Ladbrokes hit by a betting downturn despite World Cup August 5, 2010 LADBROKES yesterday said the amount staked by punters at its UK shops fell seven per cent even taking into account a boost from the World Cup. However, the bookmaker said it would resume dividend payments. Revenues from over-the-counter betting fell six per cent in the six months to the end of June but a better [...]
Millennium & Copthorne warns over fragile state of the global economy August 5, 2010 MILLENNIUM & Copthorne (M&C) yesterday posted a 65 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit but said it was cautious about the economy over the next 18 months. The London-based hotel chain, which runs more than 120 hotels in 19 countries, declared an interim dividend of 2.08p, unchanged from last year. “We will continue to [...]
F&C closes in on its Thames River acquisition August 5, 2010 EVEN by the standards of F&C Asset Management’s long and winding history, the past year has been eventful. The funds house, founded 140 years ago to manage the world’s first mass-market investment trust, made a long-awaited break for independence just over 12 months ago when it de-merged from life insurer Friends Provident. Analysts and employees [...]
BBA Aviation eyes future buyouts as profits climb August 5, 2010 AIRCRAFT services group BBA Aviation posted a 17 per cent hike in half-year profits yesterday, with the group’s management team now eyeing future acquisition opportunities. The British-based group, which divides its operations between services to private jet owners and flight support to the large commercial airlines, reported underlying pre-tax profits of £45.1m, a rise on [...]
EasyJet boosts its traffic in July as it flies more than five million passengers August 5, 2010 LOW-COST airline easyJet, which is in dispute with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said yesterday it flew 7.7 per cent more passengers last month than the previous year. During July, one of the busiest months for air travel, easyJet carried 5.02m passengers, an increase from the same period last year when it flew 4.66m customers. EasyJet [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 5, 2010 FTSE Group The global index provider has appointed Sudir Raju as managing director for its custom index business. Raju has worked for Dow Jones and Stoxx Indexes since 2004, latterly as leader of the Stoxx custom index business. He has a strong technical background with experience extending across index design, production, reviews and operations, as [...]
Barclays profit up 44pc August 5, 2010 BARCLAYS has reported A pre-tax profit of £3.95bn for the first half of 2010. The lion share of the profit came from the bank’s investment banking arm, Barclays Capital, which made £3.4bn. Barclays also said it lent £18bn to UK households and businesses over the six month period. Barclays chief executive John Varley said of [...]
Swiss Re smashes profit forecasts August 5, 2010 Swiss Re the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, smashed expectations with a $812m (£511m) net profit in the second quarter as recovering financial markets boosted asset values and investment returns. Operating income of $1.2bn at the Zurich-based reinsurer’s asset management unit more than offset a further $130m hit from the Chile earthquake and a $200m hit from [...]
Commerzbank in £291m profit August 5, 2010 Commerzbank has reported a net profit of 352m euros (£291m) for the second quarter of the year. The German bank’s profit compares with a loss of 761m euros a year earlier. It was also higher than forecast. The lender said it now hoped to return to full-year profit in 2010 and not 2011 as it [...]
Daniels: Forcing us to lend won’t work August 4, 2010 Lloyds boss fires warning shot amid fears of compulsory lending targets David Cameron and Mervyn King pledge to ensure banks extend credit Standard Chartered: Shareholders want us to reconsider British domicile LLOYDS boss Eric Daniels fired a warning shot across the government’s bows yesterday, insisting attempts to force banks to lend were doomed to failure. [...]