CITY VIEWS: WOULD YOU USE SKY’S NEW ONLINE OFFERING? January 31, 2012 LES BRADY | RIVINGTON STREET CORPORATE FINANCE “I think that it would be a lot easier to pay monthly for Sky’s subscription, it has always worked well that way. I also prefer to watch things on television rather than on a computer or iPad.” PAUL GOSWELL | DELANCEY “The monthly subscription for Sky is very [...]
Satellite giant takes on Netflix and Lovefilm January 31, 2012 IT was only ever a matter of time before BSkyB launched some kind of internet TV service. The insurgent threat of online film streaming products such as Netflix and Lovefilm meant it could not stand idly by. Details of the service are so far sketchy. We know it will be available over the internet and on [...]
ARM stretches beyond the industry on ever-growing smartphone sales demand January 31, 2012 BRITISH chip designer ARM grew revenues by a fifth in fiscal 2011, running circles around the industry by racking up £491.8m compared to last year’s £406.6m. Pre-tax profits for the fourth quarter jumped 45 per cent on the previous year to £69m. The Cambridge-based company upped its yearly earnings by over a third, counting £229.7m [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM ARM IN 2012? January 31, 2012 PAUL MORLAND | PEEL HUNT Despite an exceptionally strong fourth quarter performance, we do not anticipate upgrades to 2012 other than a currency uplift of around five per cent to reflect the dollar. NICK JAMES | NUMIS ARM has potential to become pervasive across multiple segments of the semiconductor market. We expect further upgrades through [...]
Joblessness at record high for Eurozone January 31, 2012 UNEMPLOYMENT in the Eurozone remained at a euro-era high in December, figures from Eurostat showed yesterday, reflecting the weak economic outlook. Joblessness stayed at the 10.4 per cent reached in November, up from 10 per cent in December 2010. The unemployment rate for the 27 EU nations stayed at 9.9 per cent, up from 9.5 [...]
Cameron defiant in face of jeers over Brussels treaty January 31, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron stuck to his guns in parliament yesterday, insisting that he has not backed down over the new treaty agreed in Brussels. The PM faced opposition jeers and increasing discontent among Conservative backbenches. Tory MP Mark Reckless said Cameron had not vetoed anything, and added last night: “The City is left wide [...]
Greek talks threatened by troika austerity demands January 31, 2012 TALKS in Greece appear to be on a knife edge, with the government under pressure to guarantee strong austerity measures. Negotiations over the country’s bailout could be threatened by resistance to demands from the “troika” of foreign lenders – the European Central Bank, the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Near-bankrupt Greece is struggling to [...]
US recovery shows signs of slowdown January 31, 2012 BUSINESS conditions improved for the 28th consecutive month in the US, according to the Chicago Business Barometer, published yesterday. However, growth slowed, with the index falling from 58.8 to 54.9. Any figure above 50 represents improvement. Production growth slowed from 60.5 to 57, while new orders dipped from 61.5 to 56. Economists pointed to the [...]
COOK SNUBS M&B BOARD FOR VILLAGE HOTELS LIFE January 31, 2012 MITCHELLS & BUTLERS offered him a “senior role” following his resignation as chief executive of hotel group Malmaison last September. But Robert Cook turned down the chance to help chairman Bob Ivell steer the FTSE 250 pub group into calmer waters to instead put the Village Hotels brand, part of the Lloyds Banking Group-backed De [...]
Ocado cuts losses to £2.4m January 31, 2012 OCADO said warehousing problems that prompted it to issue a profit warning last month were largely solved as the online grocer posted a pre-tax loss of £2.4m for the year to the end of November 2011. In its second set of preliminary results since its flotation in 2010, Ocado said it had cut its losses [...]