Carpetright in profits plunge December 13, 2011 CARPETRIGHT, the UK’s biggest floor coverings retailer, posted the worst first-half performance in its history as a listed company yesterday, but said it expected better trading in the second half due to improved margins and marketing. The firm posted a pre-tax loss of £800,000 for the period to 29 October.
GO-AHEAD BULLISH ON UK TRANSPORT December 13, 2011 RAIL and bus operator Go-Ahead said full-year profit is likely to exceed expectations after a strong first-half performance. The company, run by chief executive David Brown (pictured), yesterday said revenues were boosted by passengers turning to public transport. Go-Ahead is expected to report average full-year operating profit of £108.45m.
MAN GROUP AIDE PLOTS FAME, SEX AND RUIN December 13, 2011 MANAGING the press coverage of Man Group’s multimillionaire hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange is not a nine-to-five job. Which is partly why it taken Man Group’s head of media relations David Waller eight years “on and off” to complete his second historical biography around his day job, this time on his scandalous great-uncle Eugen Sandow. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 13, 2011 Alvarez & Marsal The professional services firm has expanded its European real estate advisory team by appointing London-based senior director Ian Morgan. Morgan joins Alvarez & Marsal from the boutique advisory firm European Resolution Capital, where he was portfolio head for real estate, responsible for a distressed loan book of €1bn. Prior to that, Morgan [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 13, 2011 CSR Morgan Stanley rates the chipmaker as “equal-weight” with a target price of 250p, following the company’s announcement yesterday that it is halting its investment in the digital television and tuner side of its business. As a consequence, the broker lowers its 2012 and 2013 revenue forecasts by $50m and $100m respectively, and operating expenses [...]
US retail sales growth weak in November December 13, 2011 US retail sales grew less than forecast in November, tempering some of the expectations for a strong holiday season that had been raised by signs of bumper Thanksgiving weekend sales. Total retail sales increased 0.2 per cent after rising by an upwardly revised 0.6 per cent in October, as less spending on food and beverages [...]
Eurozone bond yields fall at auction December 13, 2011 Eurozone government bond yields have fallen today at auctions of new debt by Spain and Belgium, but investors remain nervous as fears mount that sovereign credit ratings will be downgraded soon. Spain’s Treasury easily sold €4.9bn (£4.1bn) of 12- and 18-month Treasury bills, above the top end of the targeted range, at rates of almost [...]
Petrofac ups profits guidance to 20pc December 13, 2011 British oil services firm Petrofac upped its profit guidance for this year and said a $10.6bn (£6.7bn) order backlog gave it the confidence to predict strong growth in 2012. Petrofac, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure and also invests with producers in oil fields, said it expected to report like-for-like 2011 net profit [...]
Inflation falls to 4.8pc December 13, 2011 The (CPI) inflation figure in the UK fell to 4.8 per cent in November, down from five per cent the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics. Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation – which includes mortgage interest payments – fell to 5.2 per cent from 5.4 per cent. The fall was partly due [...]
Whitbread sales growth slows in tough economy December 13, 2011 Britain’s biggest hotel operator WhitbreaD said its sales growth had slowed in the third quarter as tough economic conditions kept customers away from its Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee shops, which had previously proved resilient. The group, which also owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub restaurant chains, said on Tuesday sales at outlets [...]