Go Ahead raises profit forecast as passengers increase June 23, 2011 Transport group Go-Ahead said it expected its full-year operating profit to be ahead of its previous expectations as passenger numbers increased on its Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail franchises. “The previous consensus was around £108m and we’re ahead of expectations,” finance director Keith Down told Reuters in an interview. The company, which operates commuter [...]
Total sells its UK forecourts June 21, 2011 GERALD RONSON’S service station business is among a consortium that has snapped up 810 UK outlets from French oil giant Total in a deal worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the firms announced yesterday. Ronson’s Snax 24 business, which he set up 45 years ago, has teamed up with Investec and new investment firm Grovepoint [...]
MEET THE ADVISER: GROVEPOINT CAPITAL June 21, 2011 BRADLEY FRIED GROVEPOINT CAPITAL BRADLEY Fried led the advisory for Grovepoint Capital, which also raised finance for the deal. Born in South Africa, Fried began his career in New York with McKinsey & Co. He moved to London in 1999 to join Investec Bank in the UK. He was chief executive at the bank until [...]
Weatherford to pay BP $75m for Gulf spill June 21, 2011 Swiss-based oil services group Weatherford International, which provided equipment used in the doomed Macondo well, agreed to pay BP Plc $75m toward the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP has agreed to indemnify Weatherford in relation to economic claims from people affected from the spill and environmental damage. However, the settlement – [...]
Charter shares tank after profit warning June 20, 2011 SHARES in Charter International, the tool and equipment maker, fell by as much as 28 per cent yesterday after it issued a profit warning. Charter said full-year results would likely fall short of expectations, hurt by weakness at its core welding tools unit ESAB. The firm said rising input costs combined with more competition hurt [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 20, 2011 PREMIER FARNELL UBS raises the electronic components distributor to “neutral” after weak first quarter results now leave less room for valuation downside. US slowdown and company-specific problems in Asia Pacific, where organic sales growth slowed from 11 per cent in the fourth quarter to fivr per cent, lead the broker to think growth will struggle [...]
Banks and commodities fall as Greek debt crisis lingers June 20, 2011 BANKS and commodity stocksdragged Britain’s top index lower yesterday, as Greece’s lingering debt crisis looks likely to stall the FTSE’s progress near-term, analysts said. Investors reacted negatively after European finance ministers postponed a final decision on extending a further €12bn in emergency loans to Greece. The International Monetary Fund weighed in, saying it needed to [...]
Why Greece is the new Lehman Bros June 16, 2011 IT is a tale of two economies and two very different responses to catastrophe. Last week, the Icelandic government borrowed $1bn on the bond markets, paying only just over 3 per cent interest. It is an astonishing recovery for a country that just two years ago was written off as a bankrupt, discredited pariah, its [...]
US rentals lift growth at hire firm Ashtead June 16, 2011 BRITISH industrial equipment hire company Ashtead said a continued shift to rentals from ownership left it well placed for 2012, after posting full-year pre-tax profit in line with expectations. The FTSE 250 company, which hires out equipment from diggers to small tools, yesterday said the trend of contractors renting rather than buying equipment had continued [...]
AGE STEALS A MARCH ON BEAUTY IN THE IMF LEADERSHIP CONTEST June 13, 2011 DO CITY insiders know something the rest of the world doesn’t about the IMF leadership race to replace the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Ever since Stanley Fischer announced his bid on Saturday, the odds on the Bank of Israel governor have been steadily shortening to make him Paddy Power’s “biggest liability” – even though at 67, [...]