TRAVEL NOTES November 27, 2011 Australia to set up marine park bigger than Germany Australia has agreed to set up the world’s biggest marine park to protect vast areas of the Coral Sea off the country’s northeast coast and the site of fierce naval battles during World War Two. The park will cover almost 1m square km – an area [...]
Why it’s time to ditch the term Cyber Monday November 27, 2011 Today is Cyber Monday, which means at some point this evening we will all finally be subsumed into the greater consciousness of the net. Don’t panic, life will be better there. There won’t be any nasty “personalities” or “individuals” or “things,” just an infinite loop of the John Lewis advert playing over the surface of [...]
LORD MAYOR STEPS UP SECURITY FOR AMBASSADORS’ RECEPTIONS November 24, 2011 IT HAD to be the Queen. “No-one else has that level of police presence,” said one City observer when he noted a convoy of four police motorbikes and two impressive cars making its way towards the Walbrook Building in stately fashion. But no – it was Lord Mayor David Wootton, who had stepped up his [...]
Polymetal sets buyback price November 23, 2011 RUSSIAN precious metals miner Polymetal International, which recently secured a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, yesterday offered to buy back the minority investors in its Russian group for 531.15 roubles (£10.90) per share. Polymetal raised £491m when it floated in London last month and it is hoping to join the FTSE 100 index [...]
Watered-down soup sales hurting Campbell as competition mounts November 22, 2011 CAMPBELL Soup, the world’s largest soup maker, reported weak quarterly sales yesterday as higher prices at its US soup and international businesses put off price-conscious shoppers, sending its shares down five per cent. The company, whose US soup business has struggled with more competition, said quarterly sales in that business fell four per cent, hurt [...]
Capital Shopping Centres secures new debt facility November 21, 2011 CAPITAL Shopping Centres (CSC), the UK’s biggest mall owner, has secured a £375m credit facility from a consortium of five banks to help provide “general liquidity” to the company. The owner of Manchester’s Trafford Centre and the MetroCentre in Gateshead said yesterday that the revolving facility would replace a previous, undrawn £248m facility that was [...]
Kazakh miner eyes LSE float November 21, 2011 CITY fans of ex-Soviet Union mining companies will soon have another stock to pick after Kazakh energy producer Zhaikmunai said it was eyeing a move to the main market of the London Stock Exchange yesterday. Zhaikmunai currently trades via global depository receipts (GDRs) on the LSE but indicated it may swap these for a full [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 20, 2011 Kingfisher The home improvement retailer has appointed Mark Seligman, the former European chairman and chairman of UK investment banking at Credit Suisse, as a senior independent director, effective from 1 January 2012. Seligman will step down from his role as a senior adviser at Credit Suisse at the end of the year. He is also [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 16, 2011 CARLSBERG Goldman Sachs has downgraded the brewer to “neutral” following recent outperformance, and has a target price of 428 crowns. While the firm’s results last week were strong, the broker now sees better upside potential elsewhere in the drinks sector, given Carlsberg’s exposure to the competitive western European markets. Goldman expects Carlsberg’s Russian beer market [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 16, 2011 Akin Gump Vlad Sourkov has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a partner and head of the firm’s Russian real estate practice. He joins the law firm from CMS Russia, where he was head of the firm’s real estate practice. Other members of his team are expected to join Akin Gump in Moscow [...]