Optimal Payments tops forecasts January 14, 2013 Shares in Optimal Payments rose 5.5 per cent yesterday as the online credit card processing firm said it expected to beat full-year forecasts. The Aim-listed firm put the success down to a strong showing in the second half of last year, especially by its divisions in Asia. The group expects full year revenue of at [...]
City Moves for 15 January 2013 | Who’s switching jobs January 14, 2013 Brookland Partners The real estate focused investment bank has appointed Dawn Prideaux de Lacy as its new chief operating officer. She was previously global chief operating officer at ING Real Estate Investment Management. Prideaux de Lacy has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, and is also a former chief administrative officer of Morgan Stanley [...]
Best of the Brokers January 14, 2013 WM MORRISON UBS rates the supermarket “neutral” and has cut its price target by 20p to 250p following lacklustre Christmas trading figures announced last week. The analyst warns that Morrison’s cost-cutting plan is being made more difficult by underlying declines in sales volumes and cost inflation. UBS has also pared its like-for-like sales forecasts for [...]
Financial shares buoy FTSE 100 January 14, 2013 The blue chip index edged up in early trading, but failed to replicate strong gains overnight in Asia. Resources and financial shares were in favour this morning, with oil and gas services provider Petrofac the top FTSE 100 riser. Eurasian Natural Resources was up 1.58 per cent, as Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from “neutral” [...]
UPS takeover of TNT Express collapses January 14, 2013 United Parcel Service (UPS) said this morning it would withdraw its €5.2bn (£4.3bn) bid for rival TNT Express as it expects the regulator to block the takeover. UPS said this morning that the European Commission has informed both companies that it is working on a decision to prohibit the proposed takeover. UPS will pay Dutch [...]
Heathrow posts record 2012 passenger traffic January 14, 2013 Heathrow Airport saw a record number of passengers travel through the airport last year, as December traffic figures reached a new high for the month. Almost 70m passengers passed through Heathrow last year, the highest ever for a calendar year at the hub airport. Over the year as a whole, it marked a jump of [...]
Greene King enjoys record Christmas trading January 14, 2013 Pub group Greene King hailed a strong festive period this morning, as it posted record sales through Christmas and the New Year. Over the past six weeks, like for like sales growth came in at 2.8 per cent, and Greene King said it enjoyed record Christmas Day sales of £2.7m, up 6.8 per cent year [...]
Swatch Group snaps up Harry Winston for $750m January 14, 2013 Swiss watch group Swatch said this morning it had acquired luxury jeweller Harry Winston for $750m (£465m), plus up to $250m of net debt. Swatch, which will acquire Harry Winston’s 535 employees worldwide, will acquire the brand and all activities related to jewellery and watches. The deal does not include the mining arm of Harry [...]
Business backs EU referendum January 13, 2013 PROMINENT City figures are set to campaign for the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the European Union, dismissing claims it would be bad for business, City A.M. has learnt. Jon Moulton, the venture capitalist behind Better Capital, is joining a group of businesspeople who will back a referendum on the UK’s membership of the [...]
Financial firms sack or suspend record number of staff January 13, 2013 FINANCIAL firms and watchdogs have tightened the screws on staff suspected of misconduct in the last year, according to figures out today. In 2012, almost 1,400 financial services workers were dismissed or suspended, or resigned while under investigation by their employer or a regulator, figures from the Financial Services Authority show. In the same year [...]