Lufthansa’s revamp pays off as earnings jump and divi returns March 13, 2014 GERMAN airline Lufthansa posted a 62 per cent jump in underlying operating profits for the year as it gets on with a restructuring drive. Lufthansa said that excluding costs linked to the turnaround efforts, it made operating profits of €1.04bn (£833m), on flat revenues of €30bn. The results were improved by a change to the [...]
Vimto owner sweetens sales March 13, 2014 Vimto owner Nichols yesterday posted a 10 per cent rise in full year pre-tax profits to £22.5m as new product launches bolstered sales and efforts to grow margins paid off. Total sales grew two per cent to £109.9m in 2013 and accelerated in the second half, up four per cent. Fizzy drink sales fell six [...]
Yo Sushi to expand in London March 13, 2014 Japanese restaurant chain Yo Sushi is poised to open five new sites in London this year after ten years of expansion outside the capital in cities such as Manchester and Leeds. The group, which currently has 62 UK restaurants including 24 in London, said yesterday it has bought sites in travel hubs and locations with [...]
Positive outlook for Quindell March 13, 2014 Software consultancy Quindell has reported strong first quarter trading, announcing yesterday that it has already met targets and exceeded expectations ahead of its annual results which are out at the end of March. The company, which largely caters to the insurance industry, has exceeded its £450m target for new business since the start of 2014. [...]
City Moves for 14 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 13, 2014 Ashcourt Rowan The asset management firm has hired Chris Legge as head of intermediary services. He was most recently at Brewin Dolphin, where he was intermediary business development manager. Prior to that, Legge held roles at Gerrard Investment Management. KPMG The professional services firm has announced two appointments. Navdeep Arora will lead its insurance strategy [...]
Best of the Brokers for 14 March 2014 March 13, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com RESTAURANT GROUP Barclays rates the dining firm “overweight” and has lifted its target from 675p to 750p to reflect what the broker reckons is an attractive free cash flow yield. Barclays believes the firm will be back at its margin peaks in the [...]
London Report: Supermarket fears lead FTSE to a fifth consecutive drop March 13, 2014 BRITISH shares fell for a fifth straight session yesterday, dragged down by supermarket stocks after WM Morrison cut its profit outlook, as well as by escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Morrison’s was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 index, plunging 11.9 per cent, and its revised outlook triggered a sell-off [...]
New York Report: Tensions over Ukraine hit US March 13, 2014 US stocks tumbled yesterday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 suffering their worst day since early February, on rising concerns over Ukraine and Russia and new signs of a slowdown in China. Selling accelerated in afternoon trading after Russia launched military exercises near its border with Ukraine, showing no sign of backing down in [...]
UBS delivers a poke in the eye for equity bulls March 13, 2014 The bull markets are raging, IPOs are surging and investors are pinning their hopes on the FTSE breaking through the 7,000 barrier for the first time this year. All is rosy in the world of equities – unless you happen to pay attention to something called the equity risk premium. This is the difference between [...]
How will the Bank tackle a crisis with lower “new normal” interest rates? March 13, 2014 Three monetary Policy Committee members, including governor Mark Carney, have voiced the view in recent weeks that rates may only rise to somewhere between two and three per cent, even after years of relatively solid recovery. The rough level was suggested in the February inflation report, and ever-proactive TUC senior economist Duncan Weldon blogged on [...]