Economics
Interest rates The Bank of England cut interest rates by half a point
to 4.5 per cent as part of a coordinated move with five other central banks.
The European Central Bank reduced rates for the first time in five years to
3.75 per cent, while the US Federal Reserve cut its key federal funds
lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 per cent. Central banks in
Sweden, Switzerland and Canada also lowered their rates by half a point.
China cut its key rate by 27 basis points to 6.93 per cent and lowered its
reserve requirements by 1 per cent.
Banking
& finance
Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander The Government has seized control of
Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (KSF), the UK arm of Kaupthing, the
Icelandic bank, putting 700 jobs at risk. The Treasury invoked new banking
powers to transfer KSF’s £2.5 billion of retail deposits to ING Direct, the
Dutch bank. than 60 per cent from their peak to £3.6 billion, and will drop
again next year, according to the Centre for Economics and Business
Research.
The Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, has insisted on
vetting new bank directors amid concerns that a lack of exper-tise in
boardrooms contributed to the financial crisis.
Construction
& property
Grainger, the residential property developer, said trading profits
would be in line with last year because of falling house prices. Sales at
the group, which owns 14,000 homes, were 17.5 per cent higher in the year to
September at £168 million, against last year.
Capital & Regional, the property manager, has completed the
previously announced sale of about half of its German business, a joint
venture with Hahn Group, to an investment fund managed by Apollo Real Estate
Advisers. C&R has entered a joint venture with Apollo to run the German
business.
Rugby Estates, the London-listed property investment group, reported a
first-half pretax loss of £4.4 million, from a £4.2 million profit last
time, but said it views its prospects with confidence.
Consumer
goods
InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer behind Stella Artois, said it was
confident about its bank financing for its recommended $60 billion (£34.6
billion) bid for Anheus-er-Busch, the owner of Budweiser, despite the
banking sector crisis.
Uniq, the convenience food group based in Buckinghamshire, said it
expects to make a second-half loss. The company, whose clients include Marks &
Spencer, said UK sales had risen by 1.7 per cent in the third quarter, but
growth in sandwich sales had slowed from 13.1 per cent in the first half to
2.1 per cent in the third quarter.
Shepherd Neame, the Kent brewer and pub operator, reported a 6 per cent
fall in underlying earnings on the back of dwindling consumer confidence and
soaring costs, but said it remained positive about its longer-term
prospects.
Waterford Wedgwood, the crystal and china goods maker based in Dublin,
said it expects its placement of shares will not be complete for some time
because of the “turbulence in global capital markets”. The company had said
in September that it would raise up €153.7 million (£121 million) in an
equity issue.
Engineering
BMW, the German carmaker, said that group unit sales had fallen by 14.6
per cent in September and added that the situation remains challenging
because of the effects of the financial markets crisis.
Health
E-Therapeutics, the drug discovery and development company based in
Newcastle upon Tyne, reported a wider first-half pretax loss of almost £1
million because of higher administration costs but said it was well placed
to benefit from market realignment.
Industrials
Bluewater Bio International, the wastewater treatment company, said it
is proposing to delist its shares from London’s junior Alternative
Investment Market because it is more straightforward for private groups to
raise finance than “small cap” public companies in the current investment
climate.
Leisure
Mitchells & Butlers Joe Lewis, the Bahamas-based billionaire, has
acquired a 22 per cent in Mitchells & Butlers, the All Bar One and
Harvester operator, from Robert Tchenguiz, crystallising a loss of about
£325 million for the property entrepreneur.
Media
ITV Michael Grade, executive chairman of ITV, the commercial
broadcaster, said it could hand over responsibility for regional news to
another organisation. Ofcom, the regulator, suggested last month that ITV’s
regional programmes could be cut to help it save £40 million a year. A week
later ITV announced more than 400 jobs across its regional services.
Natural
resources
Roc Oil, the Australian exploration company, said that MAW1, the first
appraisal well at the Mas-sambala heavy oil discovery at Cabinda South Block
in Angola, has been plugged and abandoned but drilling would continue at the
second appraisal well.
