PartyGaming hit by World Cup betting July 6, 2010 ONLINE gaming group PartyGaming said the World Cup had seen some of its punters ditch poker for football. The company also revealed that it was continuing to pursue takeover opportunities with a number of parties as it reported a two per cent decline in second quarter revenue. The group, which is reported to have held [...]
Punch Taverns on track as summer sun boosts takings July 6, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest pubs firm Punch Taverns yesterday reported an upturn – fuelled by the warm weather and World Cup football fans. The company, which has 7,100 pubs in the UK, said trading had been brisk in recent weeks. However, with debts of £3.2bn, Punch remained cautious about future trading. It said in a statement: “We [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS PARTYGAMING A GOOD BET FOR INVESTORS? July 6, 2010 GEETANJALI SHARMA | EXECUTION NOBLE “We continue to like PartyGaming’s market position and would expect gaming revenues to start stabilising post World Cup as we had highlighted before. Overall, a messy but fair statement from PartyGaming and we remain buyers. Poker is weakest with USD decline of 15-17 per cent. However, this is being compensated [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF July 6, 2010 Home shopping group N Brown posted a slowdown in underlying sales growth in its second quarter as its customers assessed the likely impact on their finances of the new coalition government’s policies. The firm, which targets older and larger customers, said its like-for-like sales increased 0.1 per cent in the 18 weeks to 3 July. [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF July 6, 2010 Billionaire retailer Sir Philip Green said yesterday he was considering opening more retail schools after the success of London’s Fashion Retail Academy. Speaking at the Academy’s 2010 awards ceremony, the Arcadia owner pledged to approach the new coalition government about the possibility of an expansion. Green said: “My aim is to open another two or [...]
Ryanair won’t be put off by court block July 6, 2010 RYANAIR yesterday said an EU court decision upholding a takeover block would not stop them from bidding for Aer Lingus again in the future. The airline also welcomed the decision to allow it to retain its 29.8 per cent share in Aer Lingus. The EU Commission, the body that looks after European competition, ruled in [...]
BP’s mishandling of crisis adds to its troubles July 6, 2010 BRANDINDEX WE return to the woeful tale of the BP brand. How has it fared – and how has it affected other British brands? Graph one shows the BrandIndex daily tracking data for BP in America, compared to Exxon Mobil. It shows us that it was the particular company, not the industry in general, that [...]
Shares in embattled Connaught rise on speculation of break up bid by Breeden July 6, 2010 Shares in struggling social housing group Connaught rose for a second day yesterday on speculation it may be a takeover target. Breeden Capital announced it has doubled its holding in the firm to 13 per cent, despite Connaught posting profit warnings at the end of last month. Since then it has lost 65 per cent [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 6, 2010 Clifford Chance The legal giant said yesterday that Simon Tinkler has been elected leader of its London corporate practice, for a term of four years. Tinkler has been at Clifford Chance since 1995. A private equity expert, he has recently advised on deals such as Duke Street’s disposal of Simple, Sandpiper on its sale of [...]
Persimmon wary despite sales rise July 6, 2010 HOUSE builder Persimmon reported higher sales and improved debt for the first half of the year, but said consumer uncertainty following the election and the emergency Budget had dampened its outlook. The country’s largest house builder by market value said legal completions on properties in the first half increased by 16 per cent to 4,657 [...]