NAIROBI (Thomson Financial) – The Kenyan capital was rocked today by a bomb blast thought to be the work of a suicide bomber who blew himself up while clutching a copy of the Koran, injuring dozens of people.
‘It was a bomb explosion and body parts have been thrown apart,’ policeman Gabriel Omondi told AFP after the blast in front of the crowded City Gate restaurant on Moi Avenue, one of Nairobi’s main streets.
‘I can confirm one dead. He is a suspected suicide bomber,’ Moses Muchoki, an official from the Kenyan Red Cross, told AFP.
An AFP correspondent saw shredded papers from a Koran strewn at the explosion site.
‘The attack carries the hallmark of a suicide bomber, but we are investigating. We are suspecting that the dead was the bomber,’ said a top police official, who requested to remain unnamed.
Anti-terrorism police arrived at the explosion site to investigate as security officers cordoned off the area from thousands of onlookers and rescue workers and ambulances scrambled to make it through the snarled traffic.
The country’s main Kenyatta National Hospital said it had received dozens of wounded from the blast.
‘We have received at least 31 people with varying degrees of injuries,’ said Herman Wabomba, the hospital’s spokesman. ‘Six of them need urgent surgery.’
Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali confirmed that one person had been killed and about six others wounded, but refused to immediately confirm it was a suicide blast.
‘An incident has occurred, but at this particular stage we do not have very much to say,’ Ali told a press conference at the scene.
‘The incident is being investigated,’ Ali said.
Witnesses described the force of the blast, which ripped through the busy main street as people made their way to work in the morning.
‘It was a huge explosion that occurred as I was headed to office, I suspect it was a bomb,’ said one Paul Mwangi.
‘It was around 8.00 am (0500 GMT) when I heard an explosion… and people came here in tattered clothes,’ Gedion Mutua, a security guard in the nearby Ambassador Hotel, told AFP.
Kenya has been on alert since January when the government said suspected Islamist fighters, accused of links to extremist groups, had fled fighting in Somalia.
East Africa has seen several Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks in recent years, including the near-simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, killing a total of 224 people and injuring some 5,000.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated attackers bombed an Israeli-owned resort hotel near Mombassa in November 2002, killing 15 civilians and three presumed suicide bombers, and unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down an Israeli airliner there on the same day.
In January, the United States warned its citizens in Kenya of possible reprisals by terrorist groups after Somalia’s Islamists were ousted.
‘Due to possible reprisals by terrorist organisations, American citizens are advised to remain vigilant, avoid demonstrations or large gatherings, and to be cautious when frequenting prominent public places and landmarks,’ its embassy said in a message released in January.
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Suspected suicide blast rocks Kenyan capital UPDATE
Buffalo food fest orders healthier items
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – For the first time in its 23-year history, the Taste of Buffalo, a foodie free-for-all attracting tens of thousands, is ordering restaurants to offer healthier options.
At least one item on each vendor’s menu must meet standards on fat, salt and cholesterol.
That means diners at the July 7-8 event will see mango sorbet and smoked chicken sandwiches among the hot fudge sundaes and bleu cheese burgers, a low-fat cookie there with the cheesecake.
But will they bite?
‘It’ll be interesting to see,’ said Ania Gurnari, whose family-owned bakery, E.M. Chrusciki, has offered its sugar-coated ‘angel wings’ and other pastries at the festival for more than 20 years.
Her father came up with a chewy spice cookie to meet the new healthy mandate, using applesauce to make it moist and sweet.
‘We are going to be serving New York-style cheesecake, there’s nothing fat-free about that,’ Gurnari laughed. ‘So having that side by side, we’ll see what choices people make.’
The idea is not to force tasters to shun their favorites, organizers say, but to give them a chance to try healthy dishes that might be just as good.
‘What a great opportunity … to recognize that a lot of people currently have a perception that healthy food has to taste bad,’ said Dr. Michael Cropp, president and chief executive of Independent Health. The health insurance company’s community outreach foundation worked with festival organizers to develop the new rules.
‘We thought, as a first step, if we can have all these restaurants demonstrate how they can provide a healthy option that tastes great, we are going to change people’s perceptions,’ Cropp said.
No one even noticed when Rita Sabharwal altered her chicken curry and rice dish two years ago to make it healthier, substituting more tomatoes for some of the oil.
‘We sold out anyway,’ said Sabharwal of Tandoori’s Royal Indian Cuisine. This year, Sabharwal has created a vegetarian dish of chickpeas and spinach, keeping an eye on oil content.
