US June car sales slide again but slump starts to stabilise July 1, 2009 US car sales tumbled in June as the economy remained a deep concern for consumers, but Ford posted far better results than other large carmakers and shot ahead of Detroit rivals passing through federally sponsored bankruptcies. Carmakers said the results pointed to more stability for the economy, but fell short of marking a turnaround for [...]
Land Securities sells its Portman House office to Libyan investor July 1, 2009 PROPERTY giant Land Securities said yesterday it has sold its Portman House retail and office building on Oxford Street to a Libyan state-backed investor for £155m. The multi-let building in the heart of the West End shopping district has been bought by Kinloss Property, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Libyan Foreign Investment Company. The [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 1, 2009 CRANSWICKKBC peel Hunt say that Cranswick’s success story this year is “more than just a BBQ boost” – although the hot weather has provided a boost to the sale of sausages – but also because of new business and the consumer switchover to beef and lamb products. After meeting the firm for an update, the [...]
Hiring spree gives a boost to Evolution July 1, 2009 INVESTMENT banking group Evolution said yesterday it is performing well despite the economic turmoil, with the expansion of its institutional equities business continuing apace and strong progress in its other divisions. Evolution, which poached a team of 45 staff from Dresdner Kleinwort’s securities business last month, said the new hires had been integrated successfully. It [...]
Hutchings makes Lupus exit July 1, 2009 THE entrepreneur Greg Hutchings yesterday stood down from his executive chairman role at Lupus Capital, the group he founded in 2004 to invest in building materials and construction-related businesses, as it renegotiated its banking facilities. Lupus has for some months been struggling because of its exposure to the moribund housing market and has been weighed [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 1, 2009 MorseThe IT services and technology company has poached Guy Millward as group finance director from Kewill, where he also held the position of finance director. He originally qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young. Morse also said yesterday that Kevin Loosemore will return to his original role as non-executive chairman. He will also [...]
SLUMDOG MILLIONS FOR CINEWORLD July 1, 2009 CINEWORLD, the cinema chain, said yesterday it saw healthy trading in the first six months of the year with revenues up 16.5 per cent on the back of a string of blockbusters, including runaway success Slumdog Millionaire, which grossed over £31m in the UK and Ireland. The firm said the rest of the year looks [...]
New partners at Big Four firms July 1, 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers yesterday announced the admission of 33 new partners with effect from 1 July 2009 in addition to 21 partners recruited externally during the course of the year. Meanwhile, Big Four rival Ernst & Young announced the admission of 48 new partners across the UK and Ireland with immediate effect.
Hong Kong deal for Balfour Beatty July 1, 2009 Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and investment Group, announces today that Gammon Construction, its joint venture in South East Asia, has been awarded a contract in excess of HK$1.5 billion (£120m) by Hysan Development Company for the redevelopment of the Hennessy Centre in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong.
Food for growth at Sodexo July 1, 2009 French catering and services group Sodexo stuck to its earnings targets as healthcare and education contracts, and its vouchers unit compensated for a decline in spending by corporate clients. The world’s second-biggest caterer after Britain’s Compass Group said it was continuing to target full-year sales growth of four to seven per cent at constant currency [...]