St Ives suffers sales slump November 30, 2009 St Ives, printer of the Harry Potter books, suffered a nine per cent fall in underlying sales in the first quarter but said profitability remained in line with expectations. The printer said the economic outlook remained uncertain with a number of clients cautious about the early part of next year. St Ives, which has cut [...]
Goldshield harmed by bid battle November 30, 2009 The chairman of Goldshield has admitted that the takeover battle for the pharmaceutical group has harmed its performance. Dr Keith Hallawell said investment in new products had stalled due to the uncertainty that the bid battle created among suppliers. Goldshield’s management team has agreed to aqcuire the company for £179m after gaining the support of [...]
Cairn takes control of Capricorn November 30, 2009 Cairn Energy is taking full control if its exploration subsidiary Capricorn, which owns large oil blocks in Greenland, as it boosts its focus on the North Atlantic. The company said it would buy a 10 per cent stake in Capricorn from Dyas, part of Dutch group SHV, for $95m to be paid in shares along [...]
Lib Dems revise mansion tax November 30, 2009 THE Liberal Democrats have doubled the threshold at which they want homeowners to pay an annual “mansion tax”. Properties will now have to be worth at least £2m to incur a one per cent charge – the previous plan was to charge 0.5 per cent a year on properties worth more than £1m. Party leader [...]
Creston upbeat on profits as chairman elect named November 30, 2009 MARKETING communications firm Creston posted a marginal rise in first-half headline pre-tax profit even as revenue fell six per cent, and said the second half looked more positive. Effective average interest rate was below two per cent, helping the company post a one per cent rise in headline pre-tax profit to £6.31m, Creston said. “The [...]
De Beers set to secure $1bn from owners November 30, 2009 DIAMOND miner De Beers is understood to have convinced its owners – Anglo American, the Oppenheimer family and Botswana’s Debswama Mining Company – to inject $1bn (£646m) into the firm via a share placing. De Beers was forced to ask for financial assistance from its shareholders after the diamond market hit its worst period since [...]
CAN DE BEERS REFINANCE WITHOUT HELP FROM ANGLO AMERICAN? November 30, 2009 CHARLES KERNOT EVOLUTION“Investing in De Beers would be a positive move for Anglo – there’s little opportunity to increase supply in diamonds and we are looking at a shortfall in supply over demand into 2010. As De Beers is in talks to restructure its debt, it could be that the banks want to see some [...]
Lloyds axes 350 call centre staff November 30, 2009 MORE than 350 jobs are being axed at a Lloyds Banking Group call centre in Brighton, taking the bank’s total staff reduction plan to 15,000. In the latest plans for job cuts, Lloyds said it was planning to close its Sussex House contact centre in May next year and transfer work to other sites around [...]
Thames Water warns of a funding gap, but profits are on stream despite slump November 30, 2009 UTILITY Thames Water said yesterday it was facing a potential gap in funding as the downturn threw up a series of “significant challenges” for the industry. Soaring bad debt and the increasing cost of financing “will make it more difficult to fund the essential investment in the network that is required,” it said yesterday, as [...]
BAE signs up for joint venture November 30, 2009 BAE Systems said yesterday it had signed up for a joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) to create an Indian company focusing on land military equipment. The parent companies’ initial investment will be $21.25m over a three year period. M&M will hold 74 per cent while BAE Systems will hold 26 per cent, according [...]