Deutsche in the red as reforms cut into profits January 31, 2013 DEUTSCHE Bank made a heavy loss in the final quarter of 2012 as it struggled to shore up its balance sheet and increased provisions against a possible Libor fine, the bank said yesterday. The German bank recorded a pre-tax loss of €2.6bn (£2.2bn), taking profits for the year down to €0.7bn – a drop of [...]
Santander sees UK growth but bad Spanish loans dent profits January 31, 2013 BANKING giant Santander claimed it has now moved beyond the Spanish housing crash, setting it up for solid growth in the coming years. Profits plunged 59 per cent to €2.205bn (£1.9bn) for 2012, in large part due to bad loan provisions of €6.14bn. But the bank’s UK arm reported gains, seeing post-tax profits rise four [...]
Deutsche’s plan buys time but Santander stumbles on Spain January 31, 2013 WHAT goes down must come up. That was the apparent lesson from Deutsche Bank yesterday, booking a €2.2bn (£1.8bn) loss but seeing its share price rise to the highest level since the spring of last year. Since its August lows in 2012, Deutsche’s toughminded recovery plan has put its stock on an upward march, increasing [...]
Blackstone fires on all cylinders to roar to $2bn record profits January 31, 2013 BLACKSTONE, the US private equity giant that co-owns Broadgate in the City, yesterday said profits rose 43 per cent in the fourth quarter despite its revenue generating real estate arm misfiring. The buyout shop, which has focused more on bricks and mortar in recent years, booked a $670m (£422m) profit for the three months ending [...]
Insurers at risk over watchdog annuity probe January 31, 2013 INSURERS Standard Life and Resolution are most at risk from a regulatory probe into whether retirees who buy annuities get a fair deal, analysts said yesterday. The investigation by City watchdog the Financial Services Authority, launched yesterday, will focus on whether people who buy an annuity directly from their pension provider pay more than they [...]
Administrators announce 190 HMV job losses January 31, 2013 HMV’s administrators confirmed yesterday that 190 staff have been made redundant across the collapsed music retailer’s head office and distribution network. Deloitte, which was hired to run the chain after it fell into administration earlier this month, said no jobs cuts have been made at its stores, which all continue to trade. The redundancies took [...]
Shell hikes dividend as weak oil and gas prices hit earnings January 31, 2013 OIL GIANT Royal Dutch Shell unveiled a 4.7 per cent jump in its dividend payout yesterday despite posting a slump in full-year earnings. Annual earnings on a current cost of supply basis dropped six per cent to $27bn (£17.07bn) compared with $28.6bn in 2011 – as it was hit by weaker oil and gas prices [...]
Analyst Views | Were Shell’s results what you were expecting? January 31, 2013 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWN The numbers have failed to inspire against the backdrop of a generally lacklustre market. Overall profit was shy of expectations, costs are on an upward trend within the industry and the weakness of the gas price has impacted on Shell. MALCOLM GRAHAM-WOOD VSA CAPITAL The results didn’t blow the market away [...]
Kingfisher puts B&Q’s Ireland unit into bankruptcy protection January 31, 2013 B&Q IRELAND was placed into a form of bankruptcy protection yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to save the loss-making chain. The company, which is owned by FTSE 100 group Kingfisher, operates nine stores in the Republic of Ireland but has been hit by the downturn in household spending. It has also failed to renegotiate rents [...]
Dragon Jones breathes new life into Jessops January 31, 2013 CAMERA brand Jessops, which saw its shops collapse into administration last month, has been sold to a group of buyers including Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones, administrators said yesterday. The deal, structured by administrators PwC, involves the sale of Jessops’ 78- year old brand, existing stock and “intellectual property”, which involves non-physical assets like trademarks [...]