The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from February 2006

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from February 2006

Italian mobile float may go on hold for a second time.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Feb. 1--The listing of Hutchison Whampoa's Italian 3G mobiles arm may be postponed for a second time with investors baulking at the price tag. "There has been no decision but the IPO is teetering on the edge," said...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--SAUDI PRINCE PLANS $1 BILLION LONDON FLOTATION FOR HOTELS: Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, pictured, is floating part of his international hotels empire on the London Stock Exchange in a move valuing the division at more than $1...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Feb. 1--Hallelujah! All over the West End, men of a certain age, with bouffant hair, perma-tans and Cuban heels, are raising a glass or three of Krug and tripping down memory lane. Adland hasn't had such excitement...

Bright for BskyB as 8m tune in.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Feb. 1--Satellite broadcaster BSkyB had a bumper run-up to Christmas, adding 215,000 new customers to take the total to 8.1 million -- well ahead of the target James Murdoch set when he became chief executive two years...

Compass under fire for UN deals scandal.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Feb. 1--An internal investigation by catering giant Compass into a procurement scandal involving its bidding for UN contracts has fiercely condemned the company's lack of checks and balances. Compass hired lawyers...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Cable & Wireless chairman Richard Lapthorne explains that, having split the company into UK and international arms, he will effectively end up chairing two companies. But surely if they are both in the FTSE 100, that would be in breach...

Five join the bid queue for Amec's French operation.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Two French construction companies and three private-equity firms are said to have expressed interest in Amec-Spie, the French electrical engineering and construction arm of Amec. The British civil engineer put the business up for...

Eurotunnel 'seeking more time in debt write-off talks'.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--There was no sign of any light at the end of the Channel Tunnel today. Eurotunnel was forced to admit that it has failed to meet its own deadline for coming to an agreement with its creditors that would save the company. ...

IFAS face increased levy to cover endowment payouts.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Independent financial advisers face a 25 percent increase in the levy they pay to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to cover the amount of endowment policy pay-outs it reckons it will have to make in the coming year. The...

Man Financial wins US court ruling in Refco contract battle.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--British futures and commodities trader Man Financial has won a ruling in a US court allowing it to take over a broking agreement with Cargill from bankrupt rival Refco. Cargill had objected to an attempt to transfer an exclusive...

Google sticks to its guns on policy of no forecasts.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Feb. 1--Disappointing fourth-quarter results at Google have raised questions over its policy of making no revenue or profit forecasts. As much as $15.3 billion ([pounds sterling]8.6 billion) was wiped off the...

Fayed grabs [pounds sterling]66m, then axes Harrods pension perk.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Harrods staff are to lose their long-standing final-salary pension scheme perk just weeks after it was revealed that owner Mohamed Fayed and his family have taken [pounds sterling]66 million in dividends out of the business over the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Feb. 1--CORPORATE TROUBLES THAT GOVERNANCE CAN'T SOLVE: The latest round of problems at Cable & Wireless, where a profit warning yesterday led to a share-price collapse and the ousting of the chief executive, is a...

Sex and the City: why traders' brains don't always get it right in Square Mile.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--They have known it for decades, but a scientist has now come up with the evidence. The buzz traders get from share deals is akin to the pleasures of orgasm and the high from cocaine. Brain research by Brian Knutson, professor of...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Feb. 1--Renewed talk of a takeover of the "black horse" bank had its shares at full gallop today. Lloyds TSB raced up 30 1/2p to a three-year high of 540p, after briefly touching 555p, as a hefty 150 million shares...

Manufacturers struggle as export orders drop.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Britain's hard-pressed manufacturing sector stepped up a gear in January, but conditions remain extremely tough. Despite an encouraging rise in domestic orders, export orders fell for the first time in eight months and job losses...

Advisers poised to scoop [pounds sterling]55m fees in steel battle.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Ross Tieman Feb. 1--Banking, legal and public relations advisers are set for a bonanza of about e80 million ([pounds sterling]55 million) in fees as Mittal's e18.6 billion ([pounds sterling]12.8 billion) hostile bid for rival...

Petrol prices drive stretch limos firm to wall.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Feb. 1--Britain's biggest limousine hire company has gone bust after sky-high petrol prices made its six-miles-to-the-gallon stretch Hummers too expensive to fill up. A1 Stretch Limos' fleet of 50 vehicles ranging...

