The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from August 2005

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from August 2005

BAA denies bid to block Aussies.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Aug. 15--Britain's dominant airports operator, BAA, has denied that it is behind attempts to block Australian bank Macquarie from expanding its UK airport interests. Macquarie, part-owner of Birmingham and Bristol...

Aussies ponder a cash bid for stock exchange.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Aug. 15--Australia's Macquarie Bank, dubbed "the millionaires factory" for its Midas touch, has confirmed it may make an all-cash bid for the London Stock Exchange. "Macquarie, as is always the case, is considering...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
August 15, 2005... Aug. 15--INTRIGUE SURROUNDS THE UNSOLICITED GLOSSY BROCHURES thudding onto doormats of London homes, inviting residents to participate in an offer of shares in Europol International Plc. The prospectus-like document is offering shares in...

Scandal probe 'to take months'.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Allan Hall Aug. 15--A probe into alleged money-laundering by Commerzbank head Klaus-Peter Muller may drag on for months, Frankfurt prosecutors say. Muller has so far retained the support of his board after the bank said: "We...

Wave of City hirings is just the job for [pounds sterling]30 million page.
August 15, 2005... Aug. 15--The City is hiring again. That was the conclusion to be drawn from blockbuster half-year profit figures at recruitment consultant Michael Page today, writes Jim Armitage. Profits at the company's British division leaped 42 percent...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Aug. 15--SCHRODERS SET TO SHOW IT CAN KEEP UP FASTER PACE: Brokers are expecting an upbeat batch of figures from Schroders when the investment bank unveils first-half figures tomorrow. Deutsche Bank has lifted its...

Xstrata buys Canadian miner stake.
August 15, 2005... Aug. 15--Mining group Xstrata has snapped up 20 percent of Canadian-listed global miner Falconbridge from Brascan Corporation just days after signalling it was on the acquisition trail. It said the C$2 billion ([pounds sterling]944 million)...

Small firms 'being strangled by red tape'.
August 15, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 15--The Government is failing to help small businesses that are drowning in a sea of regulation, Britain's leading employers' group has warned. The CBI said the Government had missed four of the seven...

Branson struggling to win passengers on kangaroo route.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Aug. 15--Virgin Atlantic's plans to crack the so-called "kangaroo route" from London to Sydney appear to be in tatters with senior executives alarmed by low passenger numbers and rising costs. The route -- via Hong...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--INDIAN AND CHINESE FIRMS BID FOR PETROKAZAKHSTAN: PetroKazakhstan has received bid offers from Chinese and Indian oil firms, as they continue to shore up energy supplies to their fast-growing but energy-deficient economies. The $3.3...

Toughest tests ahead as A380 proves its mettle.
August 16, 2005... Byline: Ross Tieman Aug. 16--The first Airbus A380 super-jumbo scraped its tail along the runway as it lumbered into the air from Istres airport, on the Cote d'Azur, earlier this month. A specially-constructed skid sent a blaze of...

Upbeat mood at C&W after Energis.
August 16, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 16--Cable & Wireless was in bullish spirits today about a rapid expansion of its British business customer base after pulling off a last-gasp takeover of Energis worth up to [pounds sterling]837 million. ...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--The sound of kitchen knives being sharpened must surely be resonating around British Airways' sleek, glass head office following the Gate Gourmet fiasco. It's hard to think of a bigger PR disaster for the airline, and it provides...

Oil-fuelled inflation surge knocks chances of rate cut.
August 16, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Aug. 16--The prospect of a second interest rate cut this year receded today as spiralling fuel costs stoked UK inflation to its highest since records began in their current form more than eight years ago. The...

Murdoch installs veteran ally at Fox after son's surprise departure.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--News Corp has placed veteran Roger Ailes, a close ally of Rupert Murdoch, in charge of Fox Television of the US, which had been the province of Murdoch's son Lachlan. Ailes, a 65-year-old combative right-winger, was the architect...

Schroders beats forecasts with leap to [pounds sterling]123 million.
August 16, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 16--Fund management giant Schroders chalked up a spectacular 70 percent rise in half-year profits as it delivered on a promise made last year to pump up revenue growth from high-margin retail clients. ...

PwC is sued by ING over audit 'failure'.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--Dutch bank ING is suing PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York over audits of the collapsed National Century Financial Enterprises and a subsidiary. ING says the auditor should have known that "high-quality" receivables bought from...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
August 16, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Aug. 16--Takeover speculation nudged Urbium another 1 1/2p higher to 1011 1/2p today, but one broker is urging clients to take a profit. The owner of Tiger Tiger bars and nightclubs, which last year was on the...

$100 a barrel on horizon?
August 16, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Aug. 16--The oil price is poised to hit fresh highs above $70 a barrel but energy analysts believe slowing demand and increased supply should see it come off the boil by the end of the year. An Evening Standard...

