Daimler and Porsche set to scale back working hours to offset sales slump September 3, 2009 GERMAN car-making giants Daimler and Porsche are to cut back working hours at their plants in an effort to offset the impact of a slump in sales that has lasted for a year. Daimler said it would put staff at most of its German sites on short hours for the fourth quarter of the year, [...]
easyJet to quit East Midlands and cull flights from Luton due to higher taxes September 3, 2009 LOW-COST airline easyJet said yesterday that it will ground one in five Luton flights and exit East Midlands airport, with the loss of at least 160 jobs, blaming high airport costs and a rise in passenger taxes. Europe’s second-largest budget airline said it needs to switch some resources from Britain to continental Europe, and said [...]
Premier Farnell optimistic despite tumbling profits September 3, 2009 ELECTRICAL components distributor Premier Farnell posted a 10 per cent drop in second-quarter profit yesterday although it said it saw signs of improvement in August sales. Premier Farnell distributes items from batteries to microchips to companies such as Philips and Microsoft and also counts Nokia and Eriksson among its customers. Profit before tax fell 10 [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 3, 2009 INMARSATGoldman Sachs said that Inmarsat’s recent underperformance has created an opportunity to invest in the shares. It believes there is 38 per cent potential upside to its 712p 12-month price target and has now added the stock as an “outperform” to its UK relative value list. DSG INTERNATIONALDSGI’s good sales figures deserved a better share [...]
Hays buoyed by public sector September 3, 2009 RECRUITMENTgroup Hays said yesterday that it has experienced the most challenging year on record, but that demand for workers in the pubic sector had helped support its earnings. The recruiter said that net fees from the public sector – which accounts for a third of its UK business – had risen by five per cent [...]
Shire’s Intuniv gets the nod in US September 3, 2009 Pharmaceutical firm Shire has received approval from US regulators for its extended-release hyperactivity drug Intuniv, and expects it to be available in US pharmacies in November. The company, which is Britain’s third largest drugmaker, is also pinning its hopes on a new human genetic therapies division that makes medicines to treat a range of rare [...]
Recession boosts McBride September 3, 2009 McBride, Europe’s biggest maker of retailer own-brand household products, posted a 34 per cent rise in annual profit yesterday as cash-strapped consumers downgrade in the downturn. The firm, which supplies supermarkets like Tesco and Carrefour with own-label goods ranging from dishwasher tablets to deodorant, said it made operating profit before one-off items and goodwill of [...]
Pound stores pull posh punters September 3, 2009 The number of pound stores has risen by 60 per cent in the last two years as posh shoppers have developed an eye for a bargain in the downturn. According to new research by the Local Data Company, just under half of the 1,423 discount stores are in London and the South East and, for [...]
CITY ANGER AS BROWN SIGNS UP TO BONUS CAP September 3, 2009 THE bitter row over the future of the City intensified yesterday after Prime Minister GordonBrown signed up to a joint Franco-German letter which signalled a fresh, much harsher line against bonuses. The letter to the G20 chairman, coming ahead of today’s meetings, said they should “explore ways to limit total variable remuneration in a bank [...]
JON MOULTON TO LEAVE ALCHEMY September 3, 2009 JON Moulton, the private equity guru, yesterday resigned as head of Alchemy Partners after a spectacular bust-up with his partners. Moulton resigned from the firm he founded 12 years ago following a row over strategy with his deputy Dominic Slade, who is set to take over the top job at the mid-market buyout house. He [...]