Former Wal-Mart chief facing jail for fiddling his expenses.
February 1, 2006... Feb. 1--Former Wal-Mart executive Tom Coughlin faces up to 28 years in jail and a $1.35 million ([pounds sterling]757,000) fine for fiddling his expenses. Coughlin quit as second in command at the retailing giant last March after being...

This month in Odyssey.(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... No dude (or dudette), including our cover surfer, Darryl "Flea" Virosko, would ever question the power of a huge wave or the joy of riding it in. To be able to score a "perfect wave" at its best and have it to one's self, a surfer must learn...

True blue.(phytoplanktons determine ocean color )
February 1, 2006... Why is the sea blue? The most common answer is that it reflects the sky. And while that's true to a point--the sea can also be gray on cloudy days --did you know that the sea also has a hue of its own? Well, it does. And not only is that a...

Snup dog cloned! Snuppy is genetically identical to the three-year-old Afghan hound whose somatic skin cells were used to clone him.(Seoul National University)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... No, not the rapper (that's Snoop Dogg). But meet Snuppy, which stands for Seoul National University puppy--the first dog ever to be cloned. It took 1,000 embryos transplanted into 123 recipients, but South Korean scientists have finally...

Ask a surfer.
February 1, 2006... We're excited to welcome our new Student Board of Advisers for the 2005-2006 editorial year, the sixth-grade Wilder Team at South Meadow School in Peterborough, NH. Four class members--David Stiefel, Loretta Donelan, William Stinson and Morgan...

The perfect wave: surfing in silence.
February 1, 2006... Floating out in the water, a surfer spies a huge wave approaching. Quickly making sure that no one else is taking it, she lies flat on the board and takes two powerful butterfly strokes toward shore. As the wave's energy lifts the surfboard,...

On board.(surfing)
February 1, 2006... Ancient Hawaiians carved their surfboards from koa or ula wood. Boards were up to 18 feet long, and some weighed over 100 pounds. Thanks to modern materials science, today's boards generally weigh less than ten pounds. Longboards are...

Intertidal living.(mussels)
February 1, 2006... At first glance, the tumbled rocks at the edge of the ocean cove where I live look lifeless--too rugged a place for animals to make their home. But explore these boulders, and you'll meet an interesting community of creatures that survive in...

The killer rip!(riptides)
February 1, 2006... ON A SPRING DAY IN 2003, Western Fisheries Research Center biologists worked at their field station on Marrowstone Island in Puget Sound, WA, while children played in the water of the public beach nearby, Hearing screams, the scientists raced...

Nothing but waves.(preparing drinking water from sea water)
February 1, 2006... Your small plane has gone down off the coast of Iceland. The good news is that you aren't injured. But you find yourself alone on a desolate coastline, buffeted by ocean waves. Frozen chunks of sea ice bounce in the surf. Sure, it's very cold,...

The tranquil sea.(earth's rotation decreasing)
February 1, 2006... A light glared and then cleared. They stood on a beach, on the shore of a tranquil sea. Goran cast around to check that his colleague and the eight students were all present and accounted for. "This is Earth, a billion years into the future,"...

Tsunami terror.
February 1, 2006... On December 26, 2004, the Earth rattled and the world came to an end for hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting people in Southeast Asia and East Africa. That day, shortly before 8 a.m. local time, a violent earthquake occurred 18.6 miles...

Monsters of the sea rogue waves.
February 1, 2006... Legend has it that Juno, queen of the gods, once hurled a monstrous wave at the Trojan warrior Aeneas. Juno's wave towered so high that it licked the stars. At the front of the wave whirled a well so deep that Aeneas saw the churning sand on...

Storm surge.
February 1, 2006... In late August 2005, hurricane Katrina slammed into Florida and the coastal regions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The most severe damage was to New Orleans in a city of some 500,000 people that lies six feet below sea level. ...

Can anyone stop the waves?(sea walls)
February 1, 2006... During a hurricane, giant waves crash against a sea wall. The tons of earth and stone in this artificial barrier usually hold back a storm because the wall has been designed tall enough and strong enough to withstand huge waves. Recently,...

A sea wall: just one molecule high.(oil spills can stop giant waves)
February 1, 2006... "There was a large pond, very rough with wind. I dropped a little oil on the water. Though not more than a teaspoonful, it produced an instant calm, [making the water] as smooth as a looking glass." An incredible experiment, but even more...

