Shares News

The Laing board approved a 385p a share deal with German asset management group Allianz worth £957.5m.The offer was 8.5 per cent higher than the 355p a share bid Laing agreed with fund manager Henderson in September.The improved bid from Allianz marks further progress for Laing which was in financial crisis five years ago.The group, which owns rail franchise Chiltern, sold its loss-making construc ...

Simon Lambert, This is Money28 October 2006 Rocketing house prices have left the average British home costing 187% more than it did when the property market began its recovery a decade ago. PROPERTY BOOM: The cost of homes in Britain has leapt by 187% since 1996 WANT TO KNOW MORE? REPORT: Plug pulled on top home loans TIPS: Navigating the mortgage maze DEAL FINDER: Search for a new mortgage in moments OTHER STORIES Homeowners' debt relief Club together to buy a home ...

Bolivia has signed new contracts with two foreign oil firms as it seeks to exploit its rich natural resources. The deals were signed with France's Total and US-based Vintage. Other firms have until midnight on Friday to sign agreements or leave the country. The contracts come after President Evo Morales nationalised the oil and gas industry in May to give the state more control and a larger slice of profits. Bolivia, though poor, is second only to Venezuela in terms of gas reserves. Under th ...

PARIS (AFX) - Share prices closed lower, but off earlier lows in line with Wall Street as a better-than-expected US consumer confidence reading offset some of the gloom after poor US GDP data this afternoon, dealers said. The CAC-40 index closed down 37.76 or 0.69 pct at 5,396.03, after hitting a low of 5,373.26 after the GDP date and before the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment indicat ...

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares closed lower, as Wall Street traded in negative territory with the market digesting weaker-then-expected economic data, the drug sector continued to weigh on sentiment in London with GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca remaining down, however Shire provided some relief in the sector with Q3 figures beating expectations, dealers said. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was  ...

(Updates with full report) PARIS (AFX) - Share prices closed lower, but off earlier lows, in line with Wall Street, as a better-than-expected US consumer confidence reading offset some of the gloom after poor US GDP data this afternoon, dealers said. The CAC-40 index closed down 37.76 or 0.69 pct at 5,396.03, after hitting a low of 5,373.26 after the GDP data and before the University of Michiga ...

WOLFSBURG, Germany (AFX) - Volkswagen AG disclosed it now holds around 20 pct in MAN AG as it unveiled consensus-beating operating profit excluding one-offs for the first nine months, helped by robust sales growth and cost cuts. Chief financial officer Hans-Dieter Poetsch told analysts VW may well buy more shares in MAN, but any further increase would be such that it would not raise total shareho ...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AFX) - First Financial Holdings Inc., a banker and insurance broker in the Carolinas, on Friday said it increased its quarterly dividend by a penny, or 4.2 percent, to 25 cents per share. The company will pay the dividend on Nov. 24 to shareholders of record on Nov. 10. Shares of First Financial fell 25 cents to $36.45 in midday trading on the Nasdaq. Copyright 2006 Associated ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Alltel Corp. on Friday said third-quarter profit climbed 11% as the mobile operator added more wireless customers. The nation's fifth-largest mobile company reported net income of $402.4 million, or $1.04 per share, up from a year-ago profit of $361.2 million, or 98 cents a share. Revenue rose 12% to $2.01 billion from $1.79 billion a year earlier. On an adjusted ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Timberland Co. on Friday posted a 25% slide in its quarterly profit, hurt by declining sales of boots and kids merchandise, and the company offered a cautious outlook, citing pressure on its profit margins through the first half of 2007. The Stratham, N.H.-based maker of hiking boots and other footwear said net income fell to $51.9 million, or 82 cents a share, in the th ...