Poundland set for expansion as bargain hunters give it a boost August 18, 2010 DISCOUNT retailer Poundland has seen an 80 per cent surge in operating profit to £21.5m in the year to the end of March. Poundland, which was recently acquired by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, said it aims to open a further 50 new stores over the next two years, creating 2,000 jobs. Like-for-like sales were [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE COALITION HAS HAD A GOOD FIRST 100 DAYS? August 18, 2010 LEE WHITE | NOVAE INSURANCE “It seems to me that the coalition is being led by Cameron rather than Clegg. Though the government’s portrayal of the coalition is one of balance, I don’t think this is the case. I would rather see a fairer, more true coalition.” MARK GAME | BRIGHTSIDE GROUP “I didn’t think [...]
Stagecoach is on track as rail improves August 18, 2010 STAGECOACH yesterday reported a rise in sales at its British and US transport businesses, with its rail operations performing strongly. Stagecoach, operator of the South West Trains franchise in Britain and which last year failed in an attempt to buy rival National Express, said in a statement it had significant undrawn bank facilities. The company’s [...]
Lookers on the up in profit surge August 18, 2010 CAR dealer Lookers yesterday reported a “record trading performance” as profit surged by a third. First-half pre-tax profit was £22.7m – 29 per cent up on the £17.6m it made in the same period a year earlier. Sales were £988.3m, compared with £870.4m. New car sales increased by a quarter despite fears over consumer confidence [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR STAGECOACH? August 18, 2010 KEITH BOWMAN | HARGREAVES LANSDOWN Despite some near term concern regarding possible government spending cuts, a favourable combination of economic recovery, possible M&A activity and wider environmental trends all support a favourable [buy] market consensus opinion. The company’s marketing campaigns have also been successful. PAUL HICKMAN | KCB PEEL HUNT Stagecoach’s uniformly strong first-quarter results [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 18, 2010 INMARSAT Bank of America Merrill Lynch cuts its price target for Inmarsat to 700p from 725p warning it has “several structural” issues, against a deteriorating macro environment. Says Harbinger using its option to use Inmarsat’s US spectrum, worth £1.50 a share, is a possible positive, but adds this won’t happen in 2010. AMEC RBS recommends [...]
Charles Taylor warns on profit August 18, 2010 Insurance consultancy Charles Taylor Consulting warned yesterday full-year earnings would miss earlier estimates, after its first half was hit partly by weak public sector business, sending its shares down 22.5 per cent. For the six months ended 30 June, the company posted a nearly flat pre-tax profit of £5.7m. Adjusted pre-tax profit was down one [...]
Ambrian snaps up Masefield August 18, 2010 Specialist investment bank Ambrian Capital said yesterday it had acquired Masefield Biofuels, which focuses on biodiesel produced from palm oil, from the Masefield Group. It did not reveal the price. Ambrian said it would invest $5m (£3.2m) of capital into the new company, to be called Ambrian Energy and be headed by Bernd Sturmheit who [...]
Mazda recalls 320,000 US cars August 18, 2010 Japan’s Mazda is recalling nearly 320,000 vehicles in North America over a potentially deadly malfunction in their power steering, US authorities said yesterday. The recall of its popular Mazda 3 and Mazda 5 models was issued for vehicles manufactured between 2 April 2007 and 30 November 2008, affecting a total of 319,714 cars in the [...]
Swiss Life’s German unit comes good August 18, 2010 SWISS Life’s profits nearly doubled in the first half of the year on the back of a strong performance by German subsidiary AWD, allaying fears the insurer could be forced into an embarrassing writedown of AWD’s value. Switzerland’s biggest life insurer also said it was on track to achieve key margin targets for 2012 after [...]