What's up!(All-Sky Chart )(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 6 p.m. (your local time) on Feb. 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate for 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 and 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. To use...

Get out the binoculars!(winter sky)
February 1, 2006... In New England, February is a month associated with lots of snowfall, so you're probably not surprised to learn that this month's full Moon is called the Full Snow Moon. In 1978, New England experienced an amazing blizzard that stranded...

Evening planets.(mercury, mars and saturn)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... Mercury (in Capricornus, moving into Pisces) is not visible in early February, but by midmonth it appears in the west and sets an hour after the Sun. Use a telescope to see Uranus just south of Mercury at sunset on Feb. 14. By late February,...

Morning planets.(Venus and Jupiter)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... Venus (in Sagittarius) rises two hours before the Sun and is high in the southeast at dawn. Jupiter (in Libra) rises after midnight and is high in the south at dawn. By late February, Jupiter rises before 11:30 p.m.

Celestial Valentines.(constellation)
February 1, 2006... This month, many people are sending Valentine's Day cards to special people in their lives. This reminds me of some special people in the night sky... Look toward the south for the constellation Orion, the Hunter. Three stars mark his...

The fun to watch planet.(Cartoon)
February 1, 2006... DID YOU KNOW THAT JUPITER IS ONE OF THE MOST FUN PLANETS TO WATCH? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THAT'S BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE SO MUCH ON JUPITER EVEN THROUGH THE CHEAPEST TELESCOPE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR INSTANCE, EVEN THE...

Mary Catherine rules the wave pool.(creating waves)
February 1, 2006... Learn how the wave pools at action parks create awesome waves. Then build a "wave pool" of your own! CHARACTERS: Narrator, Wendy, Jimmy, Esteban, Nat, Mary Catherine, Attendant SETTING: Seventh-grade class field trip at Wonder Waves...

Pop quiz: it's "oil" about molecules.(oil remains separated from water)
February 1, 2006... You'll need: Large plastic soda bottle Vegetable oil (enough to fill the bottle about halfway) Water Flashlight Funnel Straws In your wave bottle, the oil and water stay separate because they're...

Out of the Blue.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2006... Out of the Blue by Paul Horsman; photography by Seapics.com (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2005) It's amazing! Red tides are created mostly by large concentrations of plankton. Blue whales are the largest animals alive today and grow to...

Reef relief.
February 1, 2006... Scientists studying the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia and East Africa are realizing that a little creature can make a big difference. Polyps--tiny organisms that absorb calcium from the sea and secrete an external...

Four charged with fraud over scandal at US insurer AIG.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--Four senior executives have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in a profits-manipulation scandal involving US insurance giant AIG. Three of the indictments are of former staff at reinsurer General Re, owned by billionaire...

AstraZeneca pins hopes for growth on R&D and deals.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--David Brennan, chief executive of Britain's second largest drug maker AstraZeneca, promised today to build its product pipeline by expanding internal research and development and making deals with "external sources". This could...

AstraZeneca delivers despite dearth of new medicines.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--Britain's second-largest drug maker, AstraZeneca, pumped up fourth-quarter profits by 33 percent to $1.22 billion ([pounds sterling]686.2 million), thanks to better sales of its schizophrenia treatment Seroquel and cost-cutting in the...

Dual setback for Brown on moves to aid businesses.
February 2, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Feb. 2--Chancellor Gordon Brown was today dealt a double blow over two separate initiatives to increase investment in British companies and to make them more efficient. Investor body the Association of Investment...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--BAE WORKERS AGREE DEAL TO EASE PROBLEM OVER PENSIONS: Defence giant BAE Systems has reached an agreement with tens of thousands of its workers that is designed to avert a crisis over its [pounds sterling]4 billion pensions black hole....

ECB hints at March interest rate rise.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--The European Central Bank today signalled it is poised to lift eurozone interest rates in March, despite keeping borrowing costs on hold for a second month, writes Jane Padgham. As expected, a meeting of the bank's governing council...

Extension of debt talks spurs Eurotunnel shares.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 2--Shares in Eurotunnel leapt to a two-year high today after the Channel Tunnel operator said it has agreed yet another extension -- until the end of the March -- in its attempts agree a deal with its creditors and...

