US unit could be up for sale, says Wimpey January 21, 2010 TAYLOR Wimpey, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, is understood to be considering spinning off its North American business through a sale or stock market flotation, which could enable it to slash its debt mountain. The company’s adviser JP Morgan Cazenove is thought to have started sounding out rival and other institutions on their appetite for [...]
Poll on economy hurts Labour January 21, 2010 THE number of voters that think Labour has handled the recession effectively hasn’t changed since August, according to a new PoliticsHome poll. The results of the poll, which show that just 36 per cent of voters give the government credit for its handling of the recession, will make grim reading for the Labour Party. It [...]
United Utilities gets a lift as dividend cut reassures January 21, 2010 United Utilities shares surged four per cent to top the FTSE 100 risers yesterday. The rise of 21p to 529.5p came after the water firm vowed to cut dividends in the next financial year by just 12.5 per cent. Analysts had predicted a cut of over 20 per cent. The UK’s largest water firm will [...]
William Hill pulls out of its Spanish joint venture selling it for just one euro January 21, 2010 WILLIAM HILL, the bookmaker, completed its withdrawal from Spain yesterday when it sold its 50 per cent stake in its Victoria Apuestas joint venture for just one euro. The British firm sold the stake to its Spanish partner Codere Group. William Hill decided that the slow granting of local regulatory consents, along with slower than [...]
RED-BLOODED PROFITS AT ENTERTAINMENT ONE January 21, 2010 FILM and TV content group Entertainment One said yesterday it expects full year results to come in ahead of expectations after a successful string of releases including the popular Twilight vampire movies. The group also said it had agreed a heavily-discounted debt buyback, under which it will repurchase £14.5m worth of exchangeable notes for a [...]
HSBC fund eyeing up fresh demand for investment grade corporate bonds January 21, 2010 HSBC is launching a new investment grade corporate bond fund, seeking to tap demand from latecomers to a sector which saw dramatic returns last year. The HSBC GIF Global Core Credit Bond will be run by the bank’s specialist active management arm, Halbis, under chief investment officer for fixed income Xavier Baraton. Baraton yesterday said [...]
Euromoney continues to see its subscribers decline January 21, 2010 EUROMONEY, the business publisher, said yesterday trading was in line with expectations although its subscriber numbers were still falling. Sales for the three months to 31 December dropped to £71m, while subscription-based products fell four per cent to £35.7m as cutbacks made by business customers in the first half of 2009 worked their way through [...]
Festive cheer at Enterprise as sales rally January 21, 2010 PUB group Enterprise Inns yesterday reported improving sales after many of its struggling licensees saw a long-awaited upturn in business. The UK’s second largest pub company said average net income per pub declined by four per cent in the 16 weeks to 16 January – compared to eight per cent in the last financial year. [...]
Sky was right to buy ITV stake despite losses January 21, 2010 WHEN BSkyB bought a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV for £940m in 2006, Rupert Murdoch was hailed a genius. For it was Rupert – not son James – who masterminded the move, even if the latter took public credit for it. In one foul swoop, the mogul blocked the newly merged NTL / Telewest [...]
BlueBay sees renewed credit appetite January 21, 2010 INDEPENDENT fixed-income fund manager BlueBay Asset Management said yesterday that investors had flocked to the credit markets over the past quarter as assets under management soared 10 per cent higher. Assets under management at the group beat analyst forecasts as they rose to $34.3bn (£21.3bn) over the three months to December, boosted by net inflows [...]