High street sunshine won’t last for long March 25, 2010 RECESSION? What recession? If the sound of tills ringing at Next is anything to go by, the consumer has weathered the worst slump in 60 years remarkably well. Full-year results came in at the top end of expectations, with pre-tax profits up 18 per cent, while like-for-like sales also edged up by 0.5 per cent. [...]
Kingfisher sees revenues rise March 25, 2010 B&Q owner Kingfisher beat profit forecasts and raised its dividend yesterday – helped by a rise in sales of eco-friendly products. Pre-tax profit excluding one-off items jumped 49 per cent to £547m for the year to the end of January, above the average forecast of £543m. As well as raising its dividend for the first [...]
Ted Baker results receive a boost from Xmas trade March 25, 2010 FASHION retailer Ted Baker yesterday reported an almost ten per cent hike in annual profits. The UK firm saw pre-tax profits of £19.5m for the year until 30 January. That was up from £17.8m in the previous 12 months. Sales across Ted Baker businesses went up by 15.4 per cent to £136.5m. Founder and chief [...]
Thomas Cook bookings take off as Britons plan summer holidays abroad March 25, 2010 THOMAS Cook said yesterday it had seen a “considerable improvement” in summer holidays as sun-starved Brits booked trips abroad. Reservations shot up by 30 per cent over the past four weeks as customers rushed to escape the cold weather conditions in the UK. The holiday firm said summer trading was up across all its major [...]
Clinton cards sales rise as cost cutting pays off March 25, 2010 BRITISH greeting cards retailer Clinton Cards posted a 26 per cent rise in first-half adjusted pre-tax profit yesterday, helped by higher sales across all product categories. The firm, which put its Birthdays brand into administration last year and later bought back 196 of those stores, said it would seek the board’s approval to repurchase up [...]
3i launches its growth fund with €1.2bn March 25, 2010 LISTED private equity giant 3i is closing in on several more deals for its new growth capital fund after announcing the first investment, fruit juice maker Refresco, yesterday. The mid-market specialist has launched the fund with €1.2bn (£1.1bn) assets under management. Some analysts were disappointed at the amount supplied by external investors – €400m. But [...]
Lupus Capital swings into the red after boardroom battle with Greg Hutchings March 25, 2010 LUPUS Capital, the industrial buyout group, swung into the red over the past year during a period of board upheaval that saw the firm oust entrepreneur Greg Hutchings as chairman. Lupus said yesterday it made a pre-tax loss of £649,000 for the year to December, compared with a profit of £10.79m in 2008. Revenue fell [...]
Deutsche bid for Arriva is not certain March 25, 2010 Deutsche Bahn (DB) has not decided if it might try to buy British train and bus operator Arriva and will bid only if the move makes economic sense, the German state railways’ chief executive said. “We have decided to enter into talks with Arriva. It is still unknown if these talks will lead to DB [...]
BA and Iberia days away from March completion of merger March 25, 2010 BRITISH Airways (BA) and Spanish carrier Iberia are just days away from completion of their planned merger as both say they are on course for a March completion. Expectations that the two would sign the merger yesterday were quashed after Iberia made no announcements prior to a board meeting. The deal is expected to be [...]
More Madoff fraud charges March 25, 2010 A former top aide to swindler Bernard Madoff and two of his defunct firm’s computer programmers pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of making up investor records. The charges are against former Madoff firm director of operations Daniel Bonventre and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez.