Countrywide blames volatile residential sales market for 40 per cent drop in profits February 25, 2016 Britain's largest residential property services group Countrywide suffered a 40 per cent slump in profits last year after a slowdown in house sales following the General Election and increasing competition from online agents took its toll on the group. The company, which owns 50 high street brands including Hamptons, Blundells and John D Wood, said pre-tax profits slumped to £47.7m in [...]
St James’s Place share price up after company hikes dividend and reveals strong operating profits for the year ended December 2015 despite uncertainty in global stock markets February 25, 2016 Share price in St James's Place rose today as the company impressed investors with a healthy operating profit for its year ended December 2015 and a hike to its dividend. The wealth management company reported operating profits of £660.2m for 2015, up from £596.4m in 2014, while profits from new business rose to £440.7m, up [...]
Premier Oil share price falls as losses widen on oil price rout February 25, 2016 The figures The UK-based Premier Oil's pre-tax losses swelled by 128.9 per cent to $829.6m in the year ended December 31st, up from $362.5m in 2014. The independent oil and gas company also announced $583.5m of impairment charges on lower near-term oil price assumptions, mainly relating to its North Sea Solan field project. Revenue fell 35 per cent to $1.1bn while oil [...]
Lloyds Banking Group cuts bonuses after PPI hits profits again February 25, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group may have hiked its dividends, but its workers are in for less of a treat. In a statement today the lender said its 2015 bonus has been cut to £353.7m. That figure is 4.3 per cent lower than last year's £369.5m. As a percentage of pre-bonus underlying profit, the bank's total bonus [...]
Zoopla share price rises as it shrugs off competition from OnTheMarket.com to post ninth month of growth February 25, 2016 It could have been a difficult day for Zoopla, which faced tough competition in the form of estate agent-run rival, OnTheMarket.com, when it launched at the beginning of last year. But this morning the property portal said it had a "solid start" to 2016, with a record 58m visits in January, and an average 47m monthly visits [...]
Coca-Cola loses Community trademark case, as European court decides the bottle design does not have distinctive character February 25, 2016 The Coca-Cola Company has today lost a legal battle to trademark for its bottle design. The General Court of the European Union rejected the soft drink brand's request to register a contour bottle without fluting as a Community trademark because the design does not have any characteristics to make it stand out from other products in [...]
RSA Group reveals boost to profits despite drop in net written premiums and being hit by Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank February 25, 2016 RSA Group has this morning announced a rise in profits for its year ended December 2015, despite a fall in net written premiums. The insurer revealed profits before tax of £323m, up from £275m in 2014, while operating profits were also strong at £523m, up 43 per cent compared with £365m in 2014. However, group net written [...]
Surprise: Lloyds Banking Group share price leaps as it hikes dividend – but profits are hit by PPI charges February 25, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group shares leaped this morning as it hiked its dividend – but more PPI charges dented its pre-tax profits. Read more: Lloyds cuts bonuses for 2015 The figures Lloyds said underlying profits rose five per cent on last year to £8.1bn in 2015, while total income rose one per cent to £17.6bn. Operating costs fell to £8.3bn, while impairment charges fell 48 per cent to £568m. [...]
Challenger banks: Moody’s says smaller lenders are poised to compete with Britain’s big banks for a share of the UK mortgage market February 25, 2016 British challenger banks are poised to compete with larger lenders for a share of the mortgage market, Moody’s Investors Service has said. In a new report out today, Moody’s said challengers are likely to use securitisation to compete for a bigger share of the UK mortgage market. “Increasing competition in the mortgage market driven by [...]
Salesforce.com’s share price jumps after reporting a strong earnings outlook and company narrows loss February 24, 2016 Salesforce.com has reported a stronger-than-expected earnings outlook, prompting its share price to jump more than seven per cent in after hours trading. The world's largest maker of online sales software said it expects to earn between 99 cents per share to $1.01 per share in the current fiscal year on revenue of $8.08bn (£5.8bn) to $8.12bn, [...]