Lack of PFI deals drives secondary market
Walking through any British city, it is easy to gauge the government’s appetite for new public buildings: of the few construction sites, hardly any bear the blue logos of the…
Labour unrest threatens UAE construction
The return of labour unrest in the United Arab Emirates is a reminder of potential pitfalls as the country embarks on a renewed construction drive. Workers at a leading contractor,…
US housing upturn boosts Toll Brothers
Toll Brothers reported a 46 per cent rise in second-quarter earnings as the US luxury homebuilder sold more homes at higher prices while new orders rose to the most in…
Jerzy Wisniewski: Sour deals that brought PBG to its knees
©AFP Own goal: Wisniewski’s company is in a dispute over the building of the national football stadium in Warsaw Everybody makes mistakes, even successful businessmen, but when they blunder the…
Mitie focuses on healthcare market
Mitie has announced the closure of two lossmaking mechanical and engineering contracting businesses, as it seeks to focus on more lucrative facilities management, healthcare and energy services markets. With the…
Building disputes taking longer to settle
The protracted downturn in the construction industry is fuelling conflict between builders with legal disputes taking more than a year to be resolved, according to new research. UK construction disputes…
Garden centres look to Chelsea for growth
©Derek St Romaine/GPL Cleve West’s Bupa garden from the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show Britain’s garden centres are pinning their hopes on a “Chelsea boost” to offset the impact of the…
Profit warnings hit Australian resources
The tough conditions facing companies operating in the resources sector have been highlighted by a profits alert from one of Australia’s leading engineering groups. WorleyParsons said on Friday that net…
Speedy Hire building solid profits
Tool rental company Speedy Hire has overcome the protracted downturn in the UK construction industry to increase its profits sharply. Although analysts often regard the Lancashire-based company as a barometer…
John Deere cuts equipment sales forecasts
John Deere shares fell more than 4 per cent on Wednesday after the agricultural equipment maker cut its full-year sales forecast because of global financial “pressures” and bad weather in…
British Land to focus on West End
British Land has become the first major landlord to signal the waning dominance of the City of London as the country’s most coveted office market, after the UK’s second-largest property…
American investors should think local
The consensus in the US is that investors should focus on large-cap, multinational companies that offer exposure to global growth. Few have noticed the secular shift in performance that is…
Gulf petrochemicals expansion threatened
Middle East energy producers have long bet on petrochemicals as a way to diversify their economies away from reliance on oil and gas revenue. Industry experts predicted that as US…
UK housebuilders: raise the roof
Cheap money stimulates demand. More demand encourages supply. So far, so very simple. But how quickly and how adequately extra demand is met on the supply side, or whether it…
Dana Gas names investor relations chief
Sharjah-based natural gas producer Dana Gas has appointed an investor relations director, Robinder Singh. Responsible for handling communications with investors and other stakeholders, Mr Singh’s appointment comes after the energy…