Financial News

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- An industrial plan presented by Mittal Steel Co. to the French government on its hostile bid for Arcelor reportedly said that there will be "almost no" loss of jobs from the acquisition. The six-page document, in English, is available on the Web site of French newspaper La Tribune. Mittal (MT) , the world's largest steelmaker, presented the plan to the government in a b ...

Mar 2nd 2006 From The Economist print edition THE merger will liberalise share ownership and create one of the biggest companies in the world, said the minister. I have a vision of transforming it into a vast, diversified energy giant ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Analysts at CIBC on Thursday initiated coverage of the brokerage sector and said the biggest firms in the group are likely to report earnings as much as 20% above current estimates and sounded bullish tones for the short and long terms. "We initiate coverage of the large-cap brokers with an Overweight sector Stance...based upon both near- and long-term themes. We believe ...

The UK's fourth-largest bank, HBOS, is to open 100 new Halifax branches in the south of England creating 1,500 jobs as it looks to increase its market share. HBOS, which was formed by a merger of the Halifax and Bank of Scotland, also said that 2005 pre-tax profits rose 17% to £4.8bn ($8.4bn) from a year earlier. The UK's biggest mortgage lender was upbeat about the economy and forecast increased housing market activity. While house price gains will be modest, interest rates should fall, ...

Nick Goodway, Evenign Standard2 March 2006 MERVYN DAVIES, chief executive of Standard Chartered, refuses to be too much bothered by regular suggestions that the international bank is absolutely certain to become a takeover target. OTHER STORIES Trinity Mirror still struggling Aviva to pay £700m into pensions Market report: Thursday 13.00 Sour taste at Britvic over warning Super-r ...

By Keiron Henderson LONDON (Reuters) - Corus and Vedanta Resources are positioned to replace Cable & Wireless and Daily Mail & General Trust in the FTSE 100 index at a quarterly review next week. Reuters data shows that Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus (CS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and India-based miner Vedanta (VED.L: Quote, Profile, Research) could be promoted from the FTSE Midcap 250 index when a quarterly rejig is announced on March 8. Companies outside the FTSE 100 that grow to rank  ...

By Simon Challis LONDON (Reuters) - Aviva, Britain's biggest insurer, beat analysts' expectations with a 29 percent jump in annual profit on the back of strong performance by its general insurance unit and gave a confident growth outlook for 2006, pushing its shares to a near four-year high. Aviva (AV.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that operating profit rose to 2.90 billion pounds from 2.22 billion pounds in 2004, well above the 2.66 billion pound average forecast in a Reuters  ...

By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered just topped analysts' forecasts with a 19 percent rise in yearly pretax profit, fuelled by its biggest ever acquisition and presence in to fast growing Asian markets. Shares in the bank (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped over 4 percent to a record high after Thursday's upbeat outlook and confirmation of the successful integration of its major Korean acquisition, which it said could encourage more alliances and acqu ...

By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) just topped analysts' average forecasts with a 19 percent rise in pretax profit for last year, fuelled by an acquisition in Korea which was its biggest ever. London-headquartered Standard Chartered said on Thursday 2005 pretax profit rose to $2.68 billi ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The top share index surged near 5,900 points on Thursday, making up more of the ground lost in Tuesday's slide, with insurer Aviva (AV.L: Quote, Profile, Research) leading the charge on the back of forecast-beating results. By 0820 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 35.8 points, or 0.6 percent, higher at 5,879.9 points, having closed up 52.6 points in the previous session when it took back some of Tuesday's 84-point drop. That fall was the index's biggest one-day points loss since ...