Savills cautious on 12 month outlook August 26, 2010 GLOBAL property adviser Savills maintained a cautious second-half outlook and raised the spectre of a flat performance in the first six months of 2011 after posting much-improved interim results yesterday. Savills booked group revenue of £304.4m for the first half, up 23 per cent from the same period a year ago. Group underlying profit advanced [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 26, 2010 McGrigors The law firm’s London office has appointed Karl Woolley as a partner in its finance practice. He is tasked with strengthening the firm’s relationship with the City’s banks and his experience in acquisition and funds finance is expected to aid this expansion. Woolley joins from SJ Berwin, where he is currently a partner. Prior [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 26, 2010 BHP BILLITON The mining group’s results were largely in line, said Citigroup, with iron ore revenue delivering a surprising jump to $6bn. The broker maintained its “buy” rating with a target price of £27.00. BHP’s recent economic commentary has been cautious, though Citi conceded that investors were likely to focus on its bid for Potash [...]
Battle for the next stage of TV heats up August 26, 2010 DESPITE the ubiquity of the internet, television viewing habits on both sides of the Atlantic remain doggedly traditional. However, the battle for control of the next generation of TV viewers is hotting up. Manufacturers, such as Samsung are already rolling out internet-ready TVs as they prepare for a monumental shift in viewing habits. BBC’s hugely [...]
G4S sees opportunities in cuts August 26, 2010 SECURITY services group G4S reported a three per cent rise in first-half profit, helped by strong performances at its emerging markets businesses, and predicted UK government spending cuts would fuel further growth. “The Middle East, India and large parts of Asia all show good signs of delivering double digit growth in the second half,” chief [...]
Bloomsbury pins hopes on Harry Potter reissue August 26, 2010 BLOOMSBURY has seen profits during the first six months of the year plummet by almost 50 per cent, as the publishing house puts its hopes on a November re-launch of the Harry Potter series to pull it back up to 2009 levels. For the period ended 30 June, Bloomsbury saw profits of £949,000, which were [...]
STV sees its advertising revenue soar August 26, 2010 Scottish media group STV expects its advertising revenue to be up 10 per cent in the third quarter, below the overall TV market, due to weakness in its regional business. The group says it expects the overall TV market to be up 17 per cent in the third quarter but that it was hampered by [...]
Segro posts a rise in its property value as it eyes future industrial development August 26, 2010 INDUSTRIAL landlord Segro posted a slight rise in the value of its properties yesterday and aims to restart new developments amid returning interest from potential tenants. Segro, which has about two-thirds of its properties in the UK and the rest across continental Europe, said its portfolio value grew 1.4 per cent in the first half, [...]
Building outfit Carillion welcomes era of austerity August 26, 2010 BRITISH building and support services firm Carillion said first-half underlying pre-tax profit rose 17 per cent to £58.8m and it expected to benefit from outsourcing as governments try to cut costs. Sales were down 11 per cent on last year, however, to £2.5bn for the first half as a result of the company disposing of [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK YOU WILL WATCH MORE TV ONLINE? August 26, 2010 BEN ARAM | KENNEDYS “I am from Germany and so I use such websites to catch up on shows I have missed. I am also a frequent YouTube user. Websites such as BBC iPlayer strike me as very useful and I see myself using them more in the future.” TOM SPILLER | WILKINS BEAUMONT AND [...]