Economics
Repossessions: The Financial Services Authority said repossessions rose
by 71 per cent in the three months to June, compared with a year ago, with
11,054 new possession cases in the second quarter, up from 9,172 in the
first quarter and from 6,476 in the second quarter of last year. New lending
fell to £72 billion in the second quarter, 26 per cent lower than last year.
Banking
& finance
Standard Chartered: The Asia-focused bank, Standard Chartered, based in
London, confirmed that it was making “good progress”, even though Asia’s
economy was slowing, but said that the region’s growth rates remained
resilient and “well above” those in the West, sending its shares up by
almost 3 per cent.
Schroders: The asset management group, Schroders, reported a drop in
third-quarter profits to £78 million, from £98.1 million last time, with
investors withdrawing £4.1 billion from its funds.
Construction
& property
Kier: The construction group, Kier, which is based in Bedfordshire, has
signed contracts worth up to £110 million to work on five schools in Kent as
part of the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Consumer
goods
Associated British Foods: Archer Daniels Midland, the US agricultural
processor, and Associated British Foods have agreed to create a joint
venture to make and sell vegetable oil in the United States and Canada. Each
company will hold 50 per cent of the venture, called Stratas Foods, with AB
Foods contributing $38 million (£24.4 million) of assets from its oils
business, and Archer Daniels Midland contributing packaging equipment at
four of its US plants.
Engineering
Boeing: The US aerospace group, Boeing, said that it has reached a
tentative agreement with its biggest union to end the longest strike at its
plants in 13 years and halt revenue losses estimated at $100 million (£64.2
million) a day. Its Seattle factories have been closed since September 6.
Honda: The UK operation of Honda, Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, has
become the first car manufacturer in Britain to extend production cuts into
next year after it increased the scale of its reductions.
Health
Summit: The drug discovery and diagnostics company, Summit, reported a
half-year operating loss of £8.1 million, compared with a loss of £4.7
million a year earlier.
Merck: The American drugs maker, Merck, has extended the deadline for
about 350 UK citizens to apply for legal aid to sue the company in Britain.
Merck recently agreed to pay out $4.85 billion (£3.11 billion) to people who
suffered heart attacks or strokes after taking its Vioxx painkiller, which
was taken off the market in 2004.
Industrials
Elementis: The London-listed chromium chemicals producer, Elementis,
said that its third-quarter trading had continued to be in line with
expectations, with volumes and pricing ahead of the same period last year,
sending its shares up by 6.5 per cent. It added that its balance sheet
remained strong and its bank facilities were not due for renewal until 2011.
Leisure
Cineworld: The cinema chain, Cineworld, said third-quarter trading had
been better than expected and its performance in the year to date had also
been “healthy”, with total revenues up by 2.2 per cent year-on-year.
Media
Aegis: The advertising group, Aegis, reported revenue growth of 7.3 per
cent for the nine months to September 30, but said the uncertainty in the
financial markets made it difficult to forecast accurate levels of client
spend for the fourth quarter.
Publicis: The French advertising group, Publicis, reported a fall of
1.5 per cent in third-quarter revenue to €1.105 billion (£884 million), hurt
by a €71 million impact from the weakness of the dollar and the pound
against the euro. It also predicted a “marked slow-down” in advertising next
year.
McGraw-Hill: The US textbook publisher, McGraw-Hill, which also owns
Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, said lower demand for debt
ratings and school textbooks had contributed to a 14 per cent drop in
quarterly profits and that its fourth-quarter earnings would be below
analysts’ forecasts.
Natural
resources
BP: The oil group, BP, reported third-quarter profits up by 148 per
cent to $10 billion (£6.4 billion). It said that it had benefited from crude
oil prices hitting a record of $147 a barrel in mid-July, although it had
lost some production because of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and
Russia’s invasion of Georgia.
Victoria Oil & Gas: The AIM-listed Victoria Oil & Gas group has
paid about $400,000 for an option to buy Falcon Petroleum, the Cypriot oil
explorer, which has exploration prospects in Ethiopia and Mali. The option
exercise price cannot exceed $12.5 million.
BG: The oil and gas exploration group, BG, based in Berkshire, has
struck a deal to buy Australia’s Queensland Gas for £2 billion. BG will
offer A$5.75 in cash for each share in the Australian group that it does not
already own, representing an 80 per cent premium to the closing price on
Friday.
Retailing
Carpetright: The carpets and floorings retail group, Carpetright, said
it was taking a “more cautious” view of prospects this year as financial
turmoil and a plummeting housing market have dented confidence. Its
like-for-like sales were down by 12.5 per cent in the UK and Ireland for the
25 weeks to October 25. Although its performance in October was ahead of the
trend so far this year, it said that trading “continues to be weak”.
Support
services
Braemar Shipping Services: The London-listed support services company
to the shipping industry, Braemar Shipping Services, reported a 38 per cent
rise in first-half pretax profits to £9.8 million, as revenue rose by 48 per
cent to £69.1 million on the back of acquisitions, and said that it was
confident of meeting its full-year expectations despite the turmoil in the
financial markets.
Bateman Litwin: The Dutch oil and biofuel refinery support services
group, Bateman Litwin, said it was confident of the future even as it
reported a full-year pretax loss of $63.2 million (£40.5 million) on one-off
charges and expected to be in a technical breach of certain banking
covenants.
Technology
ARM Holdings: The computer chip designer ARM Holdings, based in
Cambridge, beat expectations with a 17 per cent rise in third-quarter
underlying profits of £24.9 million, on revenue of $134.4 million, up by 7
per cent, and said that revenue in the final quarter will meet or exceed
expectations, boosting its shares.
Telecoms
Telekom Srbija: Serbia will open up its landline telephony market in
2009, ending decades of the monopoly of the state-owned Telekom Srbija, the
Government has announced.
Telenor: The Norwegian telecoms group, Telenor, said that it “strongly
rejects” a move by a Russian court to freeze its shares in Vimpelcom, the
Russian mobile operator.
Transport
British Airways: The carriers, British Airways and Qantas, have been
fined millions of pounds for their part in an international freight price
fixing cartel. The airlines have reached a settlement with the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission, which brought the action over the
alleged price fixing of fuel surcharges in the international air cargo
market between 2002 and 2006.
Stagecoach: The transport group that is based in Perth, Stagecoach,
said that it had expanded megabus.com, its inner-city coach service, to four
new locations in North America. It added that this US bus service was
attracting 150,000 passengers a month and would start running to the new
locations from December 4.
Arriva: The London-lisged transport group Arriva, based in Sunderland,
reported total revenues up by 57 per cent year-on-year in the nine months to
September 30, thanks to growth in its mainland Europe services and the
addition of the CrossCountry rail franchise, which began in November 2007.
Utilities
Hooksiel complex: Germany has opened the Hooksiel wind farm complex,
the first to be situated off its North Sea coast. The five megawatts
produced at the pilot site will flow into the gas and electrical station in
the coastal city of Wilhelmshaven, enough to serve 5,000 households.
