BP Profit Hit By Gulf Of Mexico Settlement

BP has set aside a further $4.1bn (£2.6bn) in relation to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as it reported a fall in profit.

It takes the company's total cost of the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010 to $42.2bn (£26.8bn).

To pay for liabilities relating to the disaster, BP has sold $37.8bn (£24bn) worth of assets since the incident.

Earlier this month, the oil giant agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter over its role in the incident - which resulted in the deaths of 11 workers - and pay $4.5bn (£2.9bn) in a record criminal settlement.

A separate, civil trial in the US is expected to begin on February 25.

The company reported an 18% fall in its underlying replacement cost profit to $17.6bn (£11.1bn) last year.

In the fourth quarter, its profit was $3.9bn (£2.5bn) - a drop of more than 20% when compared to the same period in 2011.

But these results were stronger than some analysts expected, boosted by a record performance at its refining business.

Chief executive Bob Dudley said: "We have moved past many milestones in 2012, repositioning BP through divestments and bringing on new projects.

"This lays a solid foundation for growth into the long term.

"Moving through 2013 we will deliver further operational milestones and remain on track for delivery of our ten-point strategic plan, including our target for operating cash flow growth, by 2014."

The company announced a quarterly dividend of 9 cents (around six pence) a share, to be paid in March. 

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Dreamliner Batteries Get CT Scans Over Meltdown

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Timeline

Updated: 9:31am UK, Tuesday 05 February 2013

The turbulent history of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner:

Feb 5, 2013: Japanese official reveal CT scans of failed batteries does not reveal fire cause.

Feb 4, 2013: Boeing requests US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for test flights of grounded model.

Jan 30, 2013: Amid revenue loss forecasts of $500m to $5bn, Boeing CEO addresses investors and downplays impact.

Jan 28, 2013: Investigators widen battery examination to sub-contractors of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 21, 2013: Safety officials start probe of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 19, 2013: Boeing says it is stopping deliveries of the Dreamliner to airlines

Jan 18, 2013: FAA officials arrive in Japan to examine a 787 and its melted battery pack after an All Nippon Air (ANA) emergency landing two days earlier

Jan 17, 2013: The European Aviation Safety Agency,  FAA and Qatar Airways ground Dreamliners under their regulatory control

Jan 16, 2013: Japan Air Lines Co Ltd (JAL) follows suit and suspends Dreamliner flights from Japan over safety concerns

Jan 16, 2013: ANA grounds all 17 of its 787s after four of its aircraft suffer problems

Jan 16, 2013: ANA 787 Dreamliner makes emergency landing in Takamatsu, Japan, after smoke appears in cabin

Jan 11, 2013: The Federal Aviation Authority announces a review of the 787 design and systems

Jan 11, 2013: ANA discovers engine oil leak after a domestic flight lands at Miyazaki

Jan 11, 2013: A separate ANA flight to Matsuyama reported a crack appearing in the pilot's window

Jan 9, 2013: ANA cancels a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight due to a brake problem

Jan 8, 2013: Japan Air Lines (JAL) grounds a jet at Boston Logan International Airport after a 787 leaks 150 litres of fuel

Jan 7, 2013: A fire erupts in a battery pack in another JAL Dreamliner at Boston

Dec 13, 2012: Qatar Airways grounds one of its Dreamliners because of a faulty generator

Dec 5, 2012: The FAA orders inspections of all 787 Dreamliners in service in the US

Dec 4, 2012: A United Airlines 787 is forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans after a generator fails

July 23, 2012: ANA grounds five Dreamliners due to an engine component issue

Feb 22, 2012: Boeing says around 55 Dreamliners may be affected by a flaw in the fuselage

Oct 26, 2011: The Dreamliner makes its maiden flight with paying passengers on board an ANA jet

Sep 26, 2011: Boeing delivers its first 787 Dreamliner to Japan's ANA, three years late

Jun 23, 2010: Boeing postpones the first flight of the Dreamliner because of a structural flaw

Dec 15, 2009: The passenger jet 787 Dreamliner takes off on its maiden test flight

Apr 9, 2008: Boeing says there will be a revised plan for the first 787 flight and initial deliveries

Dec 11, 2008: Boeing announces further delays due to strike action by machinists Sept-Nov

Oct 19, 2007: Boeing says there will be a six-month delay to deliveries due to assembly issues

Jul 8, 2007: The first assembled 787 goes on display to media, employees and customers

Jul 18, 2006: Boeing says it is making "solid progress" on the 787 Dreamliner programme

Jan 28, 2005: Boeing gives its new commercial airplane an official model designation number - 787

Jan 29, 2003: Boeing announces the launch of a new aircraft called the 7E7

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Dyson's New Tap Does Both Wet And Dry

Dyson has unveiled three new products - including a tap that washes a person's hands and then dries them.

