CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 28, 2010 ARCHANT The media giant has appointed Mike Walsh, a leading figure in the worlds of advertising, brand marketing and charities, to its main Board as a non-executive director. Walsh is currently a director at advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather South Africa and a non executive at global brand identity and design company, The Brand Union. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 28, 2010 LLOYDS BANKING GROUP Standard and Poor’s has maintained its hold recommendation on Lloyds Banking Group following better than expected results last week. This was driven by strong trading income, while expenses and impairments came in about in-line with our estimates. Notwithstanding a sharp estimated decline in impairments, the bank will still be loss making in [...]
Challenge from ex Enron boss February 28, 2010 Attorneys for Jeff Skilling, the former head of the fallen energy giant Enron, are preparing to challenge the law used to convict him. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today on whether the law used for his 2006 convictions over the downfall of the energy giant is unconstitutionally vague. Legal experts are unsure [...]
Toyota chief to woo Chinese February 28, 2010 Toyota Motor’s president Akio Toyoda is set to hold a news conference in Beijing today as the automaker looks to limit the damage from a massive global recall on the fast-growing Chinese market. His aim is to explain to the public about its recent quality issues. The briefing will follow Toyoda’s appearance last week in [...]
Citigroup denies Egg sale February 28, 2010 Citigroup said yesterday its online banking business Egg was not for sale, after a British newspaper reported the firm had held talks with trade buyers and a private equity firm. A spokeswoman for Citi UK consumer said Egg was not at the moment for sale. The response was prompted by a newspaper report which cited [...]
Serco profits surge by 30pc February 26, 2010 SUPPORT services firm Serco has posted a 30 per cent profit rise and predicted that the government would outsource more work after the general election. The group made a full-year pre-tax profit of £177.1m, with revenues 27 per cent higher at £3.97bn. Serco hiked its final dividend by a quarter to 6.25p a share while [...]
GDP grows by 0.3pc February 26, 2010 A stronger services sector and higher industrial production levels boosted economic growth to 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009. The second GDP estimate from the Office of National Statistics revises the initial figure up by 0.2 percentage points from 0.1 per cent. However, this shows that while some sectors of the economy [...]
John Lewis sees a further sales jump February 26, 2010 JOHN lewis and Waitrose have reported further rises in weekly sales – fuelling hopes of a high street recovery. The department store’s overall sales were up 15.1 per cent year-on-year. Sales at the group’s supermarket rose 13.7 per cent. John Lewis’s stores in Oxford Street, Bluewater and Kingston were among the leading lights in the [...]
House prices hit by the big freeze February 26, 2010 HOUSE prices fell back in February for the first time in 10 months as poor weather deterred would-be househunters. Nationwide’s latest monthly survey revealed that prices fell by 1 per cent to £161,320 during the month following a 1.4 per cent rise in January – the largest for five months. Economists warned that although the [...]
William Hill profits plunge in recession February 26, 2010 BOOKMAKER William Hill said profit dropped last year as recession-hit Brits cut back on wagers. Pre tax profit slumped 59 per cent to £120.9m, down from £293.3m in 2008. William Hill’s telephone operations lost £1.8m last year on competition from bet exchanges and offshore rivals, according to the company. It said in statement “Our telephone [...]