Pendragon is bullish for 2010 June 29, 2010 Car retail group Pendragon yesterday said it expects profitability for the six months to 30 June to be in line with expectations, reflecting improvement in aftersales profitability. In addition, the company said that used car sales volumes have continued to grow year on year and used car margins have stabilised. In a trading statement, the [...]
Wal-Mart names new US CEO June 29, 2010 Wal-Mart yesterday named Bill Simon to run its US discount stores, which have struggled with sluggish sales as their core customer continues to be pressured by high unemployment. Simon, 50, had been chief operating officer of Walmart US. The move allows Eduardo Castro-Wright, who had headed the US unit, to move to California and be [...]
Mortgage approvals fall June 29, 2010 MORTGAGE approvals fell unexpectedly in May, new figures from the Bank of England show. Last month 49,815 loans were approved – marginally down from April and well below the 51,000 forecast by economists. However, mortgage lending picked up more strongly than expected, rising to £1.184bn from £0.979bn in April – a figure that was sharply [...]
National Express says profit is on track June 29, 2010 TRANSPORT group National Express said it expects first-half pre-tax profit to improve year-on-year, while cost cutting measures will bolster its performance beyond this year. The group said it traded in line with expectations in the second quarter, with its business benefiting from improved margins at its rail business. “First half normalized profit before tax is [...]
Carpetright profit up 68 per cent June 29, 2010 CARPETRIGHT has posted a 68 per cent rise in full-year profit but said that consumer demand was looking subdued in 21010/11. The firm, which trades from about 586 stores in the UK and Ireland and 117 in the Netherlands and Belgium, said on Tuesday it made an underlying pretax profit of £28.2m in the year [...]
Emerson ups bid for Chloride to $1.5bn June 29, 2010 Emerson Electric has upped its cash offer for Chloride to $1.5bn (£995m) in a bid to tempt the group away from a recommended $1.25bn deal from Switzerland’s ABB. Emerson’s latest offer of 375 pence per share in cash for the power company is being made through vehicle Rutherfurd Acquisitions and represents a 15 percent premium [...]
Catlin to launch reinsurance unit June 29, 2010 LONDON-LISTED property and casualty insurer Catlin has said it is planning to set up a Swiss reinsurance unit to take advantage of an anticipated upturn in the European reinsurance market. Bermuda-based Catlin will provide the new business, Catlin Re Switzerland, with capital reserves of at least $1bn (£663bn). Catlin aims to expand its presence in [...]
House price boom starts to crumble June 28, 2010 HOME prices fell for the first time in more than a year in May, Land Registry data showed yesterday, sparking fears of a second downturn in Britain’s fragile housing market. The average residential property dropped 0.2 per cent in value during the month as uncertainty over austerity measures to be enforced by the incoming government [...]
Pinewood shareholder calls on Grade to resign June 28, 2010 MICHAEL Grade, the former ITV chief executive and current chairman of soon-to-be floated online grocer Ocado will today be urged to resign as chairman of Pinewood Studios by one of the group’s larger shareholders. The embarrassing challenge to Grade, which will be made at today’s shareholder meeting, comes from the 18 per cent holder Crystal [...]
Top exec set to quit FSA June 28, 2010 Hector Sants’ number two at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has become the second high-profile casualty of chancellor George Osborne’s wholesale changes to banking regulation. Managing director of supervision Jon Pain will join risk manager Sally Dewar in quitting the FSA. Pain leaves after it emerged Sants will keep his job while the FSA is [...]