Iceland cheers higher profits June 7, 2010 FROZEN foods chain Iceland raised its pre-tax profit by almost 20 per cent last year, after taking advantage of the demise of Woolworths to expand into 51 town centres. Sales at the retailer rose by more than 10 per cent to a record £2.3bn, boosting pre-tax profit for the year to £135.4m. Underlying earnings also [...]
Seven are sentenced over the Bhopal gas disaster June 7, 2010 A COURT yesterday convicted seven Indian former employees of US chemical firm Union Carbide of negligence and sentenced them to two years in jail for the world’s worst industrial accident that killed thousands in 1984. Hundreds of protesters, many waving placards saying “hang the guilty” tried to force their way inside the court complex as [...]
Vectura results beat market forecasts as it hikes R&D spending by 10 per cent June 7, 2010 INHALED-drug specialist Vectura Group posted a 29 per cent rise in full-year revenue, helped by milestone payments from its partner Novartis, and said it had three new products in development. The group is developing a generic steroid treatment for asthma and two speciality products: an inhaled anti-fungal treatment for lung-disease sufferers and a product to [...]
BoA’s Countrywide pays $108m in FTC settlement June 7, 2010 BANK of America Corp has agreed to pay $108m (£75m) to settle government charges that its Countrywide unit, the mortgage lender that became synonymous with risky lending practices, bilked borrowers with misleading and excessive fees. The Federal Trade Commission said two Countrywide mortgage servicing units deceived cash-strapped homeowners by overcharging them by hundreds or thousands [...]
Hermes expects luxury to stay firmly in fashion June 7, 2010 FRENCH luxury group Hermes’ sales in January to May rose slightly faster than the 18.5 per cent growth seen in the first quarter, chief executive Patrick Thomas said yesterday. Still, this trend cannot be extrapolated over the full year as year-earlier comparative figures will be less flattering in the second half, he told the company’s [...]
Glencore eyes sale or IPO of its gold mines June 7, 2010 COMMODITIES trader and miner Glencore is thought to be considering putting its gold mines on the market as gold prices remain robust while other metals prices tumble. One option is understood to be for the Glencore, the world’s biggest commodity trader, to list the assets which mainly consist of the largest gold mine in Kazakhstan, [...]
You can’t beat learning through experience June 7, 2010 TEN years ago in late May 2000, boo.com, one of the earliest fashion retailers, which went through an obscene amount of money, was shut down. Between March 2000 when lastminute.com went public, through the summer, when some IPOs still got away was hit and miss. I sold my business First Tuesday in July 2000 to [...]
Britain’s film industry warns deep cuts to tax relief incentives could affect GDP June 7, 2010 THE British film industry yesterday warned cuts to a government tax relief system designed to make producing movies in the country financially attractive, would be devastating for the sector. The UK Film Council has commissioned a report on the film sector and its importance to the British economy and presented it to the government in [...]
Capital Drilling makes a triumphant start to trading on the LSE official list June 7, 2010 EMERGING markets-focused mining group Capital Drilling yesterday saw its market value jump by over £6m on its first day of trading on the main list of the London Stock Exchange, as investors snapped up the stock. The firm listed at 61.5p a share but rose over the course of the day to close at 66p, [...]
NAB sticks to its guns on UK bank strategy June 7, 2010 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) is comfortable with its UK operations and is under no pressure to sell or bulk up, a spokesman said yesterday, but investors say NAB will have to choose one way or the other soon. NAB, which has more than 300 branches in the UK, was tipped to be a player in [...]