UK Mail blames poor weather conditions for profit warning January 12, 2011 SHARES in UK Mail dropped more than nine per cent yesterday after the delivery firm warned on its full-year profits, prompting Investec to cut its earnings and dividend forecasts and its target price to 400p from 420p. “Whilst we were able to manage our operations such that over 99 per cent of our Christmas parcel [...]
Promethean’s positive outlook lifts stock for education tech firm January 12, 2011 INTERACTIVE education technology firm Promethean World said yesterday it expected revenue for the full-year to be towards the top end of the market view. The company also said it expected to increase the exceptional charge related to restructuring to be taken in the fourth quarter of 2010. Promethean shares climbed by 8.4 per cent to [...]
King’s treasure January 12, 2011 THE King’s Speech has topped the box office in the UK and Ireland, taking £3.5m in its first three days of release. Picturehouse Cinemas said the movie was the most sold-out film it has screened in “many years”. The film, which stars Colin Firth (pictured) and Helena Bonham-Carter, is leading the nominations for this month’s [...]
Firms to buy 10m tablet PCs this year January 12, 2011 AROUND a quarter of tablet computers, such as Apple’s smash-hit iPad, will be bought by businesses this year, according to Deloitte. The “big four” accountancy giant says firms will snap up tablet devices for their employees instead of buying more costly PCs. “We predict that companies in the retail, healthcare and manufacturing sectors will buy more than [...]
City views: Would you use a tablet PC at work? January 12, 2011 DAVID HARPER | LEISURE PROPERTY SERVICES “I don’t own an iPad – I don’t know what they offer me that improves on a laptop at the moment. They are still seen as something of a toy, and quite an expensive one at that. JAMES INGRAM | FIDESSA GROUP “I don’t have a tablet, although the [...]
Do as we say, not as we do, says the Mirror January 12, 2011 EDITORS at the Daily Mirror could barely contain their excitement at the coming of bonus season yesterday, splashing their front page on the beleaguered chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester under the headline “Do the right thing: give up your obscene £3m bonus”. “The Mirror calls on Mr Hester and all the other fatcat bankers [...]
Technology trends in 2011 January 12, 2011 TABLETS Until now, it was assumed that tablet computers would be snapped up by consumers. But Deloitte says a quarter of sales will be corporate. NETBOOKS Cheap, relatively unsophisticated and ultra-portable netbooks will continue to eat away at the dominance of the desktop PC. APPLE Steve Jobs’ runaway success is likely to continue into 2011, [...]
Airport snow chaos costs BAA £24m January 12, 2011 AIPORTS operator BAA said yesterday its handling of the heavy snowfall in December will cost the firm at least £24m in lost revenues and added costs. This figure could rise as airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and BMI pressure the company to compensate them for cancelled flights and widespread disruption, mainly at Heathrow. “Anyone who [...]
Airbus seals $15bn Indian plane order January 12, 2011 AIRBUS basked in the world’s biggest commercial plane order yesterday, with shares in parent EADS lifted by news of its $15.6bn (£9.9bn), 180-aircraft deal with Indian airline IndiGo. The agreed purchase underlines India’s development as a major aviation market and provides a welcome boost to EADS chief executive Louis Gallois, who has been pushing expansion [...]
Barratt sales hurt by lack of mortgages January 12, 2011 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Develop-ments said sales fell 4.4 per cent in the last six months of the year, a loss the company pinned partly on the lack of mortgage lending. Chief executive Mark Clare said house sales during autumn were disappointing, as potential customers were also deterred by the government’s spending review and later by the [...]