The company claims the Airblade Tap, along with two new versions of its existing Airblade dryers, are the fastest and most hygienic way for a person to dry their hands.

The tap uses infrared sensors to pinpoint the hand positions and release water from the tap stem.

Two branches off the tap stem have air outlets which blow high-velocity sheets of unheated air over the hands to dry them.

Tech website Wired, which tested the device, said the main benefit was that the washing and drying operations both took place over the washbasin, meaning water would not be blown onto the bathroom floor.

The company spent nearly £27m on developing this new motor

While Dyson said hands could be dried in 12 seconds, Wired's testers reported a drying time of 13 to 14 seconds.

The Airblade Tap may not appeal to everyone, though, as it has a price tag of £999.99.

The other devices released by the firm are the Airblade V hand dryer, which is 60% smaller than the existing dryer, and a re-engineered Airblade made from polycarbonate, weighing 1.1kg less than the original.

Conventional hand dryers use one column of air to evaporate the water from a person's hands, accompanied by hand rubbing.

In contrast, Dyson says its Airblade devices force air through tiny apertures at 430mph, quickly scraping water from a person's hands like a windscreen wiper, leaving them fully dry.

The company singles out two technologies that are key to the process.

The new dryers use the V4 brushless motor, which is made of a bonded magnet encased in a carbon fibre sleeve.

It says the V4 is one of the world's smallest and fully integrated 1600W motors. Using digital pulse technology, it accelerates from 0-90,000rpm in less than 0.7 seconds.

The company said it cost £26.9m to develop, but in its lifetime each motor would shift around 162,000 cubic metres of air – enough to fill 26 million balloons.

The Dyson hand dryers also use high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) air filters to remove 99.9% of bacteria from the air in a bathroom before it is blown onto the user's hands.

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Virgin Media Eyes Sale To US-Based Cable Firm

Virgin Media has confirmed it is in talks about a possible sale of the company to the US cable group Liberty Global.

Almost five million households in the UK subscribe to Virgin's broadband, television and landline services.

Virgin also has some three million mobile phone customers in Britain.

Sir Richard Branson owns a three percent stake in Virgin Media, which is listed in New York, with a secondary listing in London.

The company's share price soared on news of the talks, with the price up 18% in trading.

John Malone is chairman of Liberty Global

US-based Liberty Global operates in 13 territories and is seeking to expand its base in Europe.

Virgin Media is the second biggest pay-TV group in Britain behind BSkyB, the parent company of Sky News, and has been valued at around $20bn (£13bn).

The talks were confirmed by Virgin Media, which currently has debts of around $9bn (£5.7bn), in a brief statement.

Liberty has recently increased its stake in Belgian operator Telenet to 58% and owns other consumer brands across Europe including UPC, Unitymedia, Kabel BW and VTR.

It also owns a content and channels group called Chellomedia.

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Retail Sales Strong In January Despite Snow

Retail sales grew at their fastest rate in 13 months in January, despite heavy snow across the country, the latest figures have revealed.

Last month's like-for-like retail sales were up 1.9% on the previous year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Online sales in January were also strong - more than 10% higher compared to the same month in 2012.

Sales of televisions, tablet computers and smartphones were especially strong, the BRC said.

It comes after December's figures disappointed ahead of Christmas.

BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: "After a fairly subdued December, these results are sure to lift spirits for many."

"People were tempted out by offers and promotions but also treated themselves to full-price and premium products early in January, particularly must-have technology items," she said.

"These factors, coupled with recovering consumer confidence, have added up to a more successful January than we saw last year."

She added that although the snow hit sales, its impact was limited and did not cancel out the month's otherwise high sales.

"Its force was felt in some areas more than others - footwear performed well thanks to a 'boots boost' but it wasn't such a good month for clothing," she said.

The figures revealed that the mood was "lifting a little" for both customers and retailers, the BRC said.

But despite January's strong sales, three high street stalwarts called in administrators over the course of the month. 

Head of retail at accountancy group KPMG, David McCorquodale, said advances in technology had hastened the demise of HMV, Blockbuster and Jessops, which have all collapsed since the start of the year.

But he added: "Many retailers will look back at the last two months with pride after implementing successful seasonal campaigns where they have served the customer well.

"Sales are only one side of the equation and time will soon reveal the true cost of the promotions and margin squeezes used to drive these sales.

"However, it is encouraging to see such positive results in what is traditionally a challenging month."

The BRC results come as a Markit/Cips Purchasing Managers' Index for the UK's dominant service sector reveal rising optimism among firms during January.

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UK Develops Growing Taste For Sparkling Wines

By Isabel Webster, West of England Correspondent

Britain will be the world's biggest importer of champagne and sparkling wine in the next five years as changing drinking habits will see us drink more fizz and less wine.

New market research, conducted by Vinexpo, and commissioned from International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR), estimates the UK will overtake Germany to take the top spot.

It has been revealed that British wine drinkers will consume more than 126m bottles of French Champagne, Spanish Cava and Italian Prosecco by 2018.

UK consumers will also double the amount of English sparkling wine they drink to 5.7m bottles.

Global consumption of English sparkling wine is growing, too, and will increase 342% in the 10 years leading up to 2017.

Strawberry Hill Vineyard in Newent, Gloucestershire, produces an award-winning sparkling wine.

The owner, Tim Chance, says he is able to adapt what he produces to meet demand.

"We grow Pinot Noir grapes which have a red skin but produce a clear juice," he said.

"It means we make red wine from it and sparkling white wine, so it's easy to evolve our business as consumer's preferences change."

But he adds that sparkling wine is more expensive to make.

"To make sparkling wine involves a secondary fermentation process, so it takes longer,  is more labour intensive and therefore more costly, so we charge more for it," he said.

Experts say the cost of sparkling wines have been coming down making it more affordable, whilst the quality, particularly of English sparkling wine, has improved exponentially in recent years, adding to its popularity.

Meanwhile, the consumption of red and white wine is in long-term decline. The value of UK wine sales is expected to fall in the next five years from £8.2bn to £7.9bn.

Nevertheless, the UK is still the world's biggest retail market for imported wine, although China and Russia have the fastest-growing wine import market.

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Barclays Ups Its Mis-Selling Funds By £1bn

Barclays is to increase the funds put aside for mis-selling to consumers and businesses by another £1bn, taking the total to £2.6bn.

Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman - who revealed the news on Wednesday - said the provision for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) had gone up by £600m, and the amount to cover interest rate swaps had increased by £400m.

Barclays is also likely to have to set aside money for potential Libor-related litigation after being fined £290m last summer for manipulating the interbank borrowing rate.

The news came ahead of an appearance by the bank's chairman, Sir David Walker, and chief executive, Antony Jenkins, at the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.

Mr Jenkins, who was appointed head of the bank in August, said he repeatedly raised concerns about the company's culture with its board and former chief executive Bob Diamond.

He said "actions" were needed rather than words, and assured MPs he was taking action to address the "aggressive" and "self-serving" culture.

"It is true to say we had debate over various topics concerning citizenship," he said.

"I raised the point repeatedly that it's actions that count and not words."

Mr Jenkins said he would be prepared to "do the right thing" if Barclays was hit by another scandal.

"I believe that the chief executive is responsible for what happens during his or her tenure at an organisation," he told MPs.

"If there were a grave regulatory event that happened on my watch they I would feel obliged to resign."

It comes just a week before Mr Jenkins, unveils a blueprint for rebuilding Barclays' reputation.

Last month, the head of Britain's Financial Ombudsman Service, Natalie Ceeney, said banks only had themselves to blame for the spiralling costs of the scandal, which she said could have been contained if they had addressed the issue earlier.

The ombudsman service, which steps in when banks and their customers cannot reach an agreement on compensation, said it was receiving up to 10,000 complaints each week about PPI, and had hired 1,000 new staff to cope with the caseload.

High street banks face a collective bill of around £12bn for mis-selling loan insurance designed to protect borrowers who missed repayments due to illness or redundancy.

Consumer groups that challenged banks over the way the policies were marketed and sold won a landmark court case in 2011, opening the floodgates to thousands of compensation claims over one of Britain's biggest ever consumer scandals.

Meanwhile, complex interest rate swaps designed for small and medium-sized businesses have also become a contentious issue.

