BMW boosted by exports August 1, 2012 Carmarker BMW shrugged off a weak European car market to post a smaller than expected drop in quarterly profits yesterday, highlighting the widening gulf between the continent’s export-oriented premium car makers and their ailing mass market rivals. Earnings before interest and tax were €2.27bn (£1.8bn), down 19 per cent from its all-time record second quarter [...]
E.ON closes oil power plant early August 1, 2012 Energy firm E.ON is to close its huge 1,380-megawatt oil-fired power plant on the Isle of Grain more than three years early because the station is no longer needed for power generation, the company said yesterday. The plant has been idle for the past two years as its role of providing back-up electricity at peak [...]
Jupiter shares rise on back of solid fund flow August 1, 2012 MARKETS cheered a resilient set of results from Jupiter Fund Management yesterday after the UK equity specialist revealed a £600m increase in assets under management and strong mutual fund inflows. Shares in the firm shot up three per cent in the first 90 minutes of trading after its half year results showed £210m of quarterly [...]
F&C adds £3m more cuts as optimism rises August 1, 2012 F&C ASSET Management said yesterday it would increase its radical cost cutting regime by a further £3m as interim results hinted management was starting to turn the business around. The asset manager, which has seen its share price rise around 20 per cent since June, said it would increase its cost cutting target to £48.8m, [...]
Baring Asset Management snaps up Korean asset firm August 1, 2012 LONDON-based asset manager Baring Asset Management is set to buy SEI Asset Korea (SEIAK) in a deal that will boost the 250 year-old firm’s assets under management by $6.3bn (£4bn). The firm, which this year celebrates the anniversary of its founding in 1762, said the acquisition will boost its presence in Asia as South Korea [...]
Shares in Shire rise as it calms generics fears August 1, 2012 SHIRE said yesterday that cheap, copycat competition would have only a limited impact on sales of its hyperactivity drugs in the key back-to-school period, reassuring investors that earnings would still rise by a double-digit percentage this year. Shares in the pharmaceutical company, which fell as much as 13 per cent in June when US regulators [...]
Ad firms cash in on Aegis deal August 1, 2012 ADVERTISING giant Aegis snapped up two London digital ad firms yesterday, netting their owners an estimated £25m. Search ad firm I Spy Marketing and analysis group Data2Decisions were bought for around £15m and £10m, and will be integrated into Aegis’s subsidiary iProspect, which deals with adverts on Google and other search engines. I Spy’s chief [...]
Boost from beverage cans helps Rexam offset healthcare woes August 1, 2012 REXAM, which makes packaging for everything from fizzy drinks cans to lipstick containers, reported a slight rise in first half profit after its beverage cans business helped to offset a weak performance at its healthcare arm. The company, which makes about 57bn cans a year for brands like Red Bull and Carlsberg, said pre-tax profits [...]
Jump in Taylor Wimpey profit August 1, 2012 TAYLOR WIMPEY yesterday revealed it had doubled its profits in the first half of the year after the company shrugged off wider economic concerns and constraints in mortgage lending. The housebuilder posted operating profits of £100.9m for the six months to 6 July up from £67.2m last year on revenues up to £906.2m from £817.8m. [...]
Revenue miss for MasterCard August 1, 2012 SHARES in MasterCard fell yesterday as the US card provider said global purchasing growth had slowed to its lowest pace in more than a year. The firm reported a 15 per cent jump in net income for the three months to the end of June, while revenues rose nine per cent to $1.82bn (£1.17bn), missing [...]