Top News Stories

• DJ Bee Gees Star Robin Gibb Dies Aged 62
  LONDON (AFP)--Robin Gibb, singer with legendary British band the Bee Gees, died on Sunday aged 62 after a lengthy battle against cancer, his family said. In a statement, Gibb's family said it was with "great sadness" that they announced the singer's death. Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb scaled the heights of the pop world in the 1970s with hits including "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever". The band notched up record sales of more than 200 million since their first hits in the 1960s. Gibb underwent bowel surgery 18 months ago for an unrelated condition but a tumor was found and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and the liver. Back in February, Gibb said he had made a "spectacular" recovery from his treatment, sparking hopes that his cancer was in remission, but recently experienced a sharp deterioration. The singer fell into a coma last month after contracting pneumonia, but had raised hopes of survival after making another recovery. (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 19:08 ET (23:08 GMT)
• DJ UN Atomic Watchdog Chief Yukiya Amano Arrives In Iran For Talks
  TEHRAN (AFP)--U.N. atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano arrived in Tehran Monday for talks over Iran's contentious nuclear program. He was to meet Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, ahead of a crunch meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday between Tehran and a group of world powers to discuss concerns over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons drive. (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 19:31 ET (23:31 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ UK's PM Vows To Speed Up Reforms -Report
  DOW JONES NEWSWIRES The U.K. governing coalition's reforms are taking place too slowly and need to be speeded up by "reinventing government," Prime Minister David Cameron declared, the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph reported Monday. The prime minister voiced his frustration at the performance of some Whitehall departments as he attempts to implement the "radical" promises he has made in the coalition's first two years, The Telegraph said. He said the civil service faced far-reaching reform because the government needed to be "leaner, swifter, more effective," according to The Telegraph. Giving a passionate defense of his premiership, Cameron said that a large part of his job was "shaking things very hard to get things done quickly," The Telegraph reported. Newspaper Web site: http://telegraph.co.uk -Dow Jones Newswires; dennis.baker@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 20:24 ET (00:24 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Bond Fund Manager Warns UK To Lose Triple-A - Report
  DOW JONES NEWSWIRES The U.K. will lose its prized triple-A credit rating next year as a result of the recession and the euro crisis, according to one of the U.K.'s most respected bond fund managers, according to The Independent newspaper's website Sunday. The newspaper reported that Richard Hodges, the manager of the Legal & General (LGEN.LN) dynamic bond trust, said in the light of the euro sovereign debt crisis: "The question isn't will the U.K. be downgraded, but when? The ratings agencies haven't moved partly because they have bigger fish to fry. But as this crisis plays out it is inevitable that they will downgrade the U.K., with its huge current account deficit, by 2013 at the latest." The Bank of England's additional round of quantitative easing this year has contributed to inflation coming in well above target and makes a downgrade even more likely, The Independent wrote. Hodges told The Independent: "The U.K. is inflating itself out of its debts. It's a slow default by the back door and that will be reflected in the credit rating sooner rather than later." Newspaper Web site: http://independent.co.uk -Dow Jones Newswires; dennis.baker@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 20:33 ET (00:33 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Henderson Global Investors Eyes Opportunities In Australia - FT
  DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Fund manager Henderson Global Investors will launch its first asset management business in Australia Monday, under the leadership of Rob Adams, former chief executive of Challenger Funds Management, the Financial Times reported on its website Sunday, citing the Henderson Chief Executive Andrew Formica. Adams will target institutional investors and create a number of absolute return funds investing in global equities and bonds, the FT reported. "This is the perfect time to launch in Australia for an overseas fund manager. The Australian dollar is overvalued and when it falls, that's when clients want to invest overseas," the FT quoted Formica as saying. Full story: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b806732c-a01e-11e1-94ba-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_uk%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz1vS3p25b8 (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 20:37 ET (00:37 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Rio Tinto Raises Doubts On Iron Ore Expansion - Report
  MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) has raised doubts over further major expansion of its iron ore operations in Australia, as rising costs and calls for higher returns to shareholders lead to a more cautious approach, the Australian reported Monday. Rio Chief Executive Tom Albanese said in a May 15 presentation in Miami that the company will, given certain constraints, "probably pause for breath" once it reaches its target of 353 million metric tons a year production capacity, the newspaper reported. Albanese said at that point the company will seek further "debottlenecking." The London-based company had planned to add a further 100 million tons to production when the current board-approved program was complete. Newspaper website: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au -By Melbourne bureau; +61 3 9292 2094; djnews.sydney@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 20:45 ET (00:45 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Augere Wireless To Quit India On Regulatory Uncertanity - Report
  NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Augere Ltd. is shutting down its Indian wireless operations and quitting the country because it has been unable to raise funds because of regulatory uncertainty, the Economic Times reported Monday, citing Chief Executive Lars Henrick Stork. Augere Mauritius, a wholly owned unit of Augere Holdings (Netherlands) BV., paid INR1.25 billion in 2010 for bandwidth to offer wireless internet services in the combined Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh service area. It later formed a local joint venture -- Augere Wireless Broadband India Pvt. Ltd., -- with Deepak Puri, the founder of Moser-Baer India Ltd. (517140.BY). "There is a lot of uncertainty hanging over the telecoms sector in India.," Lars Henrick Stork said in the report. "The cancellation of licences by the Supreme Court, Trai's [telecom regulator] rules for re-auction and the exorbitantly high reserve price, as well as lack of clarity on the new telecoms policy, which was supposed to be unveiled by mid-last year and has not happened yet...," he said. Augere is backed by France Telecom (FTE.FR), and private equity companies Harbinger Capital Partners, New Silk Route Partners and Vedanta Opportunity Fund, among others, the report added. Newspaper website: http://www.economictimes.com -By New Delhi Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 91 11 4356 3300; djn.in@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 23:51 ET (03:51 GMT)
• DJ Chinese Iron-Ore Buyers Holding Back -Wood Mackenzie
  SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Chinese buyers of iron ore appear to be holding back on purchases amid increasing global economic uncertainty, an analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said Monday. Chinese buyers, mainly steelmakers, are also deferring shipments, leading to an oversupply in sea-borne markets, principal iron-ore market analyst Paul Gray told reporters at a briefing in Sydney. Growing demand from China has spurred a more-than-doubling of the sea-borne trade in iron ore since 2000, according to Wood Mackenzie statistics, but Europe's debt crisis and slowing growth in China itself has recently shaken confidence. China has been solely responsibly for growth in the iron-ore trade over the past 10 years, Gray said. Shipments from Australia and Brazil account for more than 60% of China's total imports of the steelmaking ingredient. Australian iron-ore producers include Rio Tinto (RIO.AU), BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AU), while Brazilian suppliers of the material include Rio de Janeiro-based Vale SA (VALE). "Steel producers are on very tight margins (and) there are a lot of Brazilian cargos available," Gray said. "Companies like Vale are redirecting from Europe into Asia Pacific, and as such there is supply pressure." Gray said he wasn't aware of any contract cancellations as yet, adding that Chinese buyers would still need to import substantial quantities of iron ore to meet local demand. -By Rhiannon Hoyle, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4625; rhiannon.hoyle@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 21, 2012 00:34 ET (04:34 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Ryanair Proposes Second Dividend As Profits Rise