Each restaurant had to submit a healthy recipe that was analyzed by a computer program. No more than 30 percent of calories could come from fat and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. There were also sodium and cholesterol restrictions.
While some, like Tandoori’s, created brand new dishes, others tweaked existing ones. Louie’s Hot Dogs simply switched out the crushed tomatoes from its Sloppy Louie Burger with a lower-salt version to meet the guidelines.
Among other offerings will be a vegetable croissant, baked spring rolls and Cajun boiled crawfish.
Even at Chrusciki’s bakery, customers are looking for less guilty pleasures.
‘People ask for fat-free, sugar-free everything these days,’ Gurnari said. ‘Sometimes we look at them like, `OK, wrong place.’ But now, at least we can say we have this healthy choice item.’
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Thomson Financial Europe AM at a glance share guide: Stocks crash, dollar gains
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – US SUMMARY: Stocks continue sharp fall as bond yields rise; oil up on supply worries
Index Change Pct change
*DJIA 13266.73 -198.94 -1.48
*Nasdaq 2541.38 -45.80 -1.77
*S&P; 500 1490.72 -26.66 -1.76
Dow Future 13261.00 -200.00 -1.49 (2014 GMT)
Nasdaq Future 1883.25 +0.75 +0.04 (0324 GMT)
S&P; Future 1489.30 -27.10 -1.79 (2018 GMT)
eur-usd 1.3432 -0.0074
Nymex crude
for July 66.93 usd +97 cents
10 yr US
treasury 5.13 pct +0.16 pct
* yesterday’s close
STOCKS: Wall Street fell further on Thursday, as rising bond yields dented hopes of an interest rate cut later in the year, while retail sales for the year came in mixed — improving wholesale figures accompanied by concerns that rising
gas prices would cut into consumer spending.
The Commerce Department said inventories among US wholesalers rose 0.03 pct in April to a seasonally adjusted 394.54 bln usd after increasing a revised 0.4 pct in March. The March increase had been pegged at 0.3 pct. A dip in
applications for unemployment benefits last week — falling by 1,000 applications to 309,000 — indicates a healthy labour market, thus also making a rate cut seem less likely.
FOREX: The US dollar rose against other major currencies Thursday as rising bond yields dashed hopes of an interest rate cut. Higher interest rates can bolster a currency by making investments denominated in it more attractive.
The euro — which was already down after the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate but sent moderate signals on its future course — dropped further. The pound sank to 1.9771 usd from 1.9928 after the
Bank of England held its key interest rate steady. The dollar strengthened to 121.11 Japanese yen from 121.01 yen.
In other trading, the dollar bought 1.0620 cad, up from 1.0588, and 1.2248 sfr, rising from 1.2163.
BONDS: US Treasury prices fell, as inflation shows no sign of abating thus dampening chances of a rate hike, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note over 5 pct for the first time since August.
If the yield reaches 5.25 pct, a five-year high, it would match the Federal Reserve’s current benchmark interest rate — signalling that the market is, in a sense, beating the central bank in hiking rates to curb inflation. The Fed has kept rates
on hold since last summer, after about two years of gradual increases.
OIL: Oil and gasoline prices rose on concerns US refineries aren’t producing enough to meet domestic demand. Gasoline futures for July inched up 0.23 cent to settle at 2.1927 usd a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The US has experienced an unusually high number of refinery outages this spring. Reports Thursday of a partial shutdown at a 60,000 barrel-per-day Delek US Holdings Inc refinery in Texas, and that Suncor Energy Inc will shut part of a 246,000 bpd facility in Alberta for 50 days for maintenance, were the latest outages. On Tuesday, Valero Energy Corp said its gasoline production would be cut by a total of 65,000 bpd due to problems at two refineries.
GOLD: Gold prices fell in New York as the dollar strengthened, thus lessening the precious metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. August gold dropped 9.40 usd to settle at 665.20 usd an ounce on the Nymex while July silver fell 23.7 cents to close at 13.48 usd.
