News

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

GM close to putting 3bn rescue plan to Europe

November 23, 2009

GENERAL Motors will present a €3.3bn (£3bn) rescue plan to European governments for its struggling Opel and Vauxhall brands within days, those involved in talks said yesterday. GM this month backtracked on plans to sell the cars to a consortium led by car parts firm Magna — a deal that involved government aid — but [...]
Boss of truckmaker MAN quits

November 23, 2009

Hakan Samuelsson, the Swedish chief executive of German truckmaker MAN, is leaving the company at his own request with immediate effect, the company said in a surprise statement yesterday. “Samuelsson hopes that his decision will help the MAN Group to quickly devote all of its attention to its core business and its further development. He [...]
Rents set to rise for student flats

November 23, 2009

Rental growth in the student accommodation sector has remained robust during the downturn, according to estate agents Knight Frank. Rental rates for student houses have recorded growth of five per cent per year over the last six years, compared to 0.6 per cent for commercial property. Substantially higher growth was achieved in key university towns [...]
Terrace Hill restructures debt

November 23, 2009

Property developer and investor Terrace Hill Group has arranged a £39.3m debt refinancing after three months of negotiations. The firm, which is active in food store developments and recently fixed £28m of forward financing for a Sainsbury’s store, has agreed £35.1m of the refinancing with an unnamed ‘major European bank’, with a revised maturity of [...]
LSE slaps ERT for recklessness

November 23, 2009

HYDER CONSULTING has boosted its international business to nearly three-quarters of total revenues, a move that has insulated it from the worst of the recession in the UK, the company said. Hyder, which specialises in design for infrastructure and engineering projects, yesterday said it would meet annual profit targets as it reported first-half results in [...]
Cost cuts keep profits on the boil at Campbell Soup

November 23, 2009

CAMPBELL Soup reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, helped by price increases and easing costs for ingredients such as grain that offset a drop in sales. The world’s largest soup maker also raised its sales and profit expectations for the fiscal year. Sales fell 2.1 per cent to $2.2bn (£1.3bn) from a year ago. Campbell [...]
International focus drives Hyder higher

November 23, 2009

CAMPBELL Soup reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, helped by price increases and easing costs for ingredients such as grain that offset a drop in sales. The world’s largest soup maker also raised its sales and profit expectations for the fiscal year. Sales fell 2.1 per cent to $2.2bn (£1.3bn) from a year ago. Campbell [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS

November 23, 2009

KINGFISHERCredit Suisse yesterday said it was upgrading its forecasts for Kingfisher in anticipation of its third quarter results on 3 December. The broker said that Kingfisher’s increased forecasts at the company’s interims has sparked a 23 per cent rise in its target price to 270p. The broker also noted the group’s short term margin recovery. [...]
Shell’s gas production is hit by a ten month delay in middle eastern project

November 23, 2009

ROYAL Dutch Shell said yesterday it had delayed one of its largest schemes by almost a year, with the start-up for the $8bn (£4.8bn) Qatargas 4 liquefied natural gas project now planned for late 2010. The delay, which a Shell spokeswoman said was due to contractors struggling to keep up with the pace of developments [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS

November 23, 2009

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