Europe Intelligence Wire articles from June 2004

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from June 2004

Insight - A piece of the action.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Roger Trapp. Like many management gurus, Eddie Obeng is somewhat larger than life. Given to snappy clothes and effusive language, he has been described as the Max Headroom of the business world and...

Insight - Be in it to win it.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Accountancy Age Awards, which recognise excellence in accountancy practice, financial management in business and technology. The awards will be presented on Wednesday,...

Insight - Ok thus far.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry. John Maguire was a bit of a financial whizz-kid in his early 20s. While most young accountants are making their first move into business, Maguire was wandering the world in a variety of...

Accounting - Shifting standards at the ASB.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Williams, a chartered accountant and freelance journalist. Mary Keegan is to swap her desk at the Accounting Standards Board in July for a presumably grander one at HM Treasury. As she steps down...

Tell me why.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Under FRS 10 Goodwill and Intangible Assets, there is a presumption that the useful economic life of purchased goodwill or intangible assets is limited to 20 years. Where goodwill or an intangible asset is...

Corporate governance - A very public concern.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Robert Bruce, a leading commentator on accountancy issues. Nagging away beneath the huge growth in regulation the business world has seen in recent years is what is rapidly becoming a fundamental flaw....

IT strategy - Enter the voice of reason.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Tom Berry, deputy editor of Financial Director. While the rest of the corporate world went Google-loopy after the search engine announced its upcoming flotation, it was Warren Buffett, chairman of...

Secret of CRM success.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) An IBM survey on customer relationship management (CRM) finds that by prioritising and selecting key CRM and business processes, the likelihood of CRM success can be improved from less than 15% to as much as 80%....

Economics - Every silver lining has a cloud.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Dennis Turner, chief economist at HSBC. Despite the fact that inflation has edged down this year, the Monetary Policy Committee still raised base rates in May and implied there was more to come. The...

Corporate governance - Stringing us along?
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Anthony Harrington. Following Shell's bombshell announcement on 9 January that it was recategorising a significant chunk of its proven reserves, the company is now facing litigation from a number of...

Financial directions - Failure to appoint home-grown CEOs.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton has surveyed 2,500 of the world's largest companies and the succession statistics of their CEOs. The study, CEO Succession 2003, finds that 9.5% of CEOs left their...

Financial directions - Finance operations tend to stay in-house.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Few of the largest US companies see any benefit in outsourcing their finance operations, claims a survey by business advisors Hackett Group. The research is based on the analysis of 15 companies with mature...

Financial directions - Warnings on the up as pension funds see boost.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Word of warning Profit warnings among UK companies grew by more than one-third in Q1 2004, according to Ernst & Young. A total of 71 UK companies issued profit warnings, compared with 52 in the previous...

Financial directions - Financial bites.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) "Why should I vote for this resolution? She is a non-executive director of EMI, which has been a very poor investment, Great Portland Estates, which is not much better, and the court of the Bank of England, which...

Financial directions - Favourable prospect for corporate profits.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Graeme Johnston. Economic background The sluggish state of the US labour market has led to lingering concerns as to whether expansion can be sustained. Many commentators have suggested that, as...

Extra ordinary items - Now the heat is on.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Congratulations to Neil Wood and the team leading the charge for the Olympic Games to come to London in 2012. We spoke with Neil last month and, just as this issue was going to press, news came through that London...

Extra ordinary items - Oil's well that ends well.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Sometimes it's hard to get a certain word out of your head. So it appears to be at Shell, which recently had to report that some four billion barrels of oil couldn't technically be booked as proven reserves. When...

Extra ordinary items - No mean definition.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) A new Dictionary of Accounting lands on our desk from Harry Potter publishers Bloomsbury and - interpreto correctus! - it has taken care of most of the mistakes we highlighted on this page last autumn with its...

Extra ordinary items - The dead-on-time actuary.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Is it any wonder no one can make head or tail of the pension laws in this country? A parliamentary debate on yet another pensions bill in May highlighted the hash that is the legislative process - and what comes...

Extra ordinary items - Beyond our Ken.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Are you sitting down? Brace yourselves...! Supermarket group Wm Morrisons has just appointed two non-executive directors. The group has long been a corporate governance maverick, preferring to rest its corporate...

Decisions - Business intelligence - Data day grind.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Anthony Harrington. There was a time when the general ledger was king. You coded your ledger to enable groupings and totals that were of interest to your business to be assembled at some ongoing print...

Decisions - Takeovers - How suite it is.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Peter Bartram. When Graham Stubbins, principal accountant at Aberdeen City Council, heard that two more software suites - QSP and Walker - were being acquired to operate alongside the Cedar package...

Decisions - Case studies - When it's time to change.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Haymarket Publishing Old system CODA New system Agresso Haymarket is the UK's largest private magazine publisher, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in Germany, the US, China, Australia and...

Decisions - Escrow - Held in trust.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Malcolm Wheatley. The phone call is brief, and unwelcome. A company that supplies software vital to your business has unexpectedly collapsed. The employees have been laid off and the empty premises are...

Decisions - Compliance - Do or dire.
June 1, 2004... (From Financial Director) Byline: Anthony Harrington. Nothing focuses an FD's or CEO's mind like the threat of jail, which explains why the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is exercising companies all over the world. To be sure, the act...

When too much supervision can become a danger to shipping.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Michael Grey Viewpoint SOME early season rest and recreation has seen me absent from this newspaper if not this column in a deserted part of the Cornish peninsula. It was, however, impossible to get...

Foreign Office enters OOCL Allan death probe.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Janet Porter INVESTIGATIONS into the death of OOCL executive Courtenay Allan last summer has taken a new twist, with the intervention of the Foreign Office. Mr Allan died after plunging down a lift shaft...

Frontline says best is yet to come as dividend hits $5 a share.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Tony Gray FRONTLINE'S dividend largesse to shareholders in the past three years is now comfortably in excess of $1bn following a first quarter payment of $5 a share, or $365m in total. And the John...

MC Shipping rejects Burke.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) MC SHIPPING has rejected Burke Investments offer of a $27m equity infusion which would have given it control of the liquefied petroleum gas carrier and containership operator, writes Tony Gray. Burke Investments, a...

Flash fire onboard tanker kills seven workers at Keppel yard.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Marcus Hand in Singapore SEVEN workers died in a flash fire while repairing a tanker at Keppel Shipyard at the weekend. The fire, the yard's worst ever accident, broke out on Saturday at 1300 hrs in the...

Cutting crews is causing accidents says MAIB chief.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Meyer slams cost-saving measures as casualties rise, writes David Osler PREVENTABLE accidents are happening at sea because owners are cutting crewing levels to save money, Britain's shipping safety boss has...

India's new transport minister rules out sell-off of stake in state-owned SCI.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Frontrunners in bid say they are unsurprised, writes Shirish Nadkarni in Mumbai WITHIN 24 hours of taking over as India's Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport, TR Baalu of the Dravida Munnetra...

Kiel and M'nster Provinzial groups agree merger deal.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) THE owners of the Provinzial insurance groups in M'nster and Kiel have agreed to merge the two insurers, creating one of the biggest insurance groups in north-western Germany, writes Herbert Fromme in Cologne. The...

Axa Germany breaks habit of weak growth.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Herbert Fromme in Cologne COLOGNE-based Axa Germany group has overcome its notorious weakness in growth, and has presented high increases in new business for 2003 and the first quarter of this year. The...

New duo at helm as XL moves to single location.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: James Brewer A NEW top duo at XL London Market which manages GBP500m ($917.2m) of syndicate capacity is to drive ahead with a strategy aimed at channelling extra marine and other business into the group's...

Ship Finance seeks future beyond crude.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Fledgling group earned $44.1m during its debut quarter, writes Tony Gray SHIP Finance International, the new tanker owning subsidiary being spun-off by Frontline, is already examining transactions that could...

AM Best praises Sovag performance.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) SOVAG, a top marine insurer specialising in risks related to Russia and neighbouring countries, is set for a bumper year in 2004, writes James Brewer. The prediction comes from ratings agency AM Best, which has led...

Golar LNG in talks with Korea Line.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) GOLAR LNG has entered 'constructive' talks with Korea Line, the South Korean liquefied natural gas carrier operator in which it has a stake of more than 20%, writes tony Gray. This was disclosed at the same time as...

Operators and ports accused of ISPS Code apathy in report.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: OECD and European Conference of Ministers' report urges final push to meet deadline in a month, writes Andrew Spurrier A HIGH-level report on the threat to container security posed by terrorism has expressed...

Aker ASA listed after Kvaerner merger.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Jerry Frank NORWEGIAN tycoon Kjell Inge Rokke has taken another step in his plan to breathe life into the former Aker Kvaerner industrial empire with the merger of his private investment arm Aker RGI with...

Engine trouble set to cause Chinese yards to stall.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Sam Chambers in Hong Kong A DEARTH of engine manufacturing in China might constrict future shipbuilding productivity, a leading shipbroker has warned. With berths full through to 2007 and 2008, Clarkson...

Singapore first in USCG programme.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Marcus Hand in Singapore SINGAPORE has become the first country in the world to participate in the US Coast Guards' International Port Security programme. The IPS programme is designed by the US so it can...

Wisteria three held in stowaway probe.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: David Osler THE master and two officers of a Japanese-owned reefership are being held by Spanish police, on suspicion of having thrown four Senegalese stowaways overboard in mid-Atlantic. According to...

Panamaxes plagued by holiday lull.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Dry Trade HOLIDAYS in Europe and slump in the Far East in recent times left Asian panamax brokers with little to do on Monday and it looks like there may not be much to shout about over the coming summer months,...

June busting out all over for VLCCs.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Marcus Hand in Singapore Tankers A MUCH more active week for very large crude carriers helped pushed rates higher and the outlook for the coming week is positive with more June business yet to be done....

Tanker Fixtures.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) CLEAN Baltic to US Gulf Sibotura, 60,000t, W185, Jun 4. (Petroval) Tuapse to Mediterranean Carlos G, 30,000t, W260, Jun 8. (Rocoil) Bourgas to US Gulf Jo Sypress, 28,000t, W280, Jun 3. (Litasco) ...

Dry Bulk Fixtures.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) COAL Bolivar to Immingham Genmar vesel to be nominated, 100,000t, $15.20 per tonne, fio 55,000t sc'25,000t sc, Jul 1-31. (CMC) Clementine (50000 dwt, 2004-built) delivery Japan, redelivery worldwide, 23-25...

Castillo de Olivenza.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) THE Brazilian-registered bulk carrier Castillo de Olivenza did not have its ABS class suspended following a port state detention in the UK, contrary to the report of May 19. ABS carried out an annual survey on the...

Owners' association in attack on rogue flags.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Danes in call for exclusions, writes Andrew Draper THE Danish Shipowners' Association launched its annual report with an attack on rogue flag states that do not meet international standards and on...

Tanker treats keep owners in pocket.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: VLCC sales steal the show with Taiwanese Maritime Transport snapping up two resales for $72m en bloc, writes David Osler WITH much of Europe enjoying a long weekend, the sales and purchase market has been...

Bangladeshi budget nerves infect India as Alang scrap prices crash.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Brian Reyes in Gibraltar A DRAMATIC week in the demolition market, as pre-budget nerves in Bangladesh appeared to infect neighbouring India and prompted the Alang market to crash last Friday. Rumours...

Baltic and North seas still top for ferry safety.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) FERRY safety in the Baltic and North seas is still higher than in the Mediterranean, the latest evaluation from German motoring association ADAC revealed, writes Katrin Berkenkopf in Cologne. All 13 ferries included...

Intelligent Engineering hails class rules that will allow sandwich plate system soon.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Design strengthens decks and makes landing craft bow doors bullet-proof, writes Hugh O'Mahony INTELLIGENT Engineering, the company behind the sandwich plate system for ships' structures, has said that...

Stopford upbeat on prospects for yards.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Market correction more likely than a crash, according to Clarkson Research's managing director, writes Hugh O'Mahony ALTHOUGH caution has crept into the shipbuilding market over recent months, as Chinese...

Repair Roundup.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Germany A SAM Electronics' Nacos 35-4 integrated navigation system has been installed on the QE2, until recently Cunard's flagship for more than 30 years, as part of a major three-week refurbishment project...

South Korea in bid for leading logistics role.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Sam Chambers in Hong Kong THE South Korean president has declared his country ready to take on the mantle of maritime experts. His administration is actively pursuing a plan to make the country one of...

Unions urge action on Izar contracts.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Fears over Brussels ruling on state aid delays government rescue moves, writes Brian Reyes in Gibraltar SPANISH unions have urged the government to reopen negotiations with shipowners to try and secure work...

UK to build research centres to develop tidal power.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Construction of facilities has already started near Newcastle and Orkney, writes Martyn Wingrove OFFSHORE renewable energy developments are already big business when it comes to building wind farms off the...

Stark warning on costs of climate change.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) ENERGY needs of the world can be fulfilled without storing up problems for future generations, contends one of the Green Party's leading personalities, Julia Stephenson, writes James Brewer. She advocates tackling...

Tips for foreigners hoping to invest in Kazakhstan as new state seeks to develop its non-oil potential.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Personal touches and warm traditions make it a pleasure to do business in the country, say book's authors, writes James Brewer GUESTS in Kazakhstan are expected to deliver an eloquent toast to their hosts....

Security is to be shared.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) THE days are now ticking away to the July 1 implementation date of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code and all sorts of people are realising that it is for real. Worth noting that a properly...

Whale of an idea or too little, too late?
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Calls for a great white paper on shipping seem to have echoed along the hallways of maritime Norway longer than a whale's breeding cycle, writes Jerry Frank As another spring gives way to summer, Norway's...

Bergesen sets out ambitions under new ownership.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) THE future may be uncertain for Norway's shipping industry, but old hands at Bergesen intend to turn in some sound profit and growth for their new foreign owners come what may. Straight-talking managing director and...

Brussels sits up and notices success story at Det Norske Veritas.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) NORWEGIAN classification society Det Norske Veritas is in fine financial health. Net profit more than doubled last year and almost a fifth of the world fleet is now operating under its class. Last year profit after...

Unitor at five-year high after shake-up.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) SHIPPING entrepreneur Jens Ulltveit-Moe, the man who paid Nkr1 for insolvent shipowner Knutsen, has overseen a big restructuring at another of his Norwegian assets, the once ailing ship supplier Unitor. Last year the...

SatCom division is Nera's profit generator.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) SATELLITE terminal manufacturer and supplier Nera completed its range of maritime products for global network Inmarsat at the end of last year. But the order book is not bulging and profit margins are still flat....

Oman invests in steam to try to reverse decline in production.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Martyn Wingrove OMAN has started its campaign to halt the decline in its maturing oil fields and prevent any further slide in its crude exports. Petroleum Development Oman, 34% owned by oil major Shell,...

Seagull is high-flier in keeping crews up to date.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) THERE has never been greater demand from ship operators for seafarers to be kept abreast of a rapidly changing and technologically exacting workplace. From involved operational procedures to the handling of...