  By Christina Zander and Matthew Curtin Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA.DB) Monday proposed a second dividend to its shareholders as the Irish-based budget airline reported a better-than-expected rise in profit in the year to end-March, having flown more passengers and charged higher fares while keeping costs under control. Net profit rose to EUR560.4 million from EUR374.6 million in the previous fiscal year, ahead of Ryanair's own forecast of EUR480 million and analysts' expectations of EUR485 million according to the average forecast collated by data provider FactSet. It proposed a dividend of EUR0.34 a share, or approximately EUR483 million, payable in November. Operating profit before exceptional items rose 20% to EUR617.9 million on a 21% rise in revenue to EUR4.39 billion as Ryanair flew 75.8 million passengers in the period, up 4.9%. A 16% increase in fares and a 11% rise in ancillary revenue helped to offset higher fuel costs which jumped 30% in the year to EUR1.59 billion. It expects its fuel bill during the next fiscal year to rise by EUR320 million. Ryanair said net profit for the full year 2013 is likely to be lower than in 2012, in a range of between EUR400 million to EUR440 million, as it expects any increase in fares to only partially offset higher fuel costs. Ryanair also benefited from fewer weather-related and other disruptions to European traffic compared with the previous year while it sharply reduced capacity during the winter by grounding 80 of its 294-strong fleet to save on fuel costs. Ryanair makes most of its profit in the summer when it flies to destinations like the Canary Islands, southern Spain and Italy. The collapse of some smaller European carriers like Hungary's Malev and Spain's Spanair has allowed Ryanair to pick up passengers on new routes too. The strong performance by the airline, Europe's biggest carrier by stock-market capitalization, contrasts with the poor recent performance by the region's flag carriers, many of which have embarked on wide-ranging restructuring plans to staunch widening losses on their short-haul routes despite buoyant long-haul activities. Operators of national airlines like Air France-KLM SA (AF.FR), Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), and British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.LN) are struggling to offset the impact of high fuel prices on their results due to relatively elevated staff and other operating costs compared with Ryanair and smaller budget rivals like easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN). In 2010, Ryanair paid its first dividend since it went public in 1997 and the company bought back shares worth EUR39 million in March. Ryanair said it is continuing with its reserved-seating trial, successfully extended to all routes in January, as it further seeks revenue outside tickets sales and selling food and drink. Ryanair shares closed at EUR4.02 Friday, their lowest level since late February, amid mounting investor nervousness about the political and economic outlook for the euro zone. The stock has risen 8.9% so far this year. -By Christina Zander and Matthew Curtin, Dow Jones Newswires, +44 207 842 9373; christina.zander@dowjones.com Order free Annual Report for Deutsche Lufthansa AG Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=DE0008232125 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 Order free Annual Report for easyJet Plc Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=GB00B7KR2P84 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 Order free Annual Report for Ryanair Holdings Plc Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=IE00B1GKF381 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 Order free Annual Report for Deutsche Lufthansa AG Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US2515613048 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 Order free Annual Report for easyJet Plc Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US2778562098 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 Order free Annual Report for Ryanair Holdings Plc Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US7835131043 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 21, 2012 01:01 ET (05:01 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
• DJ Prudential To Appoint Paul Manduca As New Chairman -Reports
  LONDON (Dow Jones)--Prudential PLC (PRU.LN), the U.K.'s largest insurer by market capitalization, will appoint Paul Manduca as its new chairman after a five-month search to replace Harvey McGrath, according to The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, without saying where they got their information. The Sunday Times reports that Manduca, the former chief executive of Rothschild Asset Management, has been chosen by the insurer's board after a lengthy search of internal and external candidates. The board has passed his name to the Financial Services Authority, which is in the in process of vetting Manduca's credentials and past experience. Subject to regulatory clearance, Manduca's appointment could be announced as early as this week, according to the report. The Sunday Telegraph said the two frontrunners, Nigel Rudd, chairman of Invensys PLC (ISYS.LN), and Glen Moreno, chairman of Pearson PLC (PSON.LN), have dropped out of the race, leaving the way clear for Manduca to be appointed chairman. Manduca plans to step down as chairman of AON UK, the U.K. arm of the global insurance broker, after his appointment, according to both newspapers. Prudential and the FSA weren't immediately available to comment. Newspaper Web site: http://www.timesonline.co.uk Newspaper Web site: http://www.telegraph.co.uk -London Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9320 (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 20, 2012 06:27 ET (10:27 GMT) Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.