Evening Standard - Business

Weir extends buy spree with £200m Aussie bid

Lucy Tobin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:52:27 GMT

Weir Group, the deal-hungry FTSE 100 pump manufacturer, has revealed yet more appetite for acquisitions when it made an A$294 million (£200 million) hostile takeover bid for an Australian mining equipment maker

Osborne's bank levy take is likely to miss £2.5bn target

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:50:12 GMT

Chancellor George Osborne could miss his target of raising £2.5 billion a year through the UK bank levy after Barclays said it is paying a lower-than-expected £325 million for 2012.

Tate & Lyle blames Europe as Thames refinery jobs go

Jim Armitage — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:40:36 GMT

The American owner of the historic Tate & Lyle sugar refinery on the Thames at Silvertown is planning to shed staff because of new EU restrictions on the industry

New inflation fear as oil spike raises industry costs

Russell Lynch — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:36:16 GMT

A sudden spike in crude oil prices pushed up manufacturers' costs in January, giving the Bank of England a fresh inflation warning a day after it voted to pump an extra £50 billion into the struggling UK economy

Luxury brands set for a jubilee bonanza

Laura Chesters — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:23:45 GMT

London's luxury brands are gearing up for street parties and exhibitions to cash in on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this June

Chelsea tractor that is just electrifying...

Jim Armitage — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:21:03 GMT

Environmentalists usually revile them for their gas-guzzling status, but this is one SUV that could become the Chelsea tractor of choice for green mums on the school run

NYSE Euronext profits slip amid slow trading

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:16:19 GMT

Further evidence of just how sluggish the end of last year was for the financial sector has come with results from the NYSE Euronext stock exchange giant

Domain firm on the dot with another £9m

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:14:03 GMT

An AIM-listed firm that sells website addresses today raised a further £9 million from investors

Hammerson plans £50m Croydon retail development

Laura Chesters — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:37:59 GMT

Hammerson is to stump up £50 million to re-develop its shopping centre in Croydon

Games blip alert as Shaftesbury booms

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:09:52 GMT

Business is booming for London landlord Shaftesbury but the firm braced the City for a Olympic blip later this year as "outrageous" hotel prices deter visitors from the West End

Phoenix ends takeover talks with CVC

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:05:01 GMT

Life insurer Phoenix has ended takeover talks with private equity company CVC Capital Partners due to differences over the terms, including price

Surprise dive into the red by Tata Steel

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:02:33 GMT

Tata Steel gave a nasty glimpse of just how bad things are looking in Europe as the steel giant reported a surprise quarterly loss

Jobs assurance for Bombardier staff

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:51:23 GMT

Workers at train-builder Bombardier have been given confirmation that their short-term future was secure, providing a "breathing space" for the firm's main UK plant

Beer duty could cost 16,000 jobs

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:46:42 GMT

Thousands of jobs will be lost unless the Government halts plans for a "punitive" tax rise on beer, industry leaders have warned

UK passenger revenues at Flybe under a cloud

Lucy Tobin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:38:05 GMT

More evidence of turbulence in the aviation sector emerged today as Flybe's UK passenger revenues fell in the four months since October

CWC on the slide after message of poor progress in Panama

Gideon Spanier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:30:51 GMT

Cable & Wireless Communications saw its shares fall more than 8% after the emerging-markets telecoms firm warned its business in Panama "has not progressed as planned"

Greek bailout snag sends jitters through markets

Russell Lynch — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:13:51 GMT

Stock markets wobbled and jittery investors are seeking safe havens, as struggling Greece was denied vital bailout funds by Europe's finance ministers

Dip in profits puts the skids under targets at Barclays

Nick Goodway — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:53:17 GMT

Barclays could miss its ambitious, medium-term profitability target, chief executive Bob Diamond has admitted, as the bank reported a 3% fall in annual profits to £5.9 billion

UK economy gets another £50bn boost from the Bank

Russell Lynch — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:31:57 GMT

The Bank of England has flooded another £50 billion into the UK economy as it warned of the lingering threat to the recovery from the eurozone crisis

Hargreaves profits leap after push for private client business

Nick Goodway — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:28:39 GMT

Hargreaves Lansdown saw a 28% leap in profits in the final six months of 2011 to £72 million, driven partly by its efforts to pick up more of the private client stockbroking market

Rank smartens up and pulls in the punters

Simon English — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:26:23 GMT

The smoking ban, recession and fashion for gambling on mobile phones could have done away with old-time bingo hall and casino operator Rank Group

Hugo Boss surge lifts SVG's share buyback

Nick Goodway — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:23:11 GMT

SVG, the quoted proxy for the mighty Permira private-equity funds, has seen its shares leap more than 8% after it said its first £50 million tender to buy back some of its shares is set to be priced at around 315p

Vodafone's customers shun eurozone travel

Gideon Spanier — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:12:29 GMT

Mobile giant Vodafone's UK business customers are cutting back on travel overseas as part of a wider trend seen across Europe

Manufacturers in recession despite a strong surge

Russell Lynch — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:07:58 GMT

Britain's manufacturers are officially back in recession despite a surprise growth spurt in December, official figures have shown

Bonus backlash strikes again as Rio bosses decline payout

Tom Bawden — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:26 GMT

Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese has announced he will forgo his bonus for 2011 as retribution for his disastrous acquisition of the Alcan aluminium business