Lonmin snubs Xstrata’s takeover bid August 14, 2008 British platinum miner Lonmin yesterday reiterated its opposition to Xstrata’s hostile £5bn takeover bid, saying it failed to recognise the company’s potential for growth. The South Africa-focused company, which last week received an indicative offer from the Anglo-Swiss mining group, told its shareholders to reject a formal offer, as it undervalued the firm’s business. With [...]
Pressure piles on EDF to hike offer for BE August 14, 2008 Sources close to British Energy said yesterday rival French firm EDF would have to raise its offer for the electricity giant to above 800p per share, if it is to have any hope of buying the group. Earlier this month shareholders of British Energy, which holds the key to Britain’s next generation of nuclear power [...]
Britannia hit by bad debts on mortgages August 14, 2008 Mutual building society Britannia yesterday posted a 40 per cent drop in interim profits, after the cost of bad debts hammered its mortgage book. Britannia said the percentage of its home loans that were three or more months in arrears rose by just over 1.7 per cent in the first six months of the year [...]
Listings fall trims profits at UK broker August 13, 2008 Collins Stewart, the British broker that is currently the subject of takeover discussions, reported an 82 per cent slump in first-half profits yesterday, which it blamed on poor performance from its capital markets unit. Pre-tax profit nosedived from £52m to £9.6m and the interim dividend was slashed from 2.5p to 1.2p, as chairman Terry Smith [...]
BP closes second pipeline in Georgia as conflict subsides August 13, 2008 British oil giant BP shut down the second of the three pipelines it runs through Georgia yesterday – hours after Russia ended military operations against the former soviet state. BP, part of a 10-strong consortium, that runs a series of pipelines from the Caspian Sea into Georgia, said it cut production in one pipeline as [...]
Encouraging the young is key to creating entrepreneurs August 12, 2008 What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This can actually be a good thing. A person becomes able to take on more difficult challenges if they are trained with smaller ones steadily. In fact, if you learn how to take risks early in life, you learn to stretch yourself appropriately and succeed in handling bigger [...]
Record investment for private equity August 12, 2008 Private equity invested a record $686bn (£343bn) globally last year, over a third more than was invested in 2006, according to think tank International Financial Services London (IFSL). The UK buyout market is the most developed in the world, outside the US, managing nine per cent of global investments and 12 per cent of funds [...]
Smurfit profits rise despite higher costs August 12, 2008 Shares in Smurfit Kappa, the Irish cardboard packaging group, spiked yesterday after the firm reported better-than-expected results for the first half of the year. Operating profit at Smurfit Kappa, which floated in Dublin in March 2007, rose four per cent to €312m (£244m) despite rising energy costs and increased competition from US rivals benefiting from [...]
Kazakhmys gets blocking stake in ENRC August 12, 2008 Kazakhmys, the Kazakh copper producer, has upped its stake in Kazakh rival Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) to 25.02 per cent, effectively preventing its biggest rival from making a hostile bid for it. The purchase of 35.7m shares, at an average of 1,126p each for a total £402m, will give Kazakhmys the power to veto [...]
Struggling retailers can’t just blame the downturn August 11, 2008 The threat of recession is an excellent excuse for retailers to blame someone else for their poor performance. Things are certainly getting tougher out there, but retailers whose sales are falling faster than average are losing market share. Simple as that. Monthly retail sales are wildly volatile, but look at it this way – in [...]