ViiV Healthcare: GSK share price rises as it scraps plans for £17bn HIV drugs spin-off which would have been one of the biggest IPOs this decade May 6, 2015 Pharma giant GSK (aka GlaxoSmithKline) has abandoned plans for an IPO of its HIV medicines division, it said today. In first quarter results published today, the company said its decision to hang on to ViiV Healthcare reflected an "updated strong positive outlook". Analysts at Jefferies have said ViiV could be valued at as much as [...]
Glencore posts disappointing output figures May 5, 2015 SHARES in mining firm Glencore edged up by 0.54 per cent yesterday, despite a production report for the first quarter that analysts described as “mixed” at best and “disappointing” elsewhere. Production of its top earner, copper, was down nine per cent due to lower grades at two South American mines. Copper output was 350,700 tonnes [...]
Rio Tinto April 20, 2015 The figures xxx Why it's interesting The FTSE giant was the target of a failed takeover bid by rival Glencore and with the six month cooling period for offers having just come to an end, investors will be eager to see what kind of shape the miner is in with speculation that a new offer [...]
City Moves for 20 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 19, 2015 Colliers International Mark Phillips has been appointed director within the commercial real estate firm’s hotel and resorts consulting team. He has 25 years’ experience in the sector, and was previously a director at HLT Consulting. Phillips has also held roles at Horwath UK and Horwath & Horwath. JP Morgan Asset Management Gilles Drukier has been [...]
Global activist groups gather to protest Rio Tinto investor event April 16, 2015 MINING group Rio Tinto held its annual meeting yesterday against a backdrop of protests against its environmental record. Representatives from global workers’ unions, including Unite and IndustriALL, as well as the London Mining Network, gathered in London to draw attention to the firm’s transgressions. IndustriALL’s Kemal Ozkan said: “The company systematically fails on environmental, social [...]
General Election 2015: A Labour government could send Royal Mail boss Moya Greene elsewhere April 15, 2015 She might hail from Canada, but I’d bet that Moya Greene will be keeping a closer eye than many Britons on the outcome of the General Election. Eighteen months after its contentious privatisation, the boss of Royal Mail may face the prospect of a full parliamentary term with UK government ministers behaving as an irritatingly [...]
Miner Glencore free to bid for rival Rio again April 7, 2015 Mining firms Glencore and Rio Tinto declined to comment yesterday on the question of whether a deal between the two could be back on the table. Switzerland-based Glencore originally made an estimated £60bn offer for its larger British-Australian rival last August, but in October Rio Tinto revealed that it had rejected the bid. [...]
Simon Murray stands down as boss of Gulf Keystone Petroleum March 31, 2015 Oil firm Gulf Keystone Petroleum revealed yesterday that its colourful chairman Simon Murray is to retire. Ex-Glencore chairman Murray has had a varied past, which includes a stint in the French Foreign Legion. He previously led Li Ka-Shing’s Hutchison Whampoa for 10 years, and is famously known for having once been chased by a leopard. [...]
FTSE at a record high as miners lifted by metals – London Report March 23, 2015 BRITAIN’S blue-chip share index set a record high yesterday as mining stocks rallied with firmer metals prices, outpacing weakness in shares such as Weir Group. The UK mining index gained 2.2 per cent as copper hit a two-month high, driven by a weaker dollar on expectations the US Federal Reserve will stay accommodative for the [...]
Income jumps at Glencore as revenue slides March 18, 2015 GLENCORE’S 2014 revenue dipped despite huge net income gains, the company reported yesterday. The natural resources company brought in $221bn (£151bn) this year, marking a nearly five per cent drop from 2013. However, net income in 2014 leapt to $4.25bn after 2013’s reported losses of more than $7bn. A Glencore spokesman explained the losses to [...]