An estimated 90% of 40,000 may have been mis-sold, and payouts may reach £500,000 for each affected firm.

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Dell Computers In Buyout Bid By Firm's Founder

Once-dominant US computer company Dell has unveiled a £15.5bn plan to take the firm private in a buyout by company founder Michael Dell.

The company said it had signed "a definitive merger agreement" that gives shareholders $13.65 (£8.70) per share in cash - a premium of 25% over Dell's January 11 closing share price.

"I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members," Mr Dell said.

The deal was unveiled with investment firm Silver Lake, and backed by a $2bn (£1.27bn) loan from Microsoft.

Dell shares dropped 2.6% on the Nasdaq after the plan was announced, down to $13.27.

The move, which would de-list the company from stock markets, could ease some of the pressure on Dell, which is cash-rich but has been seeing profits slump.

Michael Dell founded the firm in his college dorm room

The Texas-based computer maker, which Mr Dell started in his college dormitory room, once topped a market capitalisation of $100bn (£63bn) as the world's biggest PC producer.

The plan is subject to several conditions, including a vote of unaffiliated stockholders.

It calls for a "go shop" period to allow shareholders to determine if there is a better offer.

"We can deliver immediate value to stockholders, while we continue the execution of our long-term strategy and focus on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers as a private enterprise," Mr Dell said of the plan.

Dell was a pioneer of phone-ordered, custom built PC in Britain during the 1990s.

Working from facilities in the Irish Republic, Britons were able to specify their hard and software requirements before machines were delivered to the customer's home.

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Oaktree In Talks Over Countryside Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Oaktree Capital Management, the buyout firm, is eyeing a takeover of one of the multitude of housebuilders part-owned by the state-backed Lloyds Banking Group.

I have learnt that Oaktree is among a small number of bidders for Countryside Properties, one of the biggest privately-held housebuilders in the UK.

The talks are still some time away from resulting in a formal agreement for Oaktree to acquire Countryside, and other bidders are understood to be waiting in the wings if the discussions falter, insiders said today.

JP Morgan Cazenove, the investment bank, was appointed last May to oversee a sale process, since when a slew of Government stimulus packages have resulted in a sharp upturn in fortunes for the housebuilding sector.

Crest Nicholson, one of the biggest players in the industry, is eyeing a return to the stock market in a move that will underline returning investor confidence.

Lloyds inherited many of its interests in housebuilders when it rescued HBOS during the banking crisis of 2008. HBOS was hugely exposed to the industry, having paid over-the-odds for many of the stakes during the boom years earlier in the decade.

The bank is already in talks to sell its stake in Cala, a Scottish housebuilder with a price-tag of about £250m.

Oaktree has a big presence in Europe, and is currently in talks about offloading a number of companies in its portfolio, including Stock Spirits, the Eastern European alcoholic beverages producer, and R&R Ice Cream, the British ice cream-maker.

Oaktree could not be reached for comment today.

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UK Chip Firm ARM Rides Smartphone Wave

British smartphone chip designer ARM has reported a 20% rise in full-year pretax profit, with nearly every smartphone in the world now containing its technology.

ARM Ltd made an annual pretax profit of £276.5m.

It also reported fourth-quarter profit of £80m, on revenue of £164.2m, which was above forecasts of £75.6m on revenue of £152.2m.

The Cambridge-based group licences its technology to chip makers and receives a royalty on each chip shipped in devices, from tech giants such as Apple and Samsung.

Consumers around the world are increasingly using the Internet on mobile devices rather than on PCs that are powered by processors designed by older firms like Intel.

"Five years ago an ARM processor could be found in just over a quarter of devices that you could use to browse the internet," ARM finance director Tim Score said.

ARM Ltd chief executive Warren East

"Last year, in 2012, three-quarters of Internet-connected screens and devices used an ARM processor in the main chip."

Shares in the group rose to a 12-year high after it said it would at least meet analysts' expectations for revenue in 2013.

The newest smartphones and tablets typically contain multiple ARM-based processors and increasingly ARM graphics as well, helping royalties for the quarter rise 19% to $136.8 million, strongly outperforming the market.

The company recognises royalties a quarter in arrears, so the royalty income came on 2.5 billion chips shipped in the third quarter of the year.

Licensing revenue rose 28% to $158m, with 15 licences signed for ARM's latest Cortex-A processors designed for mobile computing, servers and enterprise computing.

ARM said it expected to continue to outperform the wider semi-conductor market in 2013.

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