Eurasia Mining, the London-list-ed mineral exploration group, said that
the West Kytlim exploration licence, its joint venture project with Anglo
Platinum, has received a two-year extension. The licence, located in the
Central Urals in Russia, will expire in December 2010.
Aricom, the Anglo-Russian mineral exploration group, has estimated the
maximum net external funding requirement for its K&S and Garinskoye
mines at $1 billion (£577 million) and said that a completed feasibility
study and independent review of the project have proved its viability.
Rheochem, the Australian oil and gas company, said initial indications
at its Sundance 2-22 well in Wyoming are that the upper sands contain gas
but may not be thick enough to be commercial.
BG, the oil and gas company based in Berkshire, has teamed up with
KazMunaiGas, the Kazakh state oil and gas company, to develop new gas
projects in Kazakhstan, including power generation and the production of
gas-powered vehicles. The company is co-leading the development of the
Karachaganak oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, along with Eni, the Italian
energy group.
Retailing
Land of Leather, the furniture retailer, said that its four directors
and some senior managers have agreed to defer taking part of their salaries
during the difficult economic climate after its pretax profits fell by 88
per cent. It said the move would save a quarter of its salary bill this
year, understood to be about £200,000, as it looks to reduce operating
costs.
Thorntons, the chocolate maker, reported a 6.4 per cent rise in
quarterly sales and said own store sales had improved by 4.9 per cent to
£26.6 million in the 14 weeks to October 4 - an increase of 0.9 per cent on a
like-for-like basis.
J Sainsbury, the supermarket group, reported second-quarter underlying
sales towards the top end of analysts’ forecasts, but said that the economic
environment was set to remain “extremely challenging”. It added that
like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, had risen by 4.3 per cent in the 16
weeks to October 4, driven by strong demand for its own-brand ranges and
promotions.
Support
services
Cyril Sweett, the international construction and property consul-tancy,
said overall trading in the first half had been in line with management
expectations, while demand for its services from the public sector had
remained strong.
Speedy Hire, the tool hire company based in Merseyside, said it expects
first-half revenues to rise by 22 per cent compared with last year, adding
that the market uncertainty means the outlook is difficult to forecast.
Technology
Imagination Technologies, the London-listed market leader in DAB
digital radio technology, said that it has signed another licensing deal
with Samsung Electronics, the South Korean group, for its graphics
acceleration system for use in computer chip devices targeting the mobile
phone, consumer and navigation markets. The company said it will receive
licence fees and royalty revenues.
IBM, the US computer group, reported third-quarter net income up by 20
per cent and revenues up by 5 per cent to $25.3 billion (£14.6 billion), and
also reaffirmed its full-year earnings outlook.
Telecoms
Sarantel, the manufacturer of filtering antennas for mobile phones and
wireless devices, said it expects its full-year revenues to be about £1.9
million, ahead of market expectations. The group said that demand from
smaller niche GPS customers had remained resilient, largely offsetting a
slowdown in orders from larger clients.
Transport
BAA, the airports operator, has appointed an advisory team to support
the sale of Gatwick. Financial advice will be provided by RBS and HSBC, with
legal support coming from Freshfields and Herbert Smith, the law firms.
British Airways Unions representing pilots for British Airways and
Iberia, the Spanish carrier, said that they favour the proposed merger to
create the world’s third-largest airline. They estimate that it will
generate £323 million in savings and revenue growth in 2010, rising to £615
million in 2014.
Stagecoach, the Perth-based transport group which runs South West
Trains, London’s biggest commuter franchise, is preparing to shed staff in
response to the economic difficulties that are expected to reduce the number
of jobs in the capital.
Utilities
Hydrogen energy A French government-aided project to develop hydrogen
power for vehicles has won European Union backing. The European Commission
said that it had approved the €68 million (£53.5 million) of French state
aid to Air Liquide and 17 other companies in the venture.
