June 1: Corus jumps on Abramovich rumour

June 1: Our reporters in London and Moscow are chasing a story which appeared this morning in a Russian paper that Roman Abramovich is trying to buy a large stake in Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel group. Corus shares are up 10 per cent, so if it knew anything about Abramovich’s intentions it would have had to make a statement by now.

We’ll try to do more on Eurotunnel, and look more closely at whether the debt restructuring plan announced yesterday is deliverable. It feels like it isn’t, as it seems generous to shareholders but at the expense of bondholders. Robert Wright wrote a great analysis of this in this morning’s paper and Michael Harrison in the Independent produced some fabulous commentary as well.

More strong figures from water companies today: Pennon Group, which owns South West Water, and United Utilities, which operates mostly in the north-west of England, both published strong full-year profits. Is the regulatory regime for water appropriate or are companies making too much money? We’ll take a look.

Man Group are clearly benefiting from the market volatility: they published strong full-year results. But please, do they have to say they are going carbon neutral? It’s about as meaningful as fat-free orange juice. Our reporters are talking to Stanley Fink today. I’m sure he’ll have more interesting things to say.

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