Shell profits soar after oil price hike April 28, 2010 ROYAL Dutch Shell’s quarterly profits jump by nearly 50 per cent to $4.9bn (£3.2bn). The oil giant said an increase in energy prices had fuelled the hike. The figure was 49 per cent up on the same period last year. Shell is in the process of a massive shake-up which includes 2,000 job cuts. Up [...]
FLASHING THE CASH IN THE CITY’S STRIP CLUBS April 27, 2010 FANS of this column’s Bill of the Week feature are in for a treat this week, as a second receipt dropped onto The Capitalist’s desk yesterday that was simply too juicy to stay under wraps until Monday. Feast your eyes on the gem to the right, which came from the Secrets table dancing club at [...]
Showdown April 27, 2010 GOLDMAN Sachs executives yesterday gave a robust defence of the bank’s behaviour during the financial meltdown. Senators grilled the bank’s top players for more than nine hours as they desperately sought an admission of guilt that was never forthcoming. During the ill-tempered affair Goldman executives, including boss Lloyd Blankfein and chief financial officer David Viniar, [...]
Greece debt junked as crisis mounts April 27, 2010 ONE of the world’s most respected credit rating agencies dealt a hammer blow to financial markets yesterday, dropping Greek bonds to junk status and downgrading Portugal. The FTSE 100 plunged 2.6 per cent to 5,603.52, while the Dow Jones Index lost 1.9 per cent to 10.992 as Standard & Poor’s said the Greek government faced [...]
Greek crisis rocks markets April 27, 2010 GREECE’s financial chaos threatened to spiral out of control last night, battering world markets as fears rose that other European nations could be swept up into the crisis. The FTSE 100 Index sunk 2.6 per cent to 5603.5 amid a global sell-off with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting 1.9 per cent to 10,991.9, France’s [...]
Sovereign disaster looms ever closer April 27, 2010 GOOD on Standard and Poor’s for downgrading Greece’s bonds to junk status – the only question, as ever with ratings agencies, is why didn’t it act any sooner? The situation has been deteriorating by the day, despite repeated statements by the IMF and the EU that all would be taken care of. Once again, the [...]
Weak flu season hits Reckitt April 27, 2010 Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser suffered from a weak cold and flu season in the first quarter of 2010, holding back its overall sales. The British maker of Nurofen, Strepsils and Lemsip cold remedies was hit by more stable weather patterns in Europe and North America in early 2010 compared to last year.
Strong results for chip maker arm April 27, 2010 Chip designer ARM posted a better-than-expected 57 per cent rise in first-quarter profit, helped by booming sales of Apple’s iPhone in the smartphone category dominated by the firm’s technology. The British company, whose designs are found in more than 90 per cent of mobile phones, reported pre-tax profit of £37.6m on revenue of £92.3m.
L&S in £215m property bid April 27, 2010 Property investment firm London & Stamford will snap up £215m of former HBOS-backed properties from Warner Estates and Lloyds Banking Group. It will buy the Radial distribution fund, which was a 50-50 venture between HBOS and Warner.
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 27, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MARKET SHARE SLIP FORCES ASDA TO FIGHT BACK Asda has been forced to fight back with a new marketing push as it saw the slowest sales growth of the big four supermarkets for the fourth consecutive month, according to industry data. Kantar Worldpanel, the consumer research group, found that Asda had the lowest [...]