EVENTS:
April trade balance (1230 GMT)
Trade balance, 2006 annual revision (1230 GMT)
ASIA SUMMARY: Stocks tumble on Wall Street fall; oil eases on profit sales
Index Change Pct change
Nikkei 225 17750.20 -303.18 -1.68 (0343 GMT)
S&P;/ASX 200 6216.50 -94.60 -1.50 (0343 GMT)
Straits Times 3497.71 -48.62 -1.37 (0343 GMT)
Hang Seng 20479.83 -320.33 -1.54 (0344 GMT)
KLSE Composite 1352.48 -11.93 -0.87 (0329 GMT)
BSE Sensex 14051.33 -134.85 -0.95 (0430 GMT)
usd-yen 121.24 -0.04 -0.03 (Intra-day trade)
usd-sgd 1.5374 +0.0002 +0.01 (Intra-day trade)
usd-inr 40.90 +0.19 +0.47 (Intra-day trade)
10-year JGBs 1.895 pct +0.035 +1.88 (Intra-day trade)
Brent North Sea 71.06 usd -0.16 -0.22 (Intra-day trade)
crude for July
STOCKS: Asian markets slipped into the red tracking the fall on Wall Street. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei and Manila shares ended the morning session lower, after Wall Street tumbled for the third straight session as rising US government bond yields further dashed hopes for a cut in interest rates. Jakarta share prices were sharply lower in early trade, in line with other markets in East Asia and the Wall Street decline.
BONDS: Japanese government bond prices ended the morning session weaker, tracking sharp declines in US Treasury bond prices overnight.
FOREX: The US dollar was up against the yen and euro in Sydney with currency markets reacting to the global equity market sell-off in the absence of key economic data. The sterling was the clear loser in overnight trade after the Bank of England maintained interest rates, with the euro retreating in step with the UK currency.
OIL: Prices fell in Asian trading hours as players took profits on the gains made overnight amid persistent concern about US gasoline supplies during the peak season for demand. At 0230 GMT, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, was down 0.18 usd at 66.75 usd a barrel from 66.93 usd in late trading in the US overnight.
METALS: Gold steadied above 670 usd yesterday after dipping slightly the day before with analysts saying while the metal might remain in consolidation mode, it is still poised to trend higher longer term.
In other precious metals yesterday, silver was little changed at 13.68 usd against 13.67, platinum edged up to 1,297 usd against 1,289, while palladium was flat at 363 usd.
Copper was steady yesterday as strike threats in South America coupled with dwindling stock levels supported prices. Base metals weakened across the board in early afternoon trade yesterday, weighed down by nickel prices, which dropped to a 10-week low following the LME’s implementation of new trading rules that will effectively make more metal available to the market.
EVENTS:
Australia April housing finance
Japan April machinery orders
Japan May money supply
Japan May bank lending
Bank of Korea interest rate-setting meeting
Hong Kong’s Johnson Electric FY results
Hong Kong’s Link REIT FY results
Ta Yang Group starts trading in Hong Kong
Taiwan 364-day, 100 bln twd offer of certificates of deposit
Taiwan’s UMC May sales
Taiwan’s TSMC May sales
Indonesia’s Summarecon Agung EGM
Philippine March foreign direct investment
Philippine banks’ end-April bad loans
EUROPE SUMMARY: London shares close lower; base metals weaken across the board as nickel price dips to 10-wk low
Index Change Pct change
*FTSE 6505.10 -17.6 -0.26
*DAX 7618.61 -111.44 -1.44
*CAC 5890.49 -87.38 -1.46
UK10-year
Bond 90.28 -0.5
UK 30-year
Bond 92.26 -1.16
stg-usd 1.9858 -0.0066
eur-usd 1.3477 -0.0022
sfr-usd 1.2227 +0.0057
Brent crude
ICE (July) 71.40 usd +38 cents
* yesterday’s close
STOCKS: UK blue chips closed lower, as Wall Street remained weaker, with the UK construction sector down on concerns the Bank of England’s decision to keep its key repo rate unchanged at the six-year high of 5.5 pct has upped the risk of a further hike by the end of the year. Europe manufacturing and industrial data will remain in focus today while focus will also fall on Lloyds TSB Group PLC as the bank announces its trading performance. Meanwhile, no major corporates are scheduled to declare their results today.
BONDS: European government bonds tracked US Treasuries lower, after yields on both side of the Atlantic broke key levels, setting a bearish tone for the market. In the UK, gilts fell after the Bank of England kept its key repo rate unchanged.
FOREX: The euro continued to remain vulnerable ever since the European Central Bank’s raised rates Wednesday and failed to sound as hawkish as the markets were expecting. In the UK, the pound continued to slide after the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged. The decision was widely expected. Analysts don’t expect the pound to fall much further, even as interest rates are expected to go up in coming months.
