Higher costs set to crimp FedEx profits next year June 16, 2010 FEDEX reported a quarterly profit yesterday that beat analyst expectations, but said costs would constrain its 2011 earnings. The company projected 2011 earnings per share in the range of $4.40 (£2.97) to $5.00. “We expect the growth in earnings in fiscal 2011 to be constrained,” chief financial officer Alan Graf Jr said, citing increases in [...]
China’s AgBank poised to raise over £15bn in IPO June 14, 2010 THE Agricultural Bank of China is seeking to raise over $23bn (£15.6bn) by listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, in what would be the world’s biggest IPO. The public share issue by AgBank, founded by Mao Zedong in the 1950s as the central bank’s rural arm, had previously been touted as high as $30bn, but [...]
Centrica looks hard at its nuclear option June 13, 2010 CENTRICA’S finance director Nick Luff is busy trying to work out if the new coalition energy secretary Chris Huhne is a man the country’s largest gas and electricity supplier can do business with. Huhne – a Liberal Democrat – had previously described nuclear power as a “failed technology.” But that was before he scented the [...]
Manufacturing output in surprise drop June 11, 2010 Manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in April, official data has shown – suggesting Britain’s recovering economy got off to a slow start in the second quarter. Figures from the Office for National Statistics also showed producer input costs eased less than expected in May, although factory gate inflation slowed slightly more than expected. The ONS said [...]
European banks face second quarter chill due to debt woes June 10, 2010 EUROPEAN banks including UBS, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse face a sharp slowdown in the second quarter on the back of regional sovereign debt fears, analysts believe. UBS chief financial officer John Cryan yesterday told an informal lunch meeting that the Swiss institution would post weaker results for the three months to the end of [...]
FSA’S SANTS MAKES LAST STAND FOR REGULATOR June 10, 2010 THERE’S nothing like going out fighting, is there? Yesterday marked the publication of FSA chief executive Hector Sants’ (right) last annual report at the helm of the regulator, which is under siege from politicians currently mulling whether or not it will have a future. Sants has never exactly made a secret of his feelings towards [...]
An intriguing plan to reform banking June 7, 2010 IF you leave your suit at a dry-cleaner, you retain ownership of the garment, even though possession has passed (temporarily) to the shop. But if you deposit £1,000 in a bank account, who owns the money? It’s still yours, held in trust by the bank, just as with the dry cleaner, right? Wrong. Ever since [...]
IATA: Airlines will return to profitability June 7, 2010 AIRLINES will return to profitability this year, according to the commercial aviation industry’s leading body. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects airlines to post a collective $2.5bn (£1.7bn) profit for 2010, marking a vast improvement on its previous forecast published in March, which forecast the industry would report $2.8bn in losses. “The global economy [...]
Sberbank to beat market expectations June 7, 2010 SBERBANK, Russia’s top lender, said it may revise its conservative full-year forecast at the end of this quarter after beating market estimates with an all-time high profit in the first quarter. The state-run bank so far has estimated it will have a net profit of 100 billion roubles for the whole of 2010. “There will [...]
Don’t let City living dull your good looks June 7, 2010 A FRIEND visited from the country this weekend and claimed to have blown dirty snot into a tissue after spending just two days in London. Like most long-term Londoners, I’m in denial about black phlegm, but she had a point. Living between the office, the Tube, the fumes of the street and the boozy, salt-and-sugar [...]