Sales jump at Halfords on bike lift October 8, 2009 THE boom in commuter cycling and stay-at-home holidaymakers yesterday boosted Halfords as it reported sales growth for the successive quarter. The bike, camping products and car maintenance retailer yesterday reported sales rose by 3.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to last Friday. And like-for-like sales made a 2.2 per cent jump, up from a [...]
Rise in German industrial output October 8, 2009 German industrial production climbed 1.7 per cent in August compared to July when it fell a downwardly revised 1.1 per cent. The rise was driven by a 1.5 per cent jump in investment goods output. Government stimulus measures such as incentives to buy new cars are also thought to have helped.
Greenhill hires debt restructuring star Gareth Davies from Close Brothers October 8, 2009 GARETH Davies, one of the star debt restructuring specialists at Close Brothers Corporate Finance, has quit the firm just months after its takeover by Daiwa Securities. Davies, who advised Jarvis on its restructuring as well as Foxtons and the now defunct television group Setanta, quit Close at the beginning of the week. He has been [...]
Rise in German industrial output October 8, 2009 German industrial production climbed 1.7 per cent in August compared to July when it fell a downwardly revised 1.1 per cent. The rise was driven by a 1.5 per cent jump in investment goods output. Government stimulus measures such as incentives to buy new cars are also thought to have helped.
Magna, GM and unions meet in a move to save UK jobs at Vauxhall car plants October 7, 2009 BUSINESS minister Pat McFadden and bosses at Unite union last night met with Magna International, the new owner of Vauxhall, in the latest move to save British jobs. The news comes as Germany looks set to consult British officials as early as next week on Magna’s takeover of General Motor’s (GM) European unit, which is [...]
J Sainsbury sales growth slows down October 7, 2009 J SAINSBURY, hot on the heels of supermarket archrival Tesco, yesterday revealed that its second quarter sales growth had slowed as food inflation eased in the autumn. Sainsbury’s said like-for-like sales growth, excluding fuel, slowed to 4.6 per cent rise for the 16 weeks to 3 October down from seven per cent in the previous [...]
COSTCO PROFITS DIP October 7, 2009 COSTCO said a stronger dollar and higher staff health care costs helped drive its fourth-quarter profit down six per cent to $374m yesterday, but the members-only warehouse club chain still beat analysts’ expectations. Costco has been one of the stronger retailers during the recession because of its focus on lower priced goods.
Windpower group rebuffs 90m bid from GuyHands’ energy firm Infinis October 7, 2009 GUY Hands’ energy group Infinis yesterday launched a hostile £90m takeover bid for wind power group Novera. Novera, which is being advised by Oriel, immediately rejected the offer, saying the 62.5p a share price significantly undervalued the company. Infinis already owned 29.9 per cent of Novera and yesterday increased this to more than 40 per [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 7, 2009 KINGFISHERMorgan Stanley upgraded Kingfisher to “equal weight” saying that the retailer’s 19.6p earnings per share target looks increasingly achievable, but that it doesn’t leave much upside with consensus already looking for 18.5p for 2011/2012 earnings. The broker no longer believes that an “underweight” weighting is appropriate. CENTAUR MEDIAKBC Peel Hunt has been very cautious on [...]
New cars to have digital radio installed from 2014 October 7, 2009 CAR makers have agreed to make digital radios standard in cars from the start of 2014, following the Digital Britain White Paper in June which anticipates FM stations being switched off after 2015. “We’re really encouraged that both industries are positive. It will be a big logistical challenge but we have finally take the first [...]