The Nominations: A very warm welcome to the shortlists for the City A.M. awards 2013 September 8, 2013 TODAY we kick off the countdown to this year’s City A.M. Awards with the first of the shortlists for an event that has rapidly established itself as a highpoint in the annual calendar. Our awards, now in their fourth year, celebrate all of the City’s main sectors and the people that make sure London remains [...]
Investments help British Gas owner Centrica beat forecasts July 26, 2012 UTILITY group Centrica, which owns the British Gas brand, said yesterday it was reaping the benefits of recent investments in infrastructure as it reported a rise in first-half earnings which beat market forecasts. Profits were boosted by new investments that increased production capacities, Centrica said, one day after it confirmed a £1.4bn investment in the [...]
Centrica buys two US power suppliers in $110m cash deal July 12, 2012 CENTRICA, which owns British Gas, said yesterday that it had agreed to buy two New York-based power providers from Iberdrola USA for $110.2m (£71.18m) in cash to strengthen its position and increase its customer base in the north east of the country. The British utility’s North American subsidiary, Direct Energy Services, will buy Energetix and [...]
EDF seeks deal for nuclear as profits inch up February 14, 2013 FRENCH energy giant EDF yesterday reported flat earnings and investment, but surprised shareholders with a dividend increase. EDF’s UK nuclear stations produced 60 terawatt hours of energy last year, the best performance in seven years, which helped to boost sales by over 13.6 per cent to €9.7bn (£8.3bn), representing organic growth of 6.4 per cent. [...]
RBS and Lloyds results look set to show losses February 24, 2013 STATE-BACKED banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are both expected to announce full-year results this week, with analysts forecasting both lenders will remain loss-making. Investec believes RBS, which will deliver its 2012 figures on Thursday, will announce an attributable loss of £2.2bn for the final quarter – or a £5.6bn loss for [...]
MPs to grill Laidlaw over trains December 16, 2012 Sam Laidlaw will appear before MPs tomorrow to discuss his report into the botched West Coast Main Line franchise competition. Laidlaw, the chief executive of Centrica and a non-executive at the Department for Transport, earlier this month published a stinging paper on how poor leadership, overwork and flawed sums led to the collapse of the [...]
Letters to the editor February 4, 2013 Austerity politics [Re: Recession and higher tax taking toll on Britain’s top earners, yesterday] This article makes it clear that we really are all in it together. But this fact creates a tricky electoral paradox for the Conservatives. First, it isn’t in the Tories’ best interest to point out that they are taking large amounts [...]
Cuadrilla mulls future investor growth plans January 13, 2013 CUADRILLA Resources, the Staffordshire based shale gas explorer, is in talks with potential investors over taking a potential stake in the business amid growing investment interest in the UK shale gas sector. The company, currently the sole driller for shale gas in the UK using hydraulic fracturing or fracking, is understood to be holding talks [...]
Chemring hires former Umeco exec as new finance director January 3, 2013 THE NEW chief executive of defence services firm Chemring yesterday hired two new executives in an effort to turn around the company’s fortunes. In a boardroom shake-up, new chief executive Mark Papworth appointed Steve Bowers, former director of aerospace materials group Umeco, as group finance director with effect from 7 January. He takes over from [...]
Bosses clash on EU – but speech is off January 17, 2013 TULLETT PREBON boss Terry Smith has thrown his weight behind the City campaign for an EU referendum – but David Cameron has been forced to cancel today’s long-awaited speech on Britain’s future in Europe due to the hostage crisis in Algeria. Smith, chief executive of the FTSE 250 broker, told City A.M. that he supports [...]