Premier Foods boosted by appetite for branded food February 16, 2010 STRONGER sales of branded food products helped boost profits at Premier Foods by 4.5 per cent in 2009 with further growth expected in the coming year. The maker of Hovis bread and Branston pickle reported a trading profit of £323m for the year to 31 December yesterday, in line with previously issued guidance. Sales climbed [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF February 16, 2010 Toyota to cut back US output Toyota will shut down production at two of its US assembly plants for a total of at least 11 days as it grapples with slower sales after a wave of safety recalls. The shutdowns, announced yesterday, will affect Toyota’s San Antonio, Texas, and Georgetown, Kentucky, plants following the product [...]
Bharti will pay Zain $10bn February 16, 2010 Bharti Airtel will finance its $10.7bn (£6.78bn) bid for Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain’s African assets with foreign currency loans. India’s top mobile operator is believed to be in talks with Standard Chartered, Barclays, State Bank of India, Goldman Sachs and Nomura to secure funding. State Bank of India had already agreed to provide $2bn in [...]
Public turns against Kraft over Cadbury deal February 16, 2010 Peter Mandelson has expressed his “disappointment” at the manner of Kraft’s take-over of Cadbury, and the public, as measured by BrandIndex, seems to agree. Graph one shows what has happened to perceptions of the Kraft and Cadbury brands – measured as the proportion that are positive out of all those with a view, here with [...]
DIAMOND TAKES HARD LINE ON BONUS ROW February 16, 2010 AS AN investment banking doyen continually under the cosh these days with regard to bonus payments, it must be tough to keep a calm and unruffled façade at all times. Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays and head of its money-spinning investment bank Barclays Capital – yesterday kept mostly schtum at the group’s annual results [...]
JP Morgan Chase clinches deal for RBS Sempra assets February 16, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has struck a deal with JP Morgan to sell off part of its RBS Sempra joint venture after months of negotiations. The US investment bank will pay around $1.7bn (£1.1bn) for the global metals and oil operations along with the European energy business. However, the deal excludes RBS Sempra’s North [...]
InterContinental profit down as business travellers melt away February 16, 2010 THE World’s biggest hotel firm InterContinental has warned that without a return of business customers its fortunes will not improve after profit fell 34 per cent last year. InterContinental – which owns the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inns brands – said trends in the fourth quarter of last year showed some improvements. Occupancy at its [...]
Inflation hits 14-month high of 3.5pc February 16, 2010 BRITAIN’S inflation rate jumped to a 14-month high of 3.5 per cent in January. The increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will mean Bank of England Governor Mervyn King will have to write a letter of explanation to the Chancellor detailing why inflation has risen more than one percentage point above the 2 per [...]
Inflation hits 14-month high of 3.5pc February 16, 2010 BRITAIN’S inflation rate jumped to a 14-month high of 3.5 per cent in January. The increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will mean Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, will have to write a letter of explanation to the Chancellor detailing why inflation has risen more than one percentage point above the 2 per [...]
Premier Foods boosted by traditional brands February 16, 2010 STRONGER sales of branded food products helped boost profits at Premier Foods by 4.5 per cent in 2009 with further growth expected in the coming year. The maker of Hovis bread and Branston pickle reported a trading profit of £323m for the year to 31 December, in line with previously issued guidance. Sales climbed by [...]