Pub pair pull in millions.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--Pub entrepreneurs Ewan Guinness and Matt Jacomb are thought to have made themselves a fat profit from the sale of their small West London gastropub group to Chiswick brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner. Financial details of the deal...

Germans ditch O2 bid pitch.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--Deutsche Telekom today abruptly broke off talks with Dutch phone giant Royal KPN about the joint purchase of Britain's O2 mobile network -- a deal that would have been worth around [pounds sterling]14 billion. Europe's largest...

FA target bid to host world cup in 2018.
August 16, 2005... Aug. 16--Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick has signalled England's intention to bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals following the success of London's 2012 Olympics campaign. The FA have not yet finalised their plans, with...

Rate-cutters' 5-4 win is a blow for bank's King.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Aug. 17--Bank of England Governor Mervyn King was left with egg on his face today after it emerged that he was outgunned by five of his colleagues on the monetary policy committee over cutting interest rates earlier...

Key ally clouds S&N Russia plan.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Aug. 17--Scottish & Newcastle's Byzantine bust-up with minority shareholders in its Russian brewing division claimed its first victim today as a key ally of the British brewer sold its stake on the eve of a crucial...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
August 17, 2005... Aug. 17--PERHAPS THE MOST TELLING STATISTIC in Business Week's just-published special China and India edition is contained in the table entitled China's Hunger for Raw Materials. The country, it says, currently consumes 47 percent of the...

Baugur chief's corruption trial begins.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Aug. 17--The chief executive of Baugur, the Icelandic investor that owns a large chunk of the British High Street, appears in court today to face a host of fraud charges. Jon Asgeir Johannesson and five other...

Tax clampdown on City's big stars.
August 17, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 17--Thousands of wealthy City financiers face a new Government-led purge of their pay arrangements. Banks are running scared over concerns that they will be a hit with massive backdated bills for unpaid tax...

Ex-AIT boss guilty of market abuse.
August 17, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 17--The former finance director of call centre software firm AIT has the dishonourable distinction of becoming the first person to be convicted of criminal market abuse. After a three-month trial, a jury at...

Eyecare helps Nestle to a bumper [pounds sterling]1.6 billion.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Aug. 17--Swiss foods giant Nestle today triumphed over struggling British rival Unilever with bumper half-year profits as the warm weather in Europe boosted sales of ice cream and bottled water. But it was Nestle...

Orders set record but Balfour is wary over rail outlook.
August 17, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 17--Construction group Balfour Beatty has racked up a record [pounds sterling]7.4 billion order book at the half-year mark but says it cannot predict with certainty the longer-term outlook for its UK and German...

Ex-tailor 'stitched up' in Reebok deal.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Aug. 17--A retired Croatian tailor accused of making $2 million ([pounds sterling]1.1 million) from insider trading in Reebok options is thought to have been the victim of identity theft. The US Securities and...

Deloitte faces professional probe on Rover.
August 17, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Aug. 17--The investigation into the collapse of carmaker MG Rover took a dramatic twist today as Britain's chief accountancy regulator launched an inquiry into the role of the group's former auditor Deloitte. ...

Chelsea FC boss in line for millions from sale of oil stake.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Aug. 17--Roman Abramovich could pick up a multi-billion-pound payout as speculation grows that Russian state-owned Gazprom is close to buying a 72 percent stake in the Chelsea FC owner's Sibneft oil company. It is...

Sports Cafe out of red as sales boom.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Aug. 17--Sports Cafe Holdings, which operates a chain of sports-themed bars and restaurants, has racked up its first operating profit amid continuing sales growth. With sales ahead 33 percent in the first six...

Terra Firma pullout holes East Surrey.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Tom Nicholls Aug. 17--Shares in water and gas utility East Surrey took a battering today after private-equity group Terra Firma Investments signalled its intention to pull out of an agreement to buy the company. But as the...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Aug. 18--SHARES ON THE RUN AS OIL AND INFLATION REALITY HITS HOME: Share prices were beating a retreat today, dropping back below 5300, as investors faced up to the twin-pronged problem of soaring oil prices and...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
August 30, 2005... Aug. 30--SHED DRAMAS PASS THE SCREEN TEST AT ITV: TV production company Shed has had two of its main programmes recommissioned by ITV. An eighth series of the prison drama Bad Girls will appear on ITV1 and a second series of Footballers' Wives...

Shopping centres landlord says trading is going 'reasonably well'.
August 30, 2005... Aug. 30--Leading shopping centres landlord Hammerson is shrugging off the worst effects of the consumer spending downturn. "In the main, trading in our shopping centres is going reasonably well as retail spending has been shown to be...