Trinity sheds a third of its ad revenues May 13, 2009 Trinity Mirror Group, led by chief executive Sly Bailey, gave a cautious outlook for the year but said it expects the advertising decline to ease.
Johnston warns on banking covenants May 13, 2009 SHARES in publisher Johnston Press sank 38 per cent yesterday after the group issued a profit warning and said there was a “strong likelihood” it would breach its banking covenants. Johnston said it was in discussion with its banks to refinance its £448m net debt after it had abandoned the sale of its Irish titles [...]
STRICTLY SPANGLES FOR LOVELLS LAWYERS May 13, 2009 ACTOR Tom Chambers had better watch out: he’s got competition, from the somewhat unlikely quarters of the lawyer gang at Lovells. I hear almost 300 of the firm’s staff packed the ballroom at the City Grange hotel on Wednesday last week for their own version of the Beeb’s hit show Strictly Come Dancing, raising over [...]
TAKING THE MICKEY May 13, 2009 Just a few weeks ago, enraged Panmure Gordon chief executive Tim Linacre told The Capitalist he’d rather see Mickey Mouse running the country as Prime Minister instead of Gordon Brown, after the government infuriated the City by raising the top tax band to 50 per cent. And yesterday, after Gary Keogh bagged his allocated five [...]
MELT DOWN May 13, 2009 Speaking of Gordon Brown, there’s got to come a point when you have to feel a bit sorry for the man. Not only has Opposition leader David Cameron put him to shame with a ruthless response to the MPs expenses scandal, but even puddings named after him are proving unpopular in the extreme. Searcys 40/30, [...]
Intel to contest record fine May 13, 2009 INTEL president and chief executive Paul Otellini said yesterday that the company will appeal against the record fine of €1.06bn (£1bn) that has been imposed by the European Commission for illegal rebates and other practices it used to squeeze out its rival, AMD. “Intel takes exception to this decision. We believe the decision is wrong and [...]
Loss for Land Securities as sales mooted May 13, 2009 LAND Securities, Britain’s largest property company, reported a record £4.77bn loss yesterday, signalling the extent to which the UK property market has imploded. The firm saw the value of its investment portfolio plummet by 34.2 per cent to £7.93bn, amid what the company described as “unprecedented” market conditions. Chief executive Francis Salway said: “This has [...]
PETRA BEATS DIAMOND INDUSTRY BLUES May 13, 2009 A MAGNIFICENT blue diamond from Aim-listed Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine broke records at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva on Tuesday evening when it was sold for $9.5m (£6.3m), bucking the industry’s recent woes. The 7.03 carat diamond fetched the highest price per carat for any gemstone ever sold at auction, as well as a record [...]
Latin America boosts profits at Telefonica May 13, 2009 TELEFONICA yesterday revealed the benefits of its a long-time investment in still-booming Latin America. The emerging region helped drive forecast-beating first quarter profit at Europe’s largest telecoms company, offsetting weakness in its home market of Spain. Telefonica beat market expectations with a 9.8 per cent rise in net profit, as growth in Latin America– and [...]
FirstGroup hit by rail slump May 13, 2009 Transport giant FirstGroup said yesterday annual profits at its rail division fell 21 per cent due to the impact of the recession on its London franchises The group said the UK’s economic woes meant rail revenues growth slowed to 9.5 per cent in the year. Across the whole group, which has bus operations in the [...]