The Times
STRIKE-HIT BA IS THE ONLY AIRLINE TO AWARD PAY RISES
Previously unpublished figures from the Civil Aviation Authority have revealed that the pay of British Airways cabin crew increased by five percent last year despite the airline reporting record losses and other carriers cutting or freezing salaries. BA and Unite, the union which represents cabin crew, are continuing negotiations about a pay freeze, bonus cuts and changes to working practices, which led to seven days of industrial action in March. BA said the strikes in March cost the airline 45 million pounds and resulted in 200,000 fewer passengers travelling with the airline.
NEED TO KNOW: LAND SECURITIES
Land Securities, the UK's largest listed property company, has purchased the O2 Centre in North London for 126 million pounds from Matterhorn Capital and Palos Investments. They bought the scheme for 92.5 million pounds in March 2009.
NEED TO KNOW: THOMAS COOK
Holiday operator Thomas Cook has announced that Dawn Airey will join the board as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Airey is currently the chairman and chief executive of Five TV and was previously managing director of global content at ITV. Airey will also join Thomas Cook's nominations committee.
NEED TO KNOW: SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY
Scottish and Southern Energy has bought a 15 percent stake in Burntisland Fabrications for 11 million pounds. The energy supplier has also secured an agreement with the offshore oil and gas fabrications yard for the supply of infrastructure to support its offshore wind developments.
TEMPUS:
Vernalis (buy for the brave)
Ithaca Energy (a risky buy)
Carr's Milling (hold)
The Daily Telegraph
GOOGLE SNAPS UP UK STUDENTS' SITE
Google, the Internet search engine, has completed its first acquisition in Britain with the purchase of PlinkArt for an undisclosed sum. PlinkArt allows users to identify a work of art by taking a photo of it with their mobile phone. Anil Hansjee, Google's head of corporate development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: 'It's time to be much more optimistic about the European tech start-up scene.' Mark Cummins and James Philbin, who founded PlinkArt while studying at Oxford University, won a 100,000 dollar prize from Google last year after being selected as the best reference application for Google Android mobile phones.
HENDERSON EYES 260 MILLION POUND SUNTRUST ASSET ARM
Anglo-Australian fund manager Henderson Group confirmed on Monday it was 'in discussions' to acquire RidgeWorth Capital Management, the U.S. asset management arm of SunTrust Banks. An insider said the talks were at an 'early stage' and added that the deal could cost Henderson between 195 million pounds and 260 million pounds. RidgeWorth and its subsidiaries manage assets worth around 40 billion pounds. Shares in Henderson rose 3.2 pence to 149.5 pence.
YOUGOV 'ON UPWARD SLOPE' DESPITE LOSS
YouGov, the polling company which makes two percent of its revenue from political polls, says it is now on an 'upward slope' despite plummeting shares. The company reported that it was in the red for the six months to January 31. Profits fell from 683,000 pounds to a loss of 540,000 pounds. The news was greeted with a seven percent fall in YouGov's shares to 36 pence. Chief executive Stephen Shakespeare said: 'We feel very strongly that we have come out of the bad times and that we are in more positive territory.'
QUESTOR:
Vodafone (buy)
Home Retail Group (buy)
The Independent
VERNALIS ON THE ACQUISITION TRIAL
Biotech firm Vernalis is setting aside funds to buy up companies with later-stage drug development programmes. The company posted on Monday a 27 percent increase in underlying revenues for 2009 to 13 million pounds and ended the year with cash of 26.4 million pounds. It also raised an additional 28.5 million pounds in March 2010, of which 21 million pounds was used to regain the European rights to Frovatriptan, its sole marketed product.
LADBROKES FOLDS ITS HAND IN ITALY
Ladbrokes, the bookmakers, is to sell its Italian retail betting and gaming business to an affiliate of Italy's Cogetech. Ladbrokes said it expected a cash consideration of 4.6 million pounds to be paid upon completion of the deal. The decision to quit Italy was made last August after revenues from Italy failed to meet expectations. Cogetech will take on the responsibility for an estimated 18 million euros of guarantees.
RIVER ISLAND BOSS RESIGNS
The chief executive of River Island, Richard Bradbury, will retire after more than 20 years with the fashion chain and be replaced by Ben Lewis, the company's chief operating officer. Bradbury, 54, was appointed in 2007 and is believed to have informed the board of his decision 18 months ago. His future is unclear but it is believed he will remain in the industry and perhaps continue to help develop fashion colleges.
INVESTMENT COLUMN:
Cobham (buy)
Immunodiagnostic Systems (buy on weakness)
Eckoh (hold for now)
The Guardian
LABOUR'S 'CADBURY LAW' DISMISSED AS PROTECTIONIST
The Association of British Insurers has reacted to Labour's election manifesto claim that it would raise shareholder voting thresholds to two-thirds in takeover bids as being protectionist. The so called 'Cadbury law' is intended to stop the 'make a fast buck' investor activity displayed most notably by hedge funds. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson wants to protect the long term interests of British companies and their workforces. However, the ABI said it could result in animosity towards British takeovers, such as Prudential's acquisition of AIA, being blocked, as well as making it harder to replace a failing management.
CAPITA PAYS BOSSES IN SHARES TO AVOID 50 PERCENT TAX
Outsourcing group Capita has changed its bonus plan to allow executives to avoid the new 50 percent tax rate and the increase in national insurance. The company's annual report said a deferred annual bonus, worth 105 percent this year, could be taken in restricted shares instead. Capita said it had frozen executive pay in 2009 and would repeat the move in 2010. Last year, chief executive Paul Pindar made 770,000 pounds in salary and bonus plus 833,000 pounds from exercising share options.
