Interserve is signed up to do the BBC’s cleaning in £150m contract October 17, 2013 THE BBC has hired a new office manager, in the form of FTSE 250-listed outsourcing group Interserve. The firm has signed a five-year, £150m deal to run the broadcaster’s 150 facilities across the country, including Broadcasting House, MediaCityUK in Salford and Pacific Quay in Glasgow. Interserve will take in 1,100 staff from existing providers as [...]
Fruit Shoot bounce-back and hot summer sweetens Britvic’s sales October 17, 2013 BRITVIC shares fizzed yesterday after the soft-drinks maker posted strong sales thanks to the hot summer heatwave and a bounce back in Fruit Shoot’s market share. The children’s drink had to be taken off shelves last July because of faulty caps on the bottles. Britvic said its market share in Britain was now back at [...]
Benefits of Booker’s Makro deal start to show as profits rise 17pc October 17, 2013 Cash and carry group Booker reported higher first half sales and profits yesterday thanks to its recent acquisition of Makro, which the group said was helping to broaden the business. Sales in the 24 weeks to 13 September rose 16.5 per cent to £2.2bn on profits up 17 per cent to £58.1m. The food wholesaler [...]
Emerging markets help to drive growth at consumer giant Nestle October 17, 2013 NESTLE said yesterday that an improvement in emerging market demand helped to lift sales growth in the third quarter, reassuring investors worried by recent negative news from European peers Danone and Unilever. The world’s biggest food group and its rivals have been grappling with sluggish consumer demand in austerity-hit Europe, where prices for Nestle’s products [...]
Tough construction sector in the UK weighs on Speedy revenues October 17, 2013 CONSTRUCTION tools provider Speedy Hire yesterday blamed a challenging housing market for falling revenues in the UK and Ireland, yet pointed to rising profits abroad. Revenue dropped by 2.1 per cent in the firm’s first half in the UK and Ireland – 2.6 per cent in the first quarter and 1.6 per cent in the [...]
Samsung offers to end tech wars October 17, 2013 Samsung has offered to defuse ongoing patent disputes between tech companies in Europe by refraining from further litigation for five years. The offer could help the technology company to avert a possible £11.3bn fine that Samsung could face after the European Commission said last year that its patent lawsuits broke EU antitrust rules. Samsung and [...]
Bunzl quarterly revenues up 12pc October 17, 2013 Outsourcing firm Bunzl yesterday said revenue in the third quarter increased by 12 per cent, boosted by “the positive impact from acquisitions”. The firm also said yesterday it has bought Pro Epta, a catering equipment distributor in Mexico. “Bunzl’s strong cash flow and balance sheet, together with a promising acquisition pipeline, should continue to give [...]
Renishaw hit by China slowdown October 17, 2013 FTSE 250 manufacturing group Renishaw yesterday posted a fall in quarterly revenue, due to a slowdown in growth in the Far East, specifically China, which is its largest region. Pre-tax profits fell by more than half to £10.6m. However, the firm experienced “good growth” of 18 per cent in the Americas and six per cent [...]
Cairn Energy’s shares jump on buyback plans October 17, 2013 CASH-RICH oil explorer Cairn Energy’s stock surged yesterday after it unveiled plans to buy back up to $300m (£186m) of shares in the firm. The shares will be repurchased through Cairn’s brokers Morgan Stanley and Jefferies and reviewed by the board on a quarterly basis. “We believe that [the share buyback] would be around 12p [...]
Fresnillo’s silver output in third quarter beats analyst forecasts October 17, 2013 SILVER shone for FTSE 100 miner Fresnillo in the last quarter, with production beating analysts’ estimates and putting the firm on track for its full-year silver target. Quarterly silver output rose 7.6 per cent year on year, which was 10 per cent higher than Deutsche Bank’s forecast. However, all that glitters was not gold for [...]