METALS: Base metals weakened across the board in early afternoon trade yesterday, weighed down by nickel prices, which dropped to a 10-week low following the LME’s implementation of new trading rules that will effectively make more metal available to the market. Copper was trading at 7,406 usd against 7,420 at the close yesterday.
Among other metals, lead eased to 2,290 usd against 2,300, aluminium dropped to 2,740 usd from 2,743, and zinc dipped to 3,655 from 3,680. Tin was steady at 13,900 usd. Gold steadied above 670 usd after dipping slightly Wednesday. Oil rose on OPEC’s decision not to increase production quotas, which sparked supply fears. At 1712 BST (1612 GMT), benchmark Brent crude contracts for July delivery were up 38 cents at 71.40 usd per barrel.
EVENTS:
French prefab house sold to hotelier
NEW YORK (AP) – Prototype Maison Tropicale, a prefabricated house of bent steel and aluminum sheets, was sold at auction to hotelier Andre Balazs for $4.9 million.
Balazs, who owns Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, The Mercer in New York and The Raleigh in Miami, placed the winning bid of $4,968,000 for the small 1951 house at an evening sale Tuesday at Christie’s auction.
The house had been brought to New York City in mid-May, reassembled and displayed near the Queensboro Bridge.
One of only three ever created by the French designer, the industrially produced Maison Tropicale was designed and manufactured for Brazzaville, West Africa. Christie’s described it as ‘one of the most striking and sophisticated of all his architectural achievements and is exemplary of his oeuvre.’
Its last owner, Eric Touchaleaume, a French antiques dealer, has said he plans to use the sale proceeds to finance a Prouve museum that will travel inside another Maison Tropicale.
The final price includes Christie’s commission.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Burger King to stay open late nationally
MIAMI (AP) – Burger King Corp. said Tuesday thousands of its restaurants in the United States and Canada will now be open until midnight or later every day, allowing it to challenge competitors McDonald’s and Wendy’s.
In May, about 60 percent of Burger King’s U.S. and Canadian restaurants were opening until midnight or later. But Tuesday’s national rollout allows the world’s second-largest hamburger chain to mount a full-fledged ad campaign touting the change.
The idea will be featured in a new advertising campaign featuring hip-hop music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Burger King competes with No. 1 chain McDonald’s Corp., which offers 24-hour drivethrus at some restaurants, and No. 3 chain Wendy’s International Inc., which implemented extended hours years ago.
Extended hours apply to about 7,500 Burger King restaurants, but stores that can’t control their own hours — those in mall food courts, airports or universities, for example — may be exempted, Burger King spokesman Keva Silversmith said.
‘We are responding to demand by offering our customers the option to fuel up with their favorite Burger King menu items when they need us most,’ said Russ Klein, president of global marketing, strategy and innovation for Burger King.
Burger King has the potential to increase sales in stores open at least a year by up to 1 percent with the later hours, said Joseph Buckley, an analyst with Bear Stearns.
‘There is a definite opportunity for them there because Wendy’s and McDonald’s and others have been in the extended hours for really some time,’ Buckley said.
However, later hours could also mean more labor and utility costs.
The new television ad featuring Diddy began airing nationwide June 1. The campaign also includes new designs by Sean John, Diddy’s clothing label, and a paint scheme that will adorn the Burger King car during an upcoming NASCAR race.
Burger King operates more than 11,200 restaurants in the United States and abroad. About 90 percent are owned and operated by franchisees.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ND farmers share $2M from carbon credits
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Rancher Terry Ulrich will reap about $6,000 this week for helping protect the planet from global warming.
Ulrich is one of about 630 farmers and ranchers who are getting checks from the North Dakota Farmers Union for using no-till farming practices or growing grasses to limit the release of carbon dioxide from the ground.
‘It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to pay off a big chunk of my property taxes — and it benefits the land,’ he said.
The state Farmers Union on Monday announced $2 million in payments to North Dakota farmers and ranchers who enrolled acreage in the program, which began last year. They are the first in the nation to receive such payments.
The program pools carbon credits for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange, a private agency that trades greenhouse gases and other pollutants just as other exchanges trade such commodities as crops and livestock.
Dale Enerson, the director of the carbon credit program for the North Dakota group as well as the National Farmers Union, said it has been expanded to 330,000 acres in 14 other states in the past year, with more than 600 farmers from those states signing up.
