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By David Cullen LONDON (Reuters) - British Gas owner Centrica said on Friday it was hiking energy bills by a record 22 percent, a move that will push average household energy bills over 1,000 pounds for the first time ever. The company, which supplies 11 million households and raised gas and electricity prices by 14.2 percent just last September, said the latest increase takes effect on March 1 and that a fresh surge in wholesale costs was to blame. The decision comes a day after a European C ...

Evening Standard17 February 2006 PLATINUM miner Lonmin's market value soared to almost £4bn today after the company admitted it was on the receiving end of a bid approach. WANT TO KNOW MORE? FTSE: Winners and losers ADVICE & TIPS: Investing POLL: Where will the FTSE 100 finish at the end of 2006? OTHER STORIES Power bills to surge 22% Go-Ahead running for trains Market r ...

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- Sirius Satellite Radio said Friday that its loss widened from the prior year, on increased marketing costs and expenses, even as subscriptions soared. New York-based Sirius (SIRI) said it lost $311.4 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a loss of $261.9 million, or 21 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose to $80 million from $25.2 million ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks edged lower Friday after the latest producer price report sparked inflation worries, with a spike in oil prices and a disappointing outlook from Dell Inc. also weighing on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was last off 14 points at 11,106 after ending the prior session at a fresh 4 1/2-year high. The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 10 p ...

Mickey Clark, Evening Standard17 February 2006 THERE was further heavy turnover in mobile phones giant Vodafone today with more than 250 million shares - almost a third of total turnover - changing hands as the price added 1¾p to 126¼p. WANT TO KNOW MORE? POLL: What do you expect the level of the FTSE 100 to be at the end of 2006? OTHER STORIES Footsi ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in lender Northern Rock (NRK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) surged more than 7 percent on Friday, lifted by vague bid speculation, although there were no names suggested as a potential acquiror, dealers said. They added that the share jump occurred after a bid approach for UK miner Lonmin (LMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) rekindled bid fever in the market. "With Lonmin, it's just heated up any potential bid targets," said a trader. By 2:22 p.m. shares in Northern Roc ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- RadioShack Corp. on Friday posted a 62% drop in fourth-quarter net income, hurt by weakness in wireless sales and higher-margin product categories, and announced a sweeping restructuring plan including store closings. The company has scheduled a morning investor meeting to outline its business plan, features of which include increasing the average unit volume of its core ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stock futures are indicating a lower open Friday after the latest producer price report sparked inflation worries, with a spike in oil prices and a disappointing outlook from Dell Inc. also weighing on sentiment. Dow futures were off 12 points at 11,117, Nasdaq 100 futures fell 4 points to 1,691 while S&P 500 futures dipped 1.10 points to 1,290.60. "The prod ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Cleaning and catering firm Mitie Group said on Friday it had been awarded a 50 million pound contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), sending its shares to a record high. Mitie said the contract to manage PwC's document management and distribution services, which included provision of reprographic as well as mail and distribution services, was for an initial term of five yea ...

By Friedel Rother LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 edged higher on Friday, with broker upgrades lifting Rexam and Centrica, but Daily Mail suffered a steep fall. The publisher's stock (DMGOa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped over 10 percent after Daily Mail said the attempted sale of its Northcliffe regional newspaper business did not attract high enough offers. Fellow publishers Johnston Press (JPR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Trinity Mirror (TNI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) were als ...