao had a commitment from “one of the larger banks in China to provide the funds as necessary” for the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CAMERON WOOS NORDIC NATIONS David Cameron is to host a summit with leaders of Nordic and Baltic countries in January, an unusual move which Downing Street billed as an opportunity to exchange ideas on issues such as the green economy, social cohesion and gender equality. Cameron’s spokeswoman insisted the summit was not an [...]
Tesco China aims to quadruple its sales November 22, 2010 SUPERMARKET Tesco plans to quadruple sales in its Chinese business over the next five years, the firm said yesterday. Tesco told investors and analysts it hopes to hit £4bn in annual sales by 2015, in a country where sales are currently rising at eight per cent year-on-year. The firm aims to build more than 1,000 [...]
Commodity prices are not all that they seem November 22, 2010 THERE’S a tiny corner of pessimism in the commodity investment world. Amid a multitude of bulls, a few bears are pointing at what they think might be the unnoticed elephant in the room: large institutional investors. With the possibility of that demand reversing, should contracts for difference (CFD) traders perhaps be a little worried? Certainly [...]
Gifts with a sense of history November 22, 2010 IT’S no coincidence that the recession has overlapped with a surge in the popularity of all things old fashioned. If our confidence in a bold, sparkling future has faltered, our interest in the aesthetics of the past – and the values of quality, provenance and craftsmanship that go with it – has rocketed upwards. 1940s-themed [...]
China tries to curb food prices after consumer inflation hits two-year high November 22, 2010 CHINA said yesterday it would step up efforts to keep commodity prices stable, in its latest attempt to keep fast-rising inflation rates in check. China’s central cabinet has asked local governments to increase agricultural production and keep a constant coal, oil and gas supply in a seven-page circular. The government has urged local groups to [...]
How to defuse a time bomb: China worries about liquidity November 21, 2010 IF ANYONE had needed more proof of the extent of global economic imbalance, then last week’s inflation figures ought to have been enough. Despite unprecedented monetary ease, America’s inflation rate is running at 0.6 per cent, the lowest level in 53 years. In China, however, money is abundant and inflation is running at 4.4 per [...]
Private equity battle looms for Danish ISS November 18, 2010 A BLACKSTONE-led quartet and two rival teams are readying bids for ISS, the $7bn (£4.4bn) Danish cleaning giant as Europe’s biggest post-crisis buyout heats up. The owners of ISS – Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Sweden’s EQT – are exploring an initial public offering (IPO) of the company or a sale of it. Blackstone Group, [...]