Rusal completes debt refinancing October 6, 2011 UC Rusal said yesterday it had finished refinancing its $11.4bn (£7.4bn) debt portfolio, finally freeing it from restrictions on investments and dividend payments imposed by a restructuring deal. The firm, Russia’s most indebted at the time of the 2008 credit crunch, said it had used a recently agreed new loan to pay off $4.34bn still [...]
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2012 October 6, 2011 FROM 6AM TOMORROW – ITV1 Aside from ensuring a northern versus southern hemisphere final, Australia’s qualification into the unexpected side of the draw has thrown up two mouthwatering last-eight fixtures, and more than enough reason to set the alarm for 6am on Saturday and Sunday. Ireland take on Wales in the weekend’s first match in [...]
An empire of darkness and crime October 5, 2011 MISHA Glenny is no stranger to investigating violent individuals. As a correspondent for the Guardian and BBC he covered corrupt politicians and megalomaniac generals in Yugoslavia. Following this, Glenny turned his sights on international crime syndicates, producing his findings in his celebrated 2008 work McMafia. In his latest, however, Glenny has swapped machine guns, cocaine [...]
Overseas sales boost Walker Greenback October 4, 2011 LUXURY wallpaper and soft furnishings group Walker Greenbank yesterday reported a 13 per cent rise in profits thanks to expanding international sales. The group held two big launches early in the year for Morris & Co and the Harlequin Momentum collection, which fuelled a rise in sales. Group revenues rose 11 per cent to £37.4m, [...]
Oligarchs fight for control of Russian railway October 4, 2011 TWO of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs are set to compete with each other in a multi-billion dollar auction for state-owned rail group Freight One, which goes up for sale at the end of this month. Steel magnate Vladimir Lisin, Russia’s richest man with a $24bn fortune, will bid for the Russian Railways unit via his [...]
Advisory and auditing lift Ernst & Young October 3, 2011 BIG FOUR accountancy firm Ernst & Young will buck the global market downturn this morning as it announces that revenues in its UK business have risen eight per cent since last year, driven by strong performances in its assurance and advisory business. Turnover at the firm hit £1.465bn in the 12 months to 30 June [...]
Gold-related groups might bring markets to life October 3, 2011 GOLD has been one of the few winners of the recent downturn because of its safe haven status, so it should come as no surprise that companies involved in the production of the precious metal should be first in the queue to bring a ray of sunshine to the nearly dormant new issues markets. Polymetal, [...]
Global manufacturing sees first fall in two years October 3, 2011 The manufacturing sector contracted worldwide for the first time in over two years last month as incoming new work dried up, but firms still took on more workers, a new report has shown. The Global Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, compiled by JP Morgan with research and supply organisations, fell in September to 49.9 from 50.2 [...]
Gazprom weighing new Turkey deals October 2, 2011 Russia’s Gazprom is mulling new deals in Turkey after it received notification from Turkish state pipeline company Botas that it had decided to end a contract to buy 6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually, a Gazprom source said yesterday. Botas decided to end the contract to receive gas via the so-called western line [...]
GOLDMAN PREDICTS GREAT STAGNATION September 29, 2011 THE GREAT recession is in serious danger of becoming “the Great Stagnation”, according to research published by Goldman Sachs. “Both Europe and the US are remarkably close to the typical stagnation trajectory,” the report said, calculating that there is as much as a 40 per cent chance of major parts of the West experiencing an [...]