Analyst Views: What did you make of Whitbread’s full-year results? April 29, 2014 JAMES HOLLINS | INVESTECWhitbread has provided another nail in the coffin of our bear stance with a strong set of full-year results… With the UK consumer feeling stronger than for a number of years, and the group on track for its 2016 and 2018 targets, our current “sell” recommendation looks overly bearish and goes under [...]
Atherton’s new joint is putting the social in City April 29, 2014 THE CITY rubbed shoulders with celeb-land last night at the launch of Jason Atherton’s latest foodie-den, City Social, at Tower 42. Model David Gandy was there turning heads, as was Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch who reminisced about the venue. “It’s a fantastic night, I’ve worked here before in fact – we filmed episode two of [...]
Mind the snap: Boris poses for a strike selfie April 29, 2014 NEVER one abandon to his people to a morning of queueing at bus stops and squeezing, sardine-like, into Tube stations alone, Boris Johnson trooped down to London Bridge yesterday to support strike-stricken commuters. He was happy to pose for a selfie with a passer-by but deftly maintained a half-grimace to show his displeasure at the [...]
Hermes chief stands as Labour councillor April 29, 2014 ANYONE browsing through the candidates list for the position of councillor in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea this week might be surprised to find Saker Nusseibeh, chief executive of Hermes Fund Managers, running as a Labour candidate (especially given Ed Miliband’s fairly overt distaste for hedge funds). But the famously contrarian Nusseibeh – [...]
Carphone stays quiet on merger as revenues rise April 29, 2014 MOBILE phone retailer Carphone Warehouse stayed silent yesterday on the progress of its potential £4bn merger with Dixons Retail as it posted a rise in fourth quarter revenues across its core business. The group did not comment on its talks with Dixons Retail, however discussions are understood to be progressing well with an announcement expected [...]
Samsung’s smartphones sales slide on increasing competition April 29, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics, the division of the South Korean tech superpower responsible for smartphones and household appliances, saw profits slip 3.3 per cent during the quarter to March as its margins were squeezed by competition to its Galaxy phones. Profit from Samsung’s mobile division was 6.43 trillion won (£3.71bn), down 1.2 per cent from 6.51 trillion [...]
Telecity shares jump on 2014 growth spurt April 29, 2014 TELECITY’S shares leapt nearly 15 per cent yesterday after the British data centre operator reported a strong first quarter start to 2014. The company’s revenue grew 9.4 per cent, excluding the impact of currency changes, with strong trading reported in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin. “The level of gross order wins in the UK division has [...]
Brand Index: Employees start to feel the benefits of stronger growth April 29, 2014 YESTERDAY’S GDP figures provided further evidence that the economy is firmly on the mend. The official statistics show that consumers remain at the heart of the recovery and YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker shows that not only are they increasingly optimistic but they are also starting to see the upturn in their wallets. In terms [...]
Petropavlovsk slumps as debt deadlines loom April 29, 2014 PETROPAVLOVSK’S share price plunged over 14 per cent yesterday, after the FTSE 250-listed miner posted a full-year loss of $713m (£423.3m), slashed its dividend and said it had not yet secured crucial refinancing agreements. The 2013 loss compared to a $244m loss in 2012 and was largely due to impairments and write-downs from the fall [...]
Norway’s Statoil posts bumper profit due to US gas price hike April 29, 2014 NORWEGIAN energy giant Statoil posted net profit of 23.7bn krone (£2.35bn) in the first quarter, up from 6.4bn krone the previous year, beating market expectations thanks to a rise in US gas prices. Statoil is present in all the major US shale gas plays and benefited from higher demand due to an unusually cold winter. [...]