Lehman's D'Angelin to join backer of Aussie bid for LSE.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--Lehman Brothers' co-head of European investment banking, Benoit d'Angelin, is quitting to join Centaurus Capital, the hedge fund giant backing Australian bank Macquarie's [pounds sterling]1.5 billion hostile bid for the London Stock...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Feb. 2--Investors were betting on shares in Hilton Group today after the hotelier and gambling outfit said it had received interest for its Ladbrokes bookies arm from a number of potential bidders. Since Hilton...

Soaring demand in Asia helps Rio Tinto net [pounds sterling]3 billion.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto's second-half net profit doubled on roaring demand in China, South Korea and Japan for iron ore, copper and other minerals. That drove full-year profits to $5.22 billion ([pounds sterling]2.94...

Green power trio to develop Britain's first wave farm.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--Three next-generation power companies have been brought in to construct Britain's first wave farm 10 miles off the Cornwall coast, north of St Ives. AIM-listed Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), wind and wave energy specialist Ocean...

Output worries spoil Shell's [pounds sterling]13bn record.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 2--Shell's failure to keep up production and exploration targets left investors today fearing it is not making the most of the historically high oil price -- even though it recorded the biggest profit in British...

Riding high but beset by world problems.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 2--When, two years ago, Shell admitted it had overstated its reserves by 20 percent, setting off a chain of events that led to the departure of its main executives, few would have bet the group's shares would be...

France calls for calm on Mittal.
February 2, 2006... Feb. 2--French Finance Minister Thierry Breton today sought to defuse the political row over Mittal Steel's hostile bid for rival Arcelor, calling for everyone to "calm down". "This is just a European company based in Holland bidding for...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
February 3, 2006... Feb. 3--WORKERS TO PAY MORE IN CORUS PENSION SCHEME REVAMP: Steel group Corus, the former British Steel, has become the latest company to make sweeping changes to its pension scheme. Workers will have to pay in more and the option of retiring...

Crunch for Walsh as BA mulls new cuts.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 3--British Airways' new boss Willie Walsh is facing a make-or-break eight weeks as he attempts to push through a job-slashing programme and find a solution to the airline's [pounds sterling]1.4 billion pension black...

Lloyd's to sue two brokers over 9/11 shortfall of [pounds sterling]325m.
February 3, 2006... Feb. 3--Lloyd's is to sue two of the insurance market's major brokers for [pounds sterling]325 million after failing to claw back huge losses arising out of claims from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Lloyd's is taking London-listed...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Feb. 3--An international auction for Centrica looks set to start, with newly privatised Gaz de France reckoned to be scrutinising Russian giant Gazprom's increasingly naked ambitions toward Britain's energy champion....

[pounds sterling]100m debt fundraiser by Beyonce Music Group.
February 3, 2006... Feb. 3--Sanctuary, the embattled music group behind artists such as Morrissey and Beyonce, has agreed a heavily discounted [pounds sterling]110 million share fundraiser to clear nearly 60 percent of its [pounds sterling]165 million debt. ...

Record numbers fall victim to debt trap.
February 3, 2006... Feb. 3--Fears over Britain's household debt mountain escalated today as official figures showed the number of people going bust has surged to an all-time high. The Insolvency Service said 13,501 people went bankrupt in the fourth quarter...

Influx of new business boosts confidence in service sector.
February 3, 2006... Feb. 3--Britain's dominant service sector has started the year in good shape, with confidence riding high thanks to a continued influx of new business. The latest snapshot of the sector from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply...

Pendragon's [pounds sterling]506m set to clinch fight for Vardy.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 6--The extraordinary ding-dong battle for Reg Vardy, Britain's third largest motor dealer, appeared to be at an end today. Pendragon seemed set to drive away with the goods but having paid 20 percent more than...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
February 6, 2006... Feb. 6--BNFL SCOOPS [pounds sterling]3BN IN SALE OF WESTINGHOUSE TO TOSHIBA: Toshiba finalised its $5.4 billion ([pounds sterling]3 billion) purchase of nuclear-technology group Westinghouse today at a price almost three times what its owner...

Rocket scientists go ballistic as QinetiQ pulls out of lunar deal.
February 6, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Feb. 6--Defence firm QinetiQ has been pitched into a $400 million ([pounds sterling]227 million) firestorm involving Cambridge University rocket scientists, days before its controversial [pounds sterling]1.3 billion...

