Shares in the leading Coca-Cola bottling firm are fizzing as profit shoots up February 16, 2017 Leading drinks bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) today reached the top spot on the FTSE 100 risers' board as it announced its profit beat expectations yet again. The figures The soft drinks bottler's net profit jumped 22.5 per cent to €343.5m (£292.3m) from €280.3m for the year ended 31 December 2016. Net sales revenue lifted three per cent [...]
Laura Ashley shares dive: Poor first six months cannot be made up later February 16, 2017 Laura Ashley's share price fell over nine per cent as interim results missed expectations and the prospect of cost and currency headwinds spooked investors. The figures Total group sales over the six months to December fell from £150m to £146m, with like-for-like sales down 3.5 per cent. Profit before tax was £7.6m compared with £11.0m in [...]
Italian parliament signs off on €20bn bank bailout fund, as country’s lenders creak under billions of euros of non-performing loans February 16, 2017 Italy's parliament has today given the thumbs up to the law which will create a €20bn (£17bn) bailout fund for the country's troubled banks. Parliament gave a decree for the bailout fund, which was issued by relatively new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the green light last December. Now, Bloomberg has reported the parliament's lower house has given final [...]
The City of London’s policy chair is taking up the chairman role at the firm which runs the UK’s cash machine network February 16, 2017 The firm responsible for running the UK's 70,000-strong cash machine network has appointed the City of London's policy chair as its new chairman. Mark Boleat, who will chair the policy and resources committee at the City of London Corporation until May and is also deputy chairman of think tank TheCityUK, will join Link Scheme as chairman shortly. [...]
The UK’s construction industry started 2017 on a high February 16, 2017 The UK's construction industry started the year strongly as housebuilding dominated activity. The value of new building contracts rose to £6bn in January, according to analysts Barbour ABI, with London accounting for over a quarter of contract value. The capital was boosted by the One Nine Elms project in Vauxhall, the most valuable development in [...]
Private equity giant Blackstone buys majority stake in London technology company Cloudreach February 16, 2017 Private equity giant Blackstone has announced a deal to acquire a majority stake in a London cloud technology company. Cloudreach provides cloud computing products and services for companies including BP, Pearson and Hearst Corporation. Founded in 2009, the company now has offices in seven countries and has a presence in both Europe and North America. [...]
Norwegian airline revenue jumps 16 per cent but shares fall on expansion costs as carrier ramps up transatlantic operations February 16, 2017 Despite reporting a record annual result with net profit of £109m, Norwegian shares had fallen nearly five per cent at the time of writing as its costs are rising faster than expected. The airline is ramping up its transatlantic operations and plans to announce new routes from Ireland and Scotland in the coming weeks. The figures Net [...]
Fitbug says Crossrail workers walk a heck of a lot further than your average Brit February 16, 2017 It's official: MTR Crossrail workers need to be considerably fitter than the average Brit, a study revealed today. Digital wellness firm Fitbug monitored 100 workers over three months and found, on average, they walk a whopping 72 per cent further each day than the average member of public. Read more: Fitbug shares are back: Here's what's going on [...]
A major Toshiba lender said it will provide as much support as possible to the struggling firm February 16, 2017 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC), a major lender to Toshiba, said it will provide as much support as possible to the embattled Japanese firm. Toshiba unexpectedly delayed its financial update this week as it struggles to plug a multi-billion pound hole in its US nuclear business. The TVs-to-nuclear conglomerate now said it's considering selling most, if not all, of its prized [...]
Look out below! Northern Line extension gets underway with a huge crane putting tunnelling giants in place February 16, 2017 The time is here: these giant boring machines have been lowered 20m underground in Battersea ready to get the £1.2bn Northern Line extension underway. To lift these hefty machines – they're 650 tonnes each – Transport for London (TfL) has wheeled in a huge 750-tonne crane. The two machines, named Helen and Amy by local [...]