King stock gets crushed as app spending slows May 7, 2014 CANDY Crush Saga developer King Digital saw its share price tumble far below its IPO pricing yesterday after disappointing investors with its first quarter results. Revenue beat expectations at $607m (£357.8m) and profit rose nearly 150 per cent at $127.2m, but the number of players paying for in-app purchases declined from 12.2m last quarter to [...]
Old Labour is back with new black and white ad May 7, 2014 NEW Labour RIP – Ed Miliband is so intent on turning the party back to old Labour values that even its election broadcasts are now in black and white. The party’s latest broadcast, released ahead of the looming local and European elections, is set around the government’s cabinet table. But class war seems to be [...]
The conscious uncoupling of King and Coupe May 7, 2014 WHEN Justin King finally steps down as head honcho at Sainsbury’s in July, he might well experience some separation anxiety from commercial director (and soon to be CEO) Mike Coupe. The pair were delivering the supermarket’s preliminary results at their HQ in Holborn yesterday, when they both heard the call of nature at the same [...]
ITV makes $360m push into original reality TV May 7, 2014 BROADCASTER ITV continued its push into original content yesterday with the $360m (£212.2m) acquisition of a stake in Leftfield Entertainment – the producer of hit US reality TV shows including Pawn Stars, Real Housewives of New Jersey and American Restoration. The acquisition comes as ITV chief executive Adam Crozier finds himself in increasing hot water [...]
FinnCap and Numis cheer profit boost as equity activity rises May 7, 2014 CITY brokers Numis and FinnCap yesterday said London’s buoyant equity markets helped drive stellar profit increases at both companies, underscoring a turnaround in fortunes for the capital’s broking community. Numis, which worked on floats including AO World, McColl’s and Arrow Global this year, said revenues rose 59 per cent to £51.5m and statutory pre-tax profits [...]
Carl Icahn laments modest results May 7, 2014 ICAHN Enterprises, the listed holding company controlled by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, yesterday reported a loss for the first quarter of this year. The business, listed on the Nasdaq, said it recorded a net loss of $29m for the three months ending March, versus net income of $277m a year ago. The business invests across [...]
Wetherspoons warns on April pub slowdown May 7, 2014 JD WETHERSPOON yesterday warned that slowing sales in April had left it cautious concerning its final quarter, despite reporting higher third-quarter sales. The pub chain said that sales for the 13 weeks to 27 April at pubs open over a year rose 6.2 per cent, although April had missed its own expectations. “As a result [...]
Brewers report disappointing first quarters May 7, 2014 CARLSBERG and Anheuser-Busch InBev both reported disappointing results yesterday as Carlsberg cut its earnings forecast on the back of political tensions in eastern Europe while AB InBev reported a 24 per cent drop in net profit due to increased marketing spend on the World Cup. Carlsberg, the maker of Tuborg and Kronenbourg 1664, is the [...]
Experian warns of World Cup dip May 7, 2014 EXPERIAN, the credit-checking and data group, warned yesterday that the World Cup is likely to dent its trading in Brazil over the summer, taking the shine off a four per cent rise in annual earnings to $1.2bn (£709m) and sending the FTSE 100 firm’s shares down 6.5 per cent. The company posted a 2.3 per [...]
Insurer Esure meets its forecasts despite extra £3m weather costs May 7, 2014 INSURER Esure broadly met analyst expectations yesterday, revealing first quarter results that show a 9.5 per cent rise in in-force policies year on year, despite flat gross written premium numbers overall. Gross written premiums totalled £123.5m compared to £124.2m in the first quarter of 2013, with both motor and home sales down 0.5 per cent [...]