If all goes according to plan Corus’s British steel plants will by then be as efficient as the best in Europe M

If all goes according to plan, Corus’s British steel plants will by then be as efficient as the best in Europe M. Varin also hopes to have lanced the boil of the Teesside plant by bringing in a joint venture partner to enable the facility to stand on its own two feet, supplying commodity steel to the world market. At present Teesside is entirely dependent on the rest of Corus as an outlet for its steel production.The final piece of the jigsaw is to sell the aluminium business, a strategy which when first mooted by the previous regime led to an almighty row with the Dutch supervisory board of Corus. Varin promises a £680m improvement in the bottom line by the time the strategy reaches its conclusion a couple of years hence. China’s insatiable appetite for steel has put a rocket under the price, and although the cost of the raw materials – iron ore and energy – has been rising too, it’s not been by as much and, in any case, there is a big time lag. By the end of this year, Corus’s prices will have risen by a half.

The company confidently expects to push through further increases next year too.Yet it’s not all down to prices, insists Philippe Varin, Corus’s French-born chief executive. Of the £200m turnaround from loss to profit between the first half of last year and the first half of this year, only a half is attributable to higher prices, with the rest accounted for by cost cutting and other aspects of the “Restoring Success” turnaround strategy.M. Two and a half billion pounds’ worth of accumulated losses since 1999 make the sight of profits at the Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus about as rare as snow in summer. It is also likely that we will be consulting with our members across Ford in the UK.”Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: “Ford’s decision may kill off Jaguar. The big question following yesterday’s triumphant return to the black is whether they will prove just as transitory.
Corus doesn’t directly supply any steel at all to China, yet it is the Chinese development story which is largely responsible for the company’s renaissance. We are therefore putting our Formula One businesses up for sale.”Jaguar’s presence in Formula One has been a valuable marketing and brand awareness platform particularly outside our main markets of the US and the UK.” However it was our collective view that it is time for Jaguar Cars to focus 100% on our core business.” said Mr Greenwell.. Our members will fight like tigers to keep the lion’s share of quality car manufacturing in Britain.”The company also announced that the Jaguar brand will be withdrawing from Formula One car racing at the end of 2004.”After a thorough review over many months, Ford Motor Company has decided it can no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in Formula One.”Having reached this decision our focus has turned to securing the best future for our Formula One businesses and our employees in these businesses going forward.

This would give it access to 30 per cent of the broadband market, Mr Caio said. “The Telecoms Adjudicator is at work and Ofcom’s Strategic Review has identified LLU as an important element. We look at BT as a supplier.”Using LLU would give C&W an economic advantage over its existing network arrangements, Mr Caio said. “Growth rates in broadband have exceeded 100 per cent a year in many European countries and continue to accelerate,” he added. “We will exploit this opportunity on a phased basis to ensure that our investment is geared towards customer-driven take-up.”The growth in demand for broadband was offsetting a decline in fixed-line networks, he said, which is why C&W was pushing into the market.. Production of Jaguar cars is to end at one of its main UK factories, with the loss of more than 1,100 jobs, the company announced today. It will put pressure on BT to deliver on its commitment to co-operate with the telecoms industry to enable further investment.Mr Caio refused to give predictions of how many customers it hoped to sign up to its broadband services, which will be marketed through Bulldog, the company it bought in May.It recently launched a 4MB broadband connection that includes telephone calls.

BT’s prices for doing this have fallen under the supervision of Ofcom. The entry of C&W into LLU could provide a boost to broadband take-up. Cable &Amp; Wireless expects to generate revenues of £250m a year from a push into the market for high-speed internet access, the company said yesterday.
The move will involve an £85m capital investment programme over this year and next, plus £60m of operational funding. I have said it many times before but I must say it again: don’t take progress as a sign that we can take things easy – we can’t, we must push harder.”Mr Glocer did have some uplifting things to say. He judged customer satisfaction had risen and “we are well on our way” to achieving the company’s goals.Niall Fitzgerald, the former chairman of Unilever, will take over as chairman of Reuters next month He is expected to overhaul Reuters’ marketing efforts.. She added: “Tom is naturally going to have exacting standards.