ANALYST VIEWS: SHOULD INVESTORS DO THEIR SHOPPING AT OCADO? March 5, 2012 ANDREW WADE | NUMIS Ocado has posted a solid first quarter, with sales growth of +10.9 per cent, marginally ahead of guidance… Improvements over the last quarter (and the quarter to come) will enable the business to reaccelerate sales growth. PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON We expect that the competitive environment will get tougher and [...]
Regulator probes KPMG audit March 5, 2012 The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board has begun probes into KPMG’s auditing of Lloyd’s of London car and motorcycles insurer Equity Red Star and actuaries who advised it. In 2010 the firm, a UK subsidiary of Insurance Australia Group that insures one in four motorcycles on UK roads, crashed to a £240m loss after failing [...]
Top brands pay best dividend March 5, 2012 Trusted brands known and used in every household in the UK were among some of the most consistent, dividend yielding stocks over the past year, according to research by Indixs. The UK Dividend Achievers Index listed the most consistent dividend paying stocks and found that consumer brands such as SABMiller, Diageo, Unilever, British American Tobacco [...]
Hydrogen profits up 48 per cent March 5, 2012 Pre-tax profits at recruitment group Hydrogen grew by 48 per cent to £3.7m in 2011, driven by its global markets. Chief exec Tim Smeaton said the company had made the most of an “interesting and challenging environment”, increasing headcount by 10 per cent over the year and focusing almost half of its sales staff on [...]
Services see third month of expansion March 5, 2012 THE UK is likely to avoid a new recession according to figures published yesterday, which show a third consecutive month of growth in the services sector. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 53.8 for February – slower than the 56 seen in January, but still firmly above the no-change level of 50. The [...]
Clegg hints the government will ease child benefit plans March 5, 2012 PLANS to remove child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers could be changed to avoid distorting the incentive to work, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured) said yesterday. Under current plans, families with one parent earning above the £42,475 threshold will lose child benefit. That creates a cliff-edge, where a parent just below the threshold will actually lose [...]
Accountants claim they would support a tax-dodgers’ amnesty March 5, 2012 MOST accountants would support a general tax amnesty, allowing tax dodgers to declare income to the government in exchange for a lower penalty, according to a survey published today by audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill. Previous amnesties have allowed UK individuals with bank accounts, trusts or companies in Switzerland to preserve their [...]
BANK’S TUCKER LANDS TOP SECURITIES ROLE March 5, 2012 Paul Tucker, a Bank of England deputy governor, was appointed yesterday to head a global rulemaking body for securities clearing, a sector at the heart of post-financial crisis reform. He replaces the Fed’s William Dudley as chairman of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, made up of central bankers from G20 countries. The committee [...]
US politicians urge action over record petrol prices March 5, 2012 AMERICAN politicians have urged the US futures regulator to crack down on excessive speculation in oil markets as fuel prices hit record highs around the world. The price of petrol has hit a fresh record in the UK, edging up 0.1p to 137.55p, while diesel was flat at 144.66p. In the US, prices have jumped [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE CHINESE ECONOMY IS IN TROUBLE? March 5, 2012 NICO BAINS | ERNST AND YOUNG “I don’t think there is anything to worry about. The resources China has and the way it has been operating for the past 25 years will always get it back on top.” PAUL FRENCH | GLOBAL SAGE “I work in commodities and there is no way its economy is [...]