Gap reports strong sales May 20, 2010 Gap posted first-quarter earnings yesterday that topped analysts’ estimates and were up 40 per cent at $302m (£210m), compared to $215m a year earlier. The chain raised its full-year profit forecast after all of its North American brands posted sales gains. The company behind the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands said it now [...]
Grainger says its future is as safe as houses May 20, 2010 PROPERTY giant Grainger will use a dramatic swing back to black as a springboard to grow its residential portfolio. The firm turned a yawning £143m loss last year into a slender £3.5m profit. It reported operating profits of £48.0m, a 16 per cent hike from the £41.3m reported in 2009. Its residential sales shot up [...]
Dell quarterly profits rise 52pc May 20, 2010 DELL’S shares fell three per cent yesterday on the back of the computer maker’s quarterly results, which beat profit expectations but delivered a disappointing gross margin increase. First quarter net profit was up 52 per cent to $441m (£307m) from $290m it reported the year before, while revenue climbed by 21 per cent to $14.87bn, [...]
ATM inventor dies after illness May 20, 2010 JOHN SHEPHERD-BARON, the man who invented the ATM machine, has died at the age of 84. He initially came up with the idea for the cash machine in 1965 and while at De La Rue Instruments, he installed the first ATM machine at a Barclays bank in Enfield in 1967.
West LB faces pressure on bank mergers May 20, 2010 GERMANY’S WestLB said yesterday it saw continuing pressure for consolidation in its state-backed, regional, or landesbank, banking sector, even as its major peers dismiss the need for mergers. Chief executive Dietrich Voigtlaender said: “The landesbank sector remains under intense pressure to adapt. We have done our homework and will contribute to making the landesbank sector [...]
US financial reform bill moves towards endgame May 20, 2010 THE US Senate is expected to tonight approve the biggest overhaul of financial regulations since the 1930s after the measure finally cleared a procedural hurdle yesterday. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priorities. If passed, it would increase restrictions on the banking industry and some say reduce profits. After the Senate [...]
Top banker at UBS quits for Goldman May 20, 2010 UBS suffered another shock senior defection yesterday when its head of global capital markets for Asia, Steven Barg, quit for its US rival Goldman Sachs. Barg is the third senior banker at the Swiss firm to leave the firm since March, marking another blow to its regional equity capital markets (ECM) franchise. Barg will join [...]
Unite claims victory in BA court ruling May 20, 2010 A STRIKE threatened by British Airways (BA) cabin crew is to go ahead after the Appeals Court yesterday overturned an earlier decision that ruled the strike unlawful. After two days of hearings, the Court ruled in favour of Unite on the grounds that the union had fairly and openly balloted staff dismissing BA’s original claim [...]
LEGAL VIEWS: HOW DO YOU VIEW THE BA/UNITE APPEAL COURT DECISION? May 20, 2010 PAUL REEVES | STEPHENSON HARWOOD “Despite the court’s judgment today to allow the BA strikes to go ahead next week, this was always a win-win situation for BA and its chief Willie Walsh. He either succeeded in getting the strike called off or he bought himself and the company more time, by delaying the walk [...]
SABMiller in flat sales but Peroni fizzes May 20, 2010 BREWING giant SABMiller expects consumer spending to recover at the end of 2010 – with only a slight lift in beer sales at the World Cup in South Africa. The world’s second biggest brewer – which earns over 85 per cent of its profit from emerging markets – posted a 17 per cent rise in [...]