Contracting fleet still world's third largest.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) MAGNITUDE is a matter of perception, and Norway's maritime industry last year may have got smaller but is still larger than most in the world of shipping. Amid the gloom and the doomsayers, Norway's maritime...

Teekay keeps foot on expansion pedal.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) CANADIAN tanker giant Teekay's expansion in Norway over the past two years has created one of the largest medium-sized tanker operations in the world. Teekay now holds almost half of its assets in the country,...

Security drive makes life busy for Norselight.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) NORSELIGHT, the Norwegian marine searchlight manufacturer, anticipates a surge of demand for its products as shipowners are forced by the ISPS code to tighten up on board security. The company, based at Halden, which...

Last Word.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Pull the udder one HEARD the one about the herd of flying cows that sank the Japanese fishing fleet? The hoary story is still afloat, it seems. Now celebrating its seventh anniversary, this tale was given a...

Diary Dates.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) What's Happening Where Lloyd's List Events, Exhibitions and Conferences June McCloskey's Dry Bulk Shipping Market Outlook Conference, London, England, 14th-15th. www.lloydslistevents.com 2nd Intermodal...

Unions on guard as US Navy seeks to use more civilians.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) Byline: Coronado experiment initiates moves to create a culture based on performance instead of entitlement, writes John McLaughlin THE USS Coronado is an old ship on a new mission. A US Navy spokesman describes it...

Hoegh wins freedom to go its own way.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) FAMILY shipping group Leif Hoegh's decision last year to sever its ties with the Oslo bourse has been widely greeted as a sound financial move that has guaranteed it the freedom to invest as it sees fit in its core gas...

BUNKER QUALITY REPORT - May 13, 2004.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) BUNKER QUALITY REPORT - May 13, 2004 U'F = unfilterable This Bunker Quality Report is based on samples analysed by DNV Petroleum Services and is an abstract from their more detailed fuel quality statistics...

Higher prices rather than lower quality is Jotun broadbrush tactic.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) MARITIME paint manufacturer Jotun has been forced to raise prices across its range of marine coating products as Chinese economic expansion has driven escalating raw material costs. Norwegian manufacturer Jotun, one...

Gas Market Report.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) NORTHWEST EUROPE:The large propane market continues to fluctuate with crude. Prices have been talked in the $345-$368 range over the last week. Even two tenders, one buy and one sell, could not entice a deal to be done....

HANSEN BUNKER MARKET REPORT.
June 1, 2004... (From Lloyds List) HANSEN BUNKER MARKET REPORT - May 25, 2004 Compiled for Lloyd's List by Egil Bjorn-Hansen, Oslo CONTINENT: Stable to a bit soft. AFRICA'MIDDLE EAST: Stable to firm. FAR EAST: Singapore and Korea slightly...

Czech press survey.
June 1, 2004... (From Czech News Agency) PRAGUE, June 1 (CTK) - The style of Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber and Czech President Vaclav Klaus have one thing in common - they both use exalted rhetoric, trying to stir up emotions, which has so far proved...

Yukos to Lose Majority in Sibneft.
June 1, 2004... (From The Moscow Times) Yukos lost control over Sibneft on Monday after a Moscow court ruled to invalidate a share emission used in the failed merger of the two oil majors last year. The Moscow Arbitration Court upheld a lower court's...

FSB Takes a Look at Secrecy at TNK-BP.
June 1, 2004... (From The Moscow Times) After being taken to court by migration officials and coming under fire by the Federal Energy Agency for its plans for the giant Samotlor Siberian oil field, TNK-BP is once again facing heat -- this time from the...

NTV Bars Chechen Widow's Interview.
June 1, 2004... (From The Moscow Times) At the request of the intelligence services and the written instruction of NTV's deputy general director, an interview with the widow of Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was cut from the Sunday night...

Reading Between the Lines.
June 1, 2004... (From The Moscow Times) To Our ReadersHas something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage? Then please write to us. All we ask is that you include your...