Oil surges as Iran restarts its nuclear activities.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Feb. 6--Oil prices soared today after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran resumed uranium enrichment and ended United Nations checks of his country's nuclear sites in response to being reported to the Security Council...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Feb. 6--Shares of Cairn Energy were on the slide today after one of the oil and gas explorer's biggest fans had a change of heart. Long-term bull Merrill Lynch has decided to drop its rating on the shares from buy...

Mittal bid battle hits a red-tape tangle.
February 6, 2006... Feb. 6--Lakshmi Mittal's controversial e18.6 billion ([pounds sterling]12.8 billion) hostile bid for rival steel giant Arcelor looked set to get even further bogged down in regulatory issues as he and his French counterpart Guy Dolle began a...

Price war and fuel costs hurt Ryanair.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 6--The price war in the skies over Europe plus the soaring cost of kerosene is slowing profit growth at Ryanair, the Continent's biggest budget airline. But it is proving good news for passengers, with the...

P&O on the slide as hopes of Singapore trumper fade.
February 6, 2006... Feb. 6--P&O shares were sinking today -- down 11p at 539p -- after hopes faded that the Port of Singapore Authority will be coming back with another bid in its multi-billion-pound battle with oil-rich Dubai Ports World. Reports out of...

KPMG partners face [pounds sterling]88m cash call to fix pension fund.
February 7, 2006... Feb. 7--The partners in accounting giant KPMG are facing an [pounds sterling]88 million cash call on their own private wealth to rectify a deficit in the pension scheme of their salaried staff. The House of Lords today ruled that after more...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
February 7, 2006... Feb. 7--ROYAL CARIBBEAN TO PUSH BOAT OUT WITH $1BN GIANT: Royal Caribbean has ordered the most expensive cruise liner ever. The cruise-ships giant has placed a $1 billion ([pounds sterling]575 million) order with Aker Yards of Finland to build...

[pounds sterling]37 billion in pipeline for BP shareholders.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 7--BP shareholders were today told to expect windfalls of up to $65 billion ([pounds sterling]37 billion) over the next three years as the oil supermajor tried to throw off claims that it is profiteering at the...

Compass faces new quiz over UN scandal.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Feb. 7--The U.S. House of Representatives has refused to accept the findings of catering giant Compass's internal investigation into a UN procurement scandal. A spokesman for the House's international relations...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
February 7, 2006... Feb. 7--PRINCE CHARLES says he wants to be a "defender of faith" rather than "the faith". He's supporting the Islamic Development Bank and thinks the City should do more to encourage Sharia banking. AFTER HIS PRONOUNCEMENT last week that...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Feb. 7--WHITE HELL TOUGH GUY TO WORK A WHITEBOARD MAGIC SPELL: Who's that middle-aged man dragging a tractor tyre across the countryside? Good Lord, it's Graham Howe, once the youngest (male) finance director of a FTSE...

Disney tunes into [pounds sterling]1.5 billion radio deal.
February 7, 2006... Feb. 7--Media giant Walt Disney is selling its ABC Radio network to Citadel Broadcasting in a cash and stock deal that is worth $2.7 billion ([pounds sterling]1.5 billion) and gives Disney shareholders a 52 percent stake in the new company. ...

It's game over after $5m lifeline bid fails at Gizmondo.
February 7, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Feb. 7--Gizmondo, Britain's much-vaunted rival to Sony and Nintendo in the handheld games consoles market, has gone bust. Attempts to throw the company a last-minute $5 million ([pounds sterling]2.8 million)...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Feb. 7--A TESTING TIME ALL ROUND AS 'INSIDER' VERDICT NEARS: The name Philippe Jabre is not well-known outside the City, but that is about to change. Jabre is a highly paid employee of and shareholder in GLG...

London Eye duo 'to sell their stake'.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Feb. 7--The architects behind the London Eye are in negotiations to sell their one third stake in the iconic landmark for up to [pounds sterling]80 million. David Marks and Julia Barfield, the husband and wife team...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Feb. 7--WH SMITH HAS WOOLIES IN SIGHTS, SAY BID SPOTTERS: Revived talk of a bid lifted ailing pick-and-mix stores group Woolworths by 1 1/2p to 34p in heavy turnover today that saw more than 26 million shares change...