About $500,000 in carbon credits is traded daily on the Chicago Climate Exchange, representing some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, said Michael Walsh, the trading system’s senior vice president.
‘A half-million bucks a day is not the Board of Trade, but it’s a start,’ Walsh said. ‘We are doing 100 times that a day in Europe.’
North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said about 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide was sequestered under the state program last year — about the equivalent of the carbon emissions from more than 130,000 cars.
Those carbon dioxide credits were sold in blocks earlier this year and fetched an average of about $3.70 cents a metric ton, Carlson said.
When soil is tilled with farm machinery, carbon is released from the soil into the atmosphere. No-till cultivation greatly reduces the amount of carbon released because it disturbs the soil only along a slit or hole into which seeds are planted.
No-till farming is being used on about 8 million of the 30 million acres of cropland in North Dakota, Enerson said. About 830,000 acres are enrolled under the state carbon credit program, Carlson said.
‘That’s only 10 percent of what’s potentially available in North Dakota, so we are only scratching the surface,’ Carlson said.
Gov. John Hoeven called the carbon credit program ‘timely and innovative.’
‘This is the kind of innovation that helps our farmers and ranchers,’ Hoeven said.
Walsh said the Chicago Climate Exchange has about 300 member organizations that have voluntarily agreed to reduce their carbon emissions. The members include corporations, cities and a few universities, which can buy carbon credits to help offset their emissions, he said.
Carbon dioxide credits are fetching about $30 a metric ton in Europe, where countries have agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The United States refused to ratify the treaty and does not have a mandatory carbon dioxide emission cap.
Walsh, state officials and farmers believe the value of carbon credits in the United States will increase in time.
‘The value of carbon is going to go up,’ said Johnson, the state’s agriculture commissioner. ‘This is exactly the kind of future we should be envisioning and going after.’
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ROUNDUP Ryanair’s FY profits up as growth slowdown looms
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Low cost airline Ryanair Holdings PLC today warned it expects profit growth to slow over the next year as a result of softening market conditions, despite having earlier posted full-year net profit of 401.4 mln eur — 33 pct up on the same period last year.
The airline beat consensus forecasts for 395 mln eur, but warned of the potential slowdown in growth in spite of ongoing plans to expand its route network.
Ryanair said it expects yields to fall by up to 5 pct, with unit costs seen rising by 6-7 pct due in part to longer journey lengths and higher airport charges at Stansted and Dublin.
‘We think market demand will continue to soften and as a result load factors might be slightly lower,’ Ryanair’s finance director, Howard Miller told Thomson Financial News in a telephone interview this morning.
‘We are guiding that the average fare will be down slightly and as a result of those two factors we think that profit growth won’t be as fast next year as it has been this year.’
The airline expects the seasonality established over recent years to continue with the majority of the group’s annual profits set to be generated in the first half of the year, with the possibility of a small loss being recorded during quarters 3 and 4.
‘Our normal profile is that we make the vast majority of our profits in Q1 and Q2 and I think that trend will continue this year,’ said Miller. ‘We don’t have a great deal of visibility into the winter period at the moment but we feel that there’s a possibility that we might make a loss in Q3 and Q4.’
Over the past 12 months, Ryanair saw fuel costs increase by 50 pct to 693 mln eur. However, looking ahead, the carrier said it has extended fuel hedges for the remainder of fiscal 2008 with the average cost per barrel significantly lower than last year.
‘Fuel costs will rise at a slower pace than they did last year so we expect slower growth in fuel prices,’ said Miller. ‘Our average fuel price this year is about 63 usd a barrel and that equates to about 70 usd a barrel last year. In terms of hedging, we went from 50 pct to 90 pct in Q2 and we expect about a 10 pct reduction in the cost per barrel over the year.’
Revenues were 32 pct higher at 2.237 bln eur, while passenger traffic figures increased by 22 pct to 42.5 mln.
Average fares rose 7 pct but after raising its ticket prices for the past eight quarters, the airline estimates that fares will have to come down by around 5 pct over the next 12 months. Miller said he hopes such enforced price reductions will benefit the British traveller.
‘Five interest rate rises have definitely impacted the UK consumer — they have less disposable income now,’ said Miller. ‘I think that combined with the doubling of Air Passenger Duty from 5 stg to 10 stg and the doubling of passenger charges at Stansted from 6 stg to 12 stg then people have less money available and they are more price resistant.’
Ancillary revenues grew by 40 pct due to higher passenger spend, increased penetration and the growth of excess baggage revenues.
