Stagecoach’s buses boom, trains falter June 24, 2009 RAIL and bus group Stagecoach said yesterday its full-year pre-tax profits were up 12.6 per cent to £196.4m on the back of a strong performance at its bus division. But the group warned its UK rail division would make a huge loss in 2010 and 2111, if an ongoing row over who should foot the [...]
FORD DRIVES HARDER BARGAIN June 24, 2009 FORD will be putting up the price of cars across its UK range by four per cent, it said yesterday, blaming the sustained weakness of the pound against the Euro. The price increases will begin on 1 July. “The total revenue impact of the currencies has been huge — well into nine figures — on [...]
Cable & Wireless powers ahead with a fifteen-year National Grid agreement June 24, 2009 COMMUNICATIONS group Cable & Wireless (C&W) yesterday secured a 15-year deal with National Grid, worth £207m, to support electricity transmission in the UK. C&W will design, deliver and manage a telecoms network for National Grid, becoming a key player in a new era of power transmission, and challenging BT’s dominant position as a next a [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 24, 2009 Close BrothersThe financial services group has appointed Sven Guckelberger as a managing director to its corporate finance advisory arm, Close Brothers Corporate Finance, which has recently been sold to Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe. Guckelberger will join the restructuring and debt advisory group. Fenchurch The investment banking boutique has hired Julian Avery as a senior adviser, [...]
Slaughters in fracas with Lib Dem peer June 24, 2009 LORD Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, has become embroiled in a row with “magic circle” legal firm Slaughter and May after he accused it of handing the government a “simply mind-blowing” £22m bill. The bill relates to “financial stability” work carried out for the Treasury in the the financial year 2008 to 2009. Slaughters [...]
Luxury London house prices recover to rise 4.3 per cent in the second quarter June 24, 2009 LUXURY London house prices have recorded their first quarterly growth since beginning to slide from the peak of September 2007, according to the latest quarterly research from property group Savills. The report found prime central London house prices rose 4.3 per cent during the past three months – effectively wiping out the falls seen in [...]
Ikea flat-packs 5,000 staff June 24, 2009 IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, yesterday revealed it axed 5,000 jobs last year during “the worst recession in living memory.” The Scandinavian family-ownedfurniture giant employs 120,000 people worldwide, with around 9,500 jobs in the UK, but declined to say how many have been cut at its British operations over the past year. Ikea chief [...]
Shanks sees strong take up on 71m rights issue June 24, 2009 SHANKS Group, the UK’s largest waste management firm, said yesterday that take up for its recent £71.4m rights issue was over 95 per cent. The firm said on 21 May it had issued 158.7m shares at a price of 45p a share, a discount of 50.8 per cent to the stock market closing price the [...]
Rose braces himself for more dissent June 24, 2009 MARKS & SPENCER yesterday faced fresh pressure over Sir Stuart Rose’s dual role as chairman and chief executive as corporate governance body Pirc joined the growing calls for an independent chairman. Pirc said: “Combining the two roles in one person represents a dangerous concentration of power that is potentially detrimental to board balance, effective debate, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 24, 2009 MARSTON’SUBS estimates that Marston’s rights issue to raise £165m will result in around an 18 per cent earnings per share dilution in 2010, falling to 12 per cent by 2013. But the broker said that 40 per cent fall in the share price this month, including 20 per cent since the announcement of the rights [...]