Mercedes but not as you know it October 14, 2013 The blisteringly fast A45 AMG is just the car to attract the younger audience the German carmaker craves IN case you hadn’t noticed, Mercedes-Benz has transformed its strange wedge-shaped and conservative little A-Class into one of the most stylish cars around. Gone is the unspeakably dull styling and comfort-focused setup of old. Instead the A-Class [...]
Ferrexpo has record production but weak metal prices hit hard October 8, 2013 RECORD production in the third quarter was not enough to stop FTSE 250-listed iron ore miner Ferrexpo’s shares sliding 2.5 per cent yesterday, as the low base metal price weighed down on the sector. Ferrexpo delivered 2,681kt of pellets from its own ore, up 3.2 per cent from the second quarter. Total pellet production for [...]
London Report: Retail gloom and US gridlock weigh on FTSE October 8, 2013 THE UK’S top share index slipped to three-month lows yesterday as weak data and downbeat analyst comments hit retailers and the fiscal deadlock in the United States kept broader sentiment subdued. In contrast to buoyant recent British data, retail sales growth slowed for a second month in September, according to BRC numbers. Analyst notes on [...]
Gulf of Mexico energy producers shut down ahead of hurricane October 3, 2013 ENERGY companies in the Gulf of Mexico started shutting in production yesterday and were evacuating some workers as Tropical Storm Karen headed toward a crucial part of the basin, which overall provides nearly a fifth of daily US oil output. The National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to be at or near hurricane strength [...]
BHP latest miner to tap debt market with new $5bn bond September 26, 2013 FTSE 100-listed miner BHP Billiton yesterday priced a $5bn (£3.1bn) bond and said it would use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes”. The debt issuance is BHP’s largest in over a year and the firm’s first US debt sale since February 2012. The new debt facility comprises $500m floating rate notes due 2016, $500m 2.050 [...]
Barclays wins Amec as latest broking client September 25, 2013 BARCLAYS continued the growth of its corporate broking business by winning the mandate to act as joint broker to Amec, the FTSE 100 listed engineering group, alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML). The appointment comes just days after Amec abandoned plans to make a £700m bid for Kentz, the oil services group. Amec was [...]
Marius Kloppers picks up £10m for his final year at BHP Billiton September 25, 2013 BHP BILLITON’S outgoing chief executive Marius Kloppers will take home $16m (£10m) in his last year working for the FTSE 100 mining giant, according to the annual report released yesterday. A swathe of management changes were made across the mining industry after the commodities boom ended and executives were blamed for their companies’ respective failures. [...]
Not convinced? September 23, 2013 TRY THESE INSTEAD Ferrari 458, £178,526 Ferrari’s most beautiful car in recent years is a step up price-wise (you can easily the spec the car to above £200,000), though you’ll be pleased to hear it comes with carbon ceramic brakes as standard. Powered by a 570bhp 4.5-litre V8 petrol engine, 0-62mph takes just 3.4 seconds [...]
Ex-Rio chief Tom Albanese joins Vedanta September 16, 2013 TOM ALBANESE has been hired for a senior advisory role at Vedanta Resources, returning to the mining sector after being ousted from Rio Tinto earlier this year. The India-focused resources group said yesterday that Albanese has been hired as chairman of Vedanta Resources Holdings, a subsidiary of the FTSE 100 company. In his new role, [...]
Who said Volvos were boring? September 16, 2013 Volvo’s new V60 Plug-In Hybrid is proof that sensible and cool are not mutually exclusive THERE was a time when the Volvo estate was thought of as the most sensible car imaginable, a large, boxy family vehicle parked outside a semi-detached house on a suburban cul-de-sac awaiting its sole function; ferrying children about as safely [...]