BofA bolsters M&A team after poaching Nomura rainmaker September 7, 2010 ADRIAN MEE, head of European mergers and acquisitions at Nomura and one of the bank’s key rainmakers, has quit the Japanese investment bank to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoA). The move will come as a blow to Nomura which has suffered a series of high-profile defections just two years after acquiring the European [...]
Ocado sales surge but investors wary September 7, 2010 ONLINE retailer Ocado yesterday said its sales had surged by almost 30 per cent – but investors remained unconvinced and the announcement was greeted with a dip in its share price. The company, which recently completed a controversial flotation, hasn’t made an annual operating profit since it launched ten years ago, but hopes to go [...]
Whitbread given a lift by Premier Inn business travellers September 7, 2010 WHITBREAD yesterday reported a 14 per cent sales surge across the group – fuelled by a return of business travellers to its Premier Inns and the growth of Costa Coffee. Premier Inn like-for-like sales were 10.7 per cent higher in the 24 weeks to 19 August, while Costa’s like-for-like sales in the quarter jumped another [...]
Ocado September 7, 2010 OCADO chiefs were yesterday upbeat about the company’s prospects and had seemingly justifiable reasons for optimism with an almost 30 per cent sales hike. But the figures cannot be looked at in isolation and come on the back of a torrid flotation which saw chief executive Tim Steiner and crew pitched against some analysts who [...]
Greene King toasts sales rise September 7, 2010 Greene King has seen an upturn in sales thanks to its pub grub. The brewer and pub operator saw sales lift by 4.4 per cent in the last 18 weeks. Like-for-like food sales rose 8.6 per cent. However sales of Greene King’s own beer, which includes IPA, dropped five per cent. Chief executive Rooney Anand [...]
Debenhams slashes prices September 7, 2010 Department store group Debenhams is cutting prices by up to 25 per cent, in a sign retailers are increasingly nervous about the outlook for consumer spending. Debenhams said yesterday it was lowering prices on “tens of thousands” of goods now in a bid to attract wary shoppers, rather than waiting to use discounting as a [...]
SPORTS DIRECT NETS A WORLD CUP BOOST September 7, 2010 SPORTS Direct, the biggest seller of England team shirts, saw profits rise during the World Cup despite the side’s dismal performance. In the 13 weeks to 25 July, sales jumped 8.8 per cent to £408m, while profit rose 17.8 per cent to £185m. Chief executive Dave Forsey said: “These results clearly show that Sports Direct [...]
Flight to size hurts smaller hedge funds September 7, 2010 BOUTIQUE hedge funds are suffering as investors’ cash flows into larger investment houses in a trend dubbed the “flight to size”, a survey published last night revealed. The top five European hedge funds by size grew their assets under management by 18 per cent to $112bn (£73bn) in the year to mid-2010, according to research [...]
Dubai Holdings delays $555m loan repayment September 7, 2010 DUBAI Holding’s main unit will delay repayment on a $555m (£361.4m) loan until 30 November, the company said yesterday, the second time it has failed to meet a repayment deadline. DHCOG, a unit of the conglomerate owned by the Gulf Arab emirate’s ruler, took a big hit on its exposure to Dubai’s property crash. The [...]
Basel banking rules focus on capital buffer September 7, 2010 CENTRAL bank and regulatory officials agreed tougher new global bank capital rules yesterday but will keep investors on tenterhooks until Sunday when formal endorsement is expected. The Basel Committee ended its meeting with recommendations on how much extra capital banks will have to hold in future to avoid governments having to bail out the sector [...]