News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

BMI cuts jobs and routes in restructuring

November 25, 2009

AILING airline BMI is slashing 600 jobs and axing five of its Heathrow routes as it strives to cut costs, it said yesterday. The carrier will also start handing back its leased aircraft, it said, blaming the recession and the fall-off in demand for travel. BMI will stop flying to Brussels, Tel Aviv, Kiev and [...]
Investors cheer as Britvic profits fizz

November 25, 2009

SOFT drinks firm Britvic yesterday reported a better than expected 23 per cent rise in full-year profits, helped by market share gains and price rises, and said trade in its new fiscal year had started well. The producer and licensed bottler of drinks under brands including Robinsons, Tango, J2O, Pepsi and 7Up, posted a pre-tax [...]
General Motors axes 9,000 jobs after stalled Opel sell-off plans

November 25, 2009

US CAR giant General Motors (GM) said yesterday it will be cutting 9,000 jobs around Europe – slightly fewer than the estimated figure of 10,000 – as it restructures its European arm, Opel. GM added it would keep its four German plants open, almost a month after it called off plans to sell Opel, along [...]
CHRISTMAS AT TIFFANY’S

November 25, 2009

LOWER costs and strong overseas sales helped upmarket jeweller Tiffany’s report earnings that fell just one per cent to $43.3m (£25.9m) in the third quarter. The company boosted its full-year profit outlook with the approach of the key Christmas season.
No more Bank of Ireland aid

November 25, 2009

BANK of Ireland does not foresee the need for further state bailouts according to the restructuring plan submitted to the European Union, though it said the state would remain a substantial owner. The bank, which received €3.5bn (£3.17bn) in state capital in return for an indirect 25 per cent stake, is also expected to transfer [...]
Commerzbank mulls capital hike to repay state bailout

November 25, 2009

GERMANY’S second biggest lender Commerzbank said it is considering a capital increase and divestments among options for repaying €16.4bn (£14.8bn) in government bailout money. In January, Germany took a 25 per cent stake in Commerzbank as part of an €18.2 rescue package to stabilise the lender, which was rocked by the financial crisis and its [...]
Anglo Irish boss says he will hive off the firm’s troubled loans

November 25, 2009

NATIONALISED Anglo Irish Bank is planning to split itself in two, hiving off its viable assets and eventually winding down its troubled loans, its chief executive said yesterday. Anglo Irish Bank is expected to transfer €28bn (£25bn) of loans to Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), a national “bad bank” which is being launched this [...]
THETINMAN

November 25, 2009

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska will lose majority control of aluminium producer Rusal following a planned flotation of the company, said Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin yesterday. “After VEB (the Russian state-owned bank) buys a stake, the government and Deripaska will control the company,” he said. Picture: reuters
Liontrust sees 92 per cent profit plunge

November 25, 2009

FUND manager Liontrust Asset Management reported a 92 per cent slump in pre-tax profits in the first half as it continued to restructure following the loss of key fund managers. The slide to just £0.5m in the six months to September 30 compared with more than £6m in profits during the same period last year. [...]
Hansteen in KEIF stake talks

November 25, 2009

Hansteen Holdings is in preliminary talks to take over the Kenmore European Industrial Fund (KEIF) for £56.8m as it looks to ramp up its exposure to continental European real estate. Hansteen logged its interest in buying the fund after acquiring an initial 12 per cent stake from Knowe Properties for £3.36m in cash and around [...]