Alliance & Leicester snapped up as bid fever returns to the City July 15, 2008 A frenzy of merger and acquisition activity, spearheaded by Spanish bank Santander agreeing to buy Alliance & Leicester for £1.3bn, returned to the markets yesterday causing stocks to rally. The oil and gas sector was the centre of much of the bid action, with Imperial Energy, the developer of Russian oil reserves, soaring 18 per [...]
Eight for 2008: The ones to watch as Team GB go for gold in Beijing July 31, 2008 With our Olympians set a target of winning 35 medals, with 10 golds, Jon Couch looks at our most likely successes It’s just over a week before the start of the Beijing Olympics, and already the pressure is building on Team GB as they go in search of the ultimate prize in sport. A total [...]
BAT looks to overseas for profits hike August 1, 2008 A strong performance in emerging markets helped BAT turn in better than expected first-half profits yesterday Europe’s largest cigarette maker, whose brands include Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, reported a 16 per cent rise in profit from operations to £1.72bn from £1.49bn a year earlier. The reported group revenue increased by 15 per [...]
Brain-drain? It’s nothing but a blip September 10, 2008 Lots of City workers are heading for Dubai at the moment, but don’t worry: London will lure them back soon, says Max Orbach We all know somebody who has re-located to Dubai, Singapore or even Moscow in the last few months, as the British economy has wobbled, house-prices have fallen and inflation has risen. While [...]
Political hurdle for Kazakh deal July 15, 2008 Analysts yesterday warned the political risks were “too great” for a possible merger between Kazakh miner Kazakhmys and fellow Russian miner Metalloinvest, the company founded by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov. Shares in Kazakhmys rose more than 6 per cent after news that Metalloinvest, which mines 40 per cent of Russia’s iron ore, was exploring a [...]
Arshavin on ice but Spurs grab Bentley July 31, 2008 Tottenham have been warned they must significantly raise their offer for Andrei Arshavin if they want to make the Russia forward their second blockbuster signing of the week. Blackburn and England midfielder David Bentley will be presented as a Spurs player this morning, after the 23-year-old’s £15m switch was confirmed last night. The former Arsenal [...]
Imperial surges as India and China launch rival bids August 5, 2008 China and India are going head to head in a bidding war to take over British oil and gas firm Imperial Energy, sending its shares shooting up by 8 per cent yesterday. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, the state-owned oil company commonly known as Sinopec, has approached Imperial with an offer in the region of [...]
China’s uncertain markets makes it a long term play August 13, 2008 The eyes of the world are on China this week, as the Olympics gets under way. Last year the Chinese stock market tried to break the high-jump record, as the Shanghai Composite hit its highest ever level in October – rising more than 400 per cent in two years. But this year, it seems to [...]
The time has finally come to go short on oil September 8, 2008 Decreased production and low consumption mean that fuel prices are falling, says Katie Hope The black stuff is finally on the slide. From the heady heights of July this year when oil hit $147 a barrel and analysts were predicting it could catapult to $200 a barrel, forecasters are now betting the next move will [...]
De Beers boosts sales but stays cautious July 24, 2008 The world’s top diamond producer De Beers posted a 10 per cent rise in gem sales to $3.3bn (£1.7bn) on strong demand and price rises – but warned a slowdown of sales in America may hit revenues in the second half of the year. De Beers boosted rough-diamond prices by about 8 per cent in [...]