Danone keeps full-year goals as sales rise April 17, 2012 FRENCH food group Danone has kept its full year goals intact despite a worsening economic climate in austerity-hit southern Europe, saying it banked on strong demand from emerging markets to underpin its growth. The world’s largest yoghurt maker, with brands including Actimel and Activia, also said first-quarter sales beat expectations after its lagging dairy division [...]
Rosneft and Exxon sign deal brokered by Putin April 16, 2012 RUSSIAN state oil firm Rosneft and US Exxon Mobil Corp signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership broker by Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday. The landmark deal will grant Rosneft access to projects in North America, where Exxon is developing hard-to-recover reserves in West Texas, the Canadian province of Alberta and in the Gulf of Mexico. The [...]
Polymetal buoyed as revenues jump 64pc April 16, 2012 RUSSIAN precious metals miner Polymetal yesterday reported a 64 per cent year-on-year rise in first quarter revenue to $377m (£238m) thanks to rising gold and silver production. First quarter gold equivalent production – a measurement of gold and other metals expressed in units of gold – grew 41 per cent year-on-year to 203,000 troy ounces, [...]
Output falls at Russian steel producer Evraz April 16, 2012 EVRAZ, Russia’s largest steel producer, said yesterday its steel production in the first quarter of 2012 fell 1.4 per cent year-on-year to 4.33m tonnes. Production of crude steel increased five per cent compared to the fourth quarter on the back of growth in Russia and in the US, while operations in Ukraine and Europe decreased. [...]
Surging exports outstrip rising imports to boost euro growth April 16, 2012 THE EUROZONE’S trade with the rest of the world showed surprising strength in February, driven by French and German exports of cars and machinery, official figures showed yesterday. However, imports remained relatively weak as European households struggled through the bloc’s economic slump. Exports from the 17 countries surged 11 per cent to give a trade [...]
Sberbank mulls Denizbank bid April 12, 2012 Russia’s top lender Sberbank is taking another look at Denizbank, put up for sale by stricken Belgian lender Dexia. Last year, Sberbank dropped out of the race for Denizbank, now worth $6bn, as it focused on integrating its acquisitions of Russian brokerage Troika Dialog. But now that talks with Qatar National Bank (QNB) over the [...]
Oligarch hits Glencore and Rusal with suit April 10, 2012 GLENCORE was dragged into a worsening dispute between two Russian oligarchs yesterday, as aluminium producer Rusal announced that its former chairman is to take legal action against the company and the commodities trader over a $47bn supply contract. Viktor Vekselberg quit as Rusal’s chairman three weeks ago and has since notified Glencore and his former [...]
£190m IPO for Russian miner April 10, 2012 PLATINUM miner and producer Russian Platinum is considering going public to raise around $300m (£189m), according to reports from Moscow. The company may hire Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, a source told Reuters. Russian Platinum, formed in 2011 from producer Amur’s platinum assets, produced 3.7 tonnes of platinum last year. A company spokesperson declined to [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 10, 2012 PETROFAC Liberum has cut its rating on the engineering group from “buy” to “hold” but leaves its target price on the stock unchanged at 1822p. As the shares are now within five per cent of the target, and ahead of new contract awards, the broker says Petrofac looks fair value. PETROPAVLOVSK Nomura remains positive on [...]
Miners and banks dent FTSE April 4, 2012 The FTSE 100 was dragged back by weaker mining stocks after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s March meeting revealed that it is not planning any more monetary stimulus. Federal Reserve policymakers have backed away from the need to pump more money into the system as the US economy gradually improves, minutes of the central [...]