Business news in brief: Alliance | Boeing | Millstream | Vodafone

ALLIANCE Trust, the Dundee-based investment manager, yesterday named Susan Noble as a non-executive director.

Noble is a former managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where she managed a European team responsible for more than $17 billion (£11bn) of assets under management. Latterly she set up the global equities desk and, as head of global equities, grew its assets to more than $7bn.

She is already a non-executive director at the British Empire Securities & General Trust and sits on the boards of charities including Mencap and the Hospice of St Francis.

United order takes 737 sales to 10k

Plane-maker Boeing yesterday announced what it described as a “historic” order from United Airlines for 150 Boeing 737s in a deal worth up to $14.7 billion (£9.5bn).

Boeing said the deal meant it had now received more than 10,000 orders overall for aircraft from the 737 family and added it was the “undisputed best-selling jetliner in the world”.

Millstream leads in e–procurement

North-east company Millstream is to continue running Scotland and Ireland’s national e-procurement databases after winning twin contract extensions.

The additional work from the Scottish and Irish governments, worth about £250,000, comes just weeks after the Aberdeen-based firm won a £4.8 million deal to run a similar portal in Norway for the next seven years.

Vodafone in £433m New Zealand attack

Australia’s Telstra is to sell its struggling New Zealand operations to Vodafone in a NZ$840 million (£433m) deal, threatening Telecom New Zealand’s dominance and potentially making it a takeover target.

Under the sale, Vodafone New Zealand said it will acquire TelstraClear’s fixed-line and internet operations, which hold only 16 per cent of New Zealand’s broadband market.