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February 17, 2008
by Kay Murchie
Telecoms giant BT is considering making an offer for Setanta, the Irish pay-television company, in a deal that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Setanta owns the rights to show some live Premier League football.
BT owns a small digital television service, BT Vision, which offers Setanta's sports channel to users. Should BT be successful, it could boost its television ...
by Kay Murchie
Potential investors should consider the proven track record of a fund’s manager when thinking about introductory offers.
Bestinvest, an independent financial advisor, emphasised that investors should be cautious when considering new products. Introductory offers can appear attractive but the group warns that this type of offer often appears with the launch of a fund and therefore does not allow the investor ...
by Kay Murchie
Shares in Go-Ahead plummeted 395p to 1840 on Friday after the bus and train firm warned that annual profits will be lower than last year’s.
The Newcastle-based operator, whose Southern rail franchise is due to run out in September 2009, will also have to pay an increased profit share to the Department for Transport.
The company said diesel prices have been hovering around the ...
February 15, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were mixed Friday, seeing gains in New York but falling in London.
About half an hour before the close of floor trade, West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery were 14 cents higher to $95.60 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but April contracts for Brent crude dropped 35 cents to $94.81 per barrel on the ICE ...
by Elaine Frei
Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed to end the week on Friday. Shippers were higher in the region on advances in cargo rates, while shipbuilders also saw gains. Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.14 percent to 7,876.37 while the Hang Seng was up 0.53 percent to 24,148.43 in Hong Kong. The FTSE Straits Times index was 1.41 ...
by Elaine Frei
The pound was weaker on the day Friday but up on the week overall, seeing a daily decline on worries that the US economy’s weakness will hurt demand for high-yielding currencies and as new data showed that UK housing starts were at their lowest in 4 years in 2007.
It took $1.9619 to buy a pound in New York just before ...
by Elisha Sanders
US investment bank, Bear Stearns and China's largest securities firm, Citic Securities, are planning to renegotiate on an agreement to swap shares due to a decline in both companies stock prices.
Sources state that senior executives from Bear and Citic have entered into equivalent modification of the deal signed last October, which would mean in the end, both companies would have ...
by Kay Murchie
Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company controlled by US billionaire Warren Buffett, acquired an 8.6% stake in Kraft Foods worth $4.32 billion (£2.19 billion), making him the company's largest individual shareholder.
Kraft's best-known products include eponymous cheese, Maxwell House coffee and Oreo cookies.
It was also been unveiled that Mr Buffett has spent $76 million on shares in pharmaceutical giant, ...
by Kay Murchie
Tate & Lyle said pre-tax profits for the 4 months to 31 January was marginally ahead of its expectations after a good performance from the Americas.
However, the sugar refiner and sweetener maker said the EU sugar market is expected to remain difficult but said news of beet production quota surrender demonstrates the determination of the EU Commission and the industry ...
February 14, 2008
by Elaine Frei
The price of soybeans rose to a new record on the Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday on the possibility that demand will rise in China after damage to as much as half of that nation’s rapeseed crop due to recent storms.
CBOT May contracts added 38.5 cents to $13.85 per bushel.
Rapeseed, like soybeans, is used to make livestock feed and ...
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were significantly higher on Thursday on good news from several directions. New data showed that Japan’s economy grew more than had been expected in the fourth quarter of last year. Meanwhile, consumer confidence was reported higher in South Korea and retail sales grew in the United States. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.37 ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar declined versus the euro and most other major currencies after remarks from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke seemed to indicate that the Fed will cut US interest rates again soon.
Mr. Bernanke also said that credit will likely remain “more expensive and less available” for the present, as well as that he expects growth to pick up later ...
by Peter Charalambous
The economic slowdown driven by the US has hit European shores as export demand and consumer spending has been reduced alongside rising food and energy bills.
The knock on effect from slower growth in the US is accentuated by the strength of the euro, making Europe less competitive.
A year ago the European economy grew by 2.3 percent, although this trend has stalled ...
by Elisha Sanders
Last Tuesday, US bank Morgan Stanley announced their new chief executive for Asia, Owen Thomas. According to statements released by the bank, the new appointment exemplifies Stanley's ongoing engagement in the region.
The bank was quick to act, after last month the former Asia chief suddenly left his base of operations in Hong Kong to return to his home-land ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Japanese economy, the worlds second largest has grown 3.7 percent in the last quarter, which was twice the economic forecast.
This is a timely growth as exports to the Asian market have helped US companies through the current slowdown.
In comparison the European Union grew by 0.3 percent whilst the US slowed down to 0.2 percent representing a 1 percent reduction ...
by Elisha Sanders
The green light has been given on a joint venture between Vietnam and US based bank, Morgan Stanley, after a collapse in tie-up plans with a Vietnamese state group.
Morgan Stanley stands to be the first bank from the west to become so closely tied with the still Communist run Vietnam, the bank has stated that the plan is to make ...
by Kay Murchie
Diageo, the largest multinational beer, wine and spirits company in the world, has today reported a 15% increase in half-year earnings as it maintained its full-year target for underlying operating profit to rise by 9%.
Paul Walsh, chief executive, said this first-half performance demonstrates that our brands are well supported and our routes to market remain strong.
While we continue to watch for any ...
February 13, 2008
by Elaine Frei
The price of platinum rose above $2,000 per troy ounce in New York for the first time on Wednesday, briefly touching $2,001.40 per troy ounce before trading at $1,985 per troy ounce near the close of floor trade, a gain of $63.20 over Tuesday’s close.
Other precious metals prices were mixed as April gold fell $1.10 to $910 per troy ounce but March ...
by Elaine Frei
The pound gained on the euro after the Bank of England said that inflation in the UK will likely exceed 3 percent despite slowing growth and after new jobless claims there dropped twice as much as expected.
It took 74.26p to buy a euro in midday trade in New York, while it took $1.9612 to buy a pound.
The US dollar ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has indicated that the housing market-slump last month has slumped to its worst point since 1992.
The RICS revealed today that the measure of house prices fell by one point to -63, which is the lowest figure since the records began in 1998. It has revealed a widespread decline, with 43% of respondents in London reporting ...
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