Non-food lifts J Sainsbury October 6, 2010 J SAINSBURY yesterday reported a sales rise in the second quarter as it pinned its hopes on catching Asda by rapidly expanding store space. The UK’s third largest chain behind Tesco and Asda, said non-food items were fuelling its performance. Sainsbury’s saw a 2.9 per cent like-for-like increase in sales in the period, which also [...]
Thorntons profit slumps with rising cocoa price taking its toll October 6, 2010 CHOCOLATE maker and seller Thorntons posted a 2.4 per cent fall in full-year profit as own store sales fell and said it expected market conditions to remain tough. The firm, which issued a profit warning in May, said yesterday it made a profit before tax of £6.1m in the year to 26 June. That compares [...]
Sainsbury’s October 6, 2010 SAINSBURY’S was a little more low key about its sales rise and consumer sentiment than Tesco which posted sales figures earlier in the week. With Sir Terry Leahy signing off with his last set of results it is hardly surprising that Tesco has stolen some of Sainsbury’s thunder. However, Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King echoed [...]
GE closes $4.6bn of deals to build up its business… October 6, 2010 General Electric (GE) yesterday made a pair of major acquisitions despite being spurned in a third attempt to buy a UK oil firm, as the largest US conglomerate builds up its energy and finance arms. GE reached a $3bn (£1.9bn) deal to buy Dresser, a maker of gas engines used by oil and gas production [...]
… as it’s rebuffed in $1.2bn bid for oil firm Wellstream October 6, 2010 GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) was spurned in one of its largest recent efforts to build up its industrial businesses, when British oilfield services Wellstream rejected a $1.2bn (£755m) takeover approach. News of Wellstream’s rejection came on the same day GE said it would buy Dresser, a maker of gas engines used to power oil and natural [...]
EasyJet ups forecast on higher traffic October 6, 2010 EASYJET’S shares, soared yesterday as the budget airline boosted its 2010 profit expectations after reporting strong September traffic figures. The airline’s senior management, including newly appointed chief executive Carolyn McCall, have increased pre-tax profit expectations for the full year, despite recent problems with the airline’s punctuality, disruption from the Icelandic volcano and an ongoing bitter [...]
Goldman’s Weinberg dies October 6, 2010 SIDNEY Weinberg Jr, a scion of the banking family whose members led Goldman Sachs for the best part of the last century, has died aged 87. Weinberg Jr joined the firm in 1965, moving up to lead its investment banking division for ten years between 1978 and 1988. He had been a senior director since [...]
FACEBOOK BOWS TO PRESSURE ON PRIVACY October 6, 2010 Facebook will give users the ability to download all the information they have uploaded to the site and make it easier to see how individual applications are using personal information, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday, answering two main criticisms that have dogged the site for years. The feature, called “Download your Information,” will give [...]
Regulators may block Rio venture October 6, 2010 RIO TINTO and BHP Billiton shares gained more than three per cent each yesterday after Rio insisted that its $116bn (£73bn) joint venture plans are not close to collapse. The FTSE 100 firm warned however that competition watchdogs may scupper more than a years’ worth of efforts for a joint iron ore production plant in [...]
Arden chief makes a premature exit after Fairfax takeover plan stumbles October 6, 2010 STOCKBROKER Arden Partners said yesterday that its new chief executive officer Jeremy Grime is leaving the company after only four weeks in charge. It is understood that Grime, who was promoted internally from the group’s financials team, wanted to pursue a merger with Fairfax, the boutique investment bank run by Stefan Allesch-Taylor. But his plan [...]