Prepared for Reuters by Durrants
Keywords: PRESS DIGEST British business April 13
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
STRIKE-HIT BA IS THE ONLY AIRLINE TO AWARD PAY RISES
Previously unpublished figures from the Civil Aviation Authority have revealed that the pay of British Airways cabin crew increased by five percent last year despite the airline reporting record losses and other carriers cutting or freezing salaries. BA and Unite, the union which represents cabin crew, are continuing negotiations about a pay freeze, bonus cuts and changes to working practices, which led to seven days of industrial action in March. BA said the strikes in March cost the airline 45 million pounds and resulted in 200,000 fewer passengers travelling with the airline.
NEED TO KNOW: LAND SECURITIES
Land Securities, the UK's largest listed property company, has purchased the O2 Centre in North London for 126 million pounds from Matterhorn Capital and Palos Investments. They bought the scheme for 92.5 million pounds in March 2009.
NEED TO KNOW: THOMAS COOK
Holiday operator Thomas Cook has announced that Dawn Airey will join the board as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Airey is currently the chairman and chief executive of Five TV and was previously managing director of global content at ITV. Airey will also join Thomas Cook's nominations committee.
NEED TO KNOW: SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY
Scottish and Southern Energy has bought a 15 percent stake in Burntisland Fabrications for 11 million pounds. The energy supplier has also secured an agreement with the offshore oil and gas fabrications yard for the supply of infrastructure to support its offshore wind developments.
TEMPUS:
Vernalis (buy for the brave)
Ithaca Energy (a risky buy)
Carr's Milling (hold)
The Daily Telegraph
GOOGLE SNAPS UP UK STUDENTS' SITE
Google, the Internet search engine, has completed its first acquisition in Britain with the purchase of PlinkArt for an undisclosed sum. PlinkArt allows users to identify a work of art by taking a photo of it with their mobile phone. Anil Hansjee, Google's head of corporate development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: 'It's time to be much more optimistic about the European tech start-up scene.' Mark Cummins and James Philbin, who founded PlinkArt while studying at Oxford University, won a 100,000 dollar prize from Google last year after being selected as the best reference application for Google Android mobile phones.
HENDERSON EYES 260 MILLION POUND SUNTRUST ASSET ARM
Anglo-Australian fund manager Henderson Group confirmed on Monday it was 'in discussions' to acquire RidgeWorth Capital Management, the U.S. asset management arm of SunTrust Banks. An insider said the talks were at an 'early stage' and added that the deal could cost Henderson between 195 million pounds and 260 million pounds. RidgeWorth and its subsidiaries manage assets worth around 40 billion pounds. Shares in Henderson rose 3.2 pence to 149.5 pence.
YOUGOV 'ON UPWARD SLOPE' DESPITE LOSS
YouGov, the polling company which makes two percent of its revenue from political polls, says it is now on an 'upward slope' despite plummeting shares. The company reported that it was in the red for the six months to January 31. Profits fell from 683,000 pounds to a loss of 540,000 pounds. The news was greeted with a seven percent fall in YouGov's shares to 36 pence. Chief executive Stephen Shakespeare said: 'We feel very strongly that we have come out of the bad times and that we are in more positive territory.'
QUESTOR:
Vodafone (buy)
Home Retail Group (buy)
The Independent
VERNALIS ON THE ACQUISITION TRIAL
Biotech firm Vernalis is setting aside funds to buy up companies with later-stage drug development programmes. The company posted on Monday a 27 percent increase in underlying revenues for 2009 to 13 million pounds and ended the year with cash of 26.4 million pounds. It also raised an additional 28.5 million pounds in March 2010, of which 21 million pounds was used to regain the European rights to Frovatriptan, its sole marketed product.
LADBROKES FOLDS ITS HAND IN ITALY
Ladbrokes, the bookmakers, is to sell its Italian retail betting and gaming business to an affiliate of Italy's Cogetech. Ladbrokes said it expected a cash consideration of 4.6 million pounds to be paid upon completion of the deal. The decision to quit Italy was made last August after revenues from Italy failed to meet expectations. Cogetech will take on the responsibility for an estimated 18 million euros of guarantees.
RIVER ISLAND BOSS RESIGNS
The chief executive of River Island, Richard Bradbury, will retire after more than 20 years with the fashion chain and be replaced by Ben Lewis, the company's chief operating officer. Bradbury, 54, was appointed in 2007 and is believed to have informed the board of his decision 18 months ago. His future is unclear but it is believed he will remain in the industry and perhaps continue to help develop fashion colleges.
INVESTMENT COLUMN:
Cobham (buy)
Immunodiagnostic Systems (buy on weakness)
Eckoh (hold for now)
The Guardian
LABOUR'S 'CADBURY LAW' DISMISSED AS PROTECTIONIST
The Association of British Insurers has reacted to Labour's election manifesto claim that it would raise shareholder voting thresholds to two-thirds in takeover bids as being protectionist. The so called 'Cadbury law' is intended to stop the 'make a fast buck' investor activity displayed most notably by hedge funds. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson wants to protect the long term interests of British companies and their workforces. However, the ABI said it could result in animosity towards British takeovers, such as Prudential's acquisition of AIA, being blocked, as well as making it harder to replace a failing management.
CAPITA PAYS BOSSES IN SHARES TO AVOID 50 PERCENT TAX
Outsourcing group Capita has changed its bonus plan to allow executives to avoid the new 50 percent tax rate and the increase in national insurance. The company's annual report said a deferred annual bonus, worth 105 percent this year, could be taken in restricted shares instead. Capita said it had frozen executive pay in 2009 and would repeat the move in 2010. Last year, chief executive Paul Pindar made 770,000 pounds in salary and bonus plus 833,000 pounds from exercising share options.
Prepared for Reuters by Durrants
Keywords: PRESS DIGEST British business April 13
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2010 AFX News
