Financial News

By Eric Auchard SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. believes that big-name partnerships instead of major merger deals remain the best way to expand its customer base, executives of the Web search leader reiterated on Wednesday. "M&A (mergers and acquisitions) as a method to acquire traffic has not historically worked," Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told Wall Street analysts on a conference call but added: "Again, we would never rule something like that out." "It (M&A) is a bad business strat ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - Independent power producer NRG Energy Inc. generated some heat around its own stock Wednesday after rejecting Mirant Corp's$8 billion takeover bid. Shares of Princeton, N.J.-based NRG (NRG) soared as much as 19% early Wednesday to hit a new 52-week intraday high of $51.38, putting it among the most actively traded stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. Late Tuesda ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- West Corp., a company that offers customer support to phone-service providers, agreed Wednesday to be acquired by a group of private investors in a $4.1 billion deal. Under the agreeement, an investor group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Quadrangle Group LLC would pay $48.75 a share in cash to stockholders of West Corp. (WSTC) , not including founders Gary and Mary  ...

London’s leading shares on Wednesday bounced back from a 139 point fall in the previous session helped by a solid opening on Wall Street and a slide in the oil price. // The FTSE 100 gained 71.8 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 5,723.8, with mining company Xstrata the biggest riser. Its shares rose 5.4 per cent to £21.30 as institutions frantically bought stock during the closing auction period. Li ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- ADC Telecom said Wednesday it will acquire Andrew Corp. for $2 billion in stock, a move that would more than double ADC's sales and strengthen its roster of wireless-networking products. Yet concerns that ADC (ADCTD) overpaid for a less-profitable company sent shares plunging in Wednesday trades, down as much as 17%. Shares of Andrew ( ANDW) climbed 7% in recent trades ...

Corrects the earnings-per-share figures in an earlier version. LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group on Wednesday reported a 73% drop in quarterly profit because of higher energy and iron costs. Net profit for the first quarter fell to 45 million pounds ($84.4 million), or 0.68 pence a share, from 166 million pounds, or 3.42 pence a share, a year earlier. Sales declined 2 ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group on Wednesday reported a 73% drop in quarterly profit because of higher energy and iron costs. Net profit for the first quarter fell to 45 million pounds ($84.4 million), or 65 pence a share, from 166 million pounds, or 3.42 pounds a share, a year earlier. Sales declined 2% to 2.29 billion pounds, below consensus forecasts of 2.54 billi ...

(This updates an item from 0652 GMT with comment from analysts, background on Dexia and updated stock price.) By Taska Manzaroli and William Echikson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Dexia SA (DEXB.BT) said Wednesday it has agreed to buy 75% of Turkey's DenizBank AS (DENIZ.IS) for $2.44 billion, giving the Franco-Belgian bank a major presence in one of the fastest-growing retail banking markets. I ...

By David Cullen LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish & Southern Energy said high returns from its coal-fired plants helped lift annual profit by 19 percent as it hiked its dividend 9 percent and repeated a pledge not to raise prices again until at least 2007. Perth-based SSE (SSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research) also said its energy supply business grew to more than 6.7 million customers by the end of March -- a gain of 600,000 on the year. Only British Gas owner Centrica (CAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research ...

STEEL maker Corus posted falling profits today after business was hit by low steel prices and higher energy costs. The Anglo-Dutch group - formerly British Steel - said operating profits fell in the three months to the end of March from £218 million last year to £176 million this time around. But it said the outlook was positive, with steel selling prices rising by between 5% and 7% in the current quarter and between 7% and 12% in the third quarter as worldwide demand picked up, particularly i ...