‘Sales of drinks and snacks, car hire, hotels, travel insurance and excess baggage charges have all been strong so there’s a whole raft of things driving ancillaries forward,’ Miller said. ‘We have worked very hard on this over the last number of years and we said it would rise to about 20 pct of revenues — it’s presently at around 16 pct.’
Ryanair said it would continue to press for the break-up of the BAA airport monopoly and that it welcomed the recent OFT and Competition Commission investigation into BAA.
The airline said the current BAA Stansted plan to spend some 4 bln stg building a second runway and terminal ‘provides further proof of this monopoly’. Ryanair is also against plans to spend over 800 mln eur building a 15 MPPA passenger terminal at Dublin Airport.
Significant cost increases associated with higher airport charges at Stansted and Dublin since April, combined with a doubling of the UK airport departure taxes have also had a negative impact on traffic and yields.
Miller added that Ryanair would likely challenge the European Commission’s (EC) review of Ryanair’s proposed offer for Aer Lingus Group PLC, which is expected to fail to receive competition approval.
‘The Irish government is not in favour of it [the proposed merger] and the EC competition authorities generally do what the governments want to do,’ said Miller. ‘It has approved other similar deals but when it comes to two carriers operating with less than 5 pct of the market share they decide they are not going to approve it so you can only assume it’s a politically motivated decision.’
Despite warning of potential losses over the coming year, Ryanair ‘normally easily beats its guidance’, Citigroup’s Andrew Light wrote in a note today.
Collins Stewart analyst Andrew Fitchie, meanwhile, claims that Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary may have ‘managed market expectations downwards only to go on to surpass them and we think he has good reason to do this now’, he wrote in a research note on the airline published this morning.
Last week, Ryanair ordered 27 Boeing 737-800 planes valued at 1.9 bln usd to add new routes and lower costs. Its fleet has grown from 103 planes in 2006 to over 130 today.
Peter Caldwell, an equity analyst at Barclays Wealth, is of the view that although Ryanair is still cautious on its near-term outlook the airline is more optimistic about the long-term view.
‘The recent new aircraft order implies that the group feels growth potential in the low-cost carrier space warrants continued capacity additions,’ wrote Caldwell in a note on the airline today.
At 11.55 am, Ryanair’s shares were trading 5.87 pct or 0.32 eur down at 5.05 eur.
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Shell resumes total oil production in Nigeria
LAGOS (Thomson Financial) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC has resumed production of 150,000 barrels per day of crude oil in Nigeria, which had been closed due to community unrest in the country’s volatile oil-rich south, a company spokesman said.
‘Optimal production level is back. The plant is up and running,’ Precious Okolobo told AFP.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil exporter and the world’s sixth oil producer.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant suspended operations at the Bomu manifold after villagers in the restive Ogoniland region stormed the facility which feeds the Bonny export terminal on May 28.
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Reed Elsevier says to cease defence exhibition activities
AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) – Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV will exit the defence exhibitions sector, the Anglo-Dutch publishing company said in a statement.
Chief executive officer Crispin Davis said that, ‘it has become increasingly clear that growing numbers of important customers and authors have very real concerns about our involvement in the defence exhibitions business.’
Although he noted that ‘our defence shows are quality businesses which have performed well in recent years,’ the CEO said they were ‘no longer compatible with Reed Elseviers position.’
Reed Elsevier’s portfolio of five defence shows a year represents around 0.5 pct of the group’s annual turnover.
Dave van Ginhoven,
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Renault says Laguna to go on sale in October, detailed presentation end-August
PARIS (Thomson Financial) – The new version of Renault’s Laguna car will go on sale in October, a Renault spokeswoman said, to be preceded by a detailed presentation of the product at the end of August.
The spokeswoman was reacting to a report in La Tribune this morning.
The newspaper said the new car is due to go on sale in France on October 12, but the Renault spokeswoman rejected this date.
She also declined to comment on La Tribune’s claim that Renault is targeting 160,000-180,000 in annual unit sales for the model, although she said the company would give figures on production capacity on Monday, when the new Laguna is unveiled to the press for the first time.
Renault had confirmed earlier that the initial press launch will take place on Monday.
The spokeswoman added that this will be followed by a detailed technical and financial presentation of the car on August 21.
The car will then be presented to the public for the first time at the Frankfurt motor show in September, she said, before going on sale in October.
tfn.paris@thomson.com
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