Cobham boosted by demand November 4, 2009 COBHAM, the aerospace and defence firm, said its outlook was healthy yesterday, and that it had grown strongly in the third quarter on the back of healthy military and government orders. The company, which makes equipment to help military vehicles like the F-35 fighter planes communicate with one another, also said favourable currency translations had [...]
Umeco chief sees sales hit due to lower demand November 4, 2009 SUPPORT SERVICESUMECO, the group which provides parts for wind turbine blades, Formula One team cars and big commercial airplane makers, said yesterday its half-year profits slumped. Pre-tax profits hit £6.1m for the six months to end of September, down from £11.6m in the same period last year, as its composites arm was hit. Chief executive [...]
Pace signals a healthy full year outlook November 4, 2009 SET-TOP box maker Pace said yesterday it was on track to meet expectations for the year as it continued to perform well in a strong digital TV market. The company, which makes devices for BSkyB and Comcast, said average selling prices were increasing in the second half compared with the first half of the year, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 4, 2009 FOCUS SOLUTIONS’ POSITIVE OUTLOOKFocus Solutions, the group which specialises in pensions back office software, said yesterday it was confident of achieving both revenue and profit expectations for the full year, although half year revenues would be down on the same period last year because of the timing of securing key contracts. The group added it [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 4, 2009 EvolutionThe financial services group has appointed Christopher Chambers as a non-executive director, effective immediately.Chambers, 48, was previously chief executive of Man Investments and an executive director of Man Group until 2005, co-head of European equity capital markets at Credit Suisse First Boston and director of equity capital markets and corporate broking at BZW. LaSalle The [...]
Focus Solutions’ positive outlook November 4, 2009 Focus Solutions, the group which specialises in pensions back office software, said yesterday it was confident of achieving both revenue and profit expectations for the full year, although half year revenues would be down on the same period last year because of the timing of securing key contracts. The group added it would report a [...]
WSP sees challenging markets November 4, 2009 WSP Group, the building and environmental consultancy, said trading since 1 July continued to be in line with its expectations. The group, which offers management, planning and environmental advice, however, said market conditions remained very challenging with difficult trading conditions in most markets in the private sector. “We are continuing to see a solid performance [...]
Homes for 1m have slumped November 4, 2009 The number of homes priced at more than £1m has fallen by a third during the past two years, research showed yesterday. About one in every 97 properties in the UK was worth at least seven figures before the housing market slump kicked off, but the figure has now fallen to around one in every [...]
SocGen posts near doubling of earnings November 4, 2009 FRENCH bank Societe Generale (SocGen) has more than doubled its profits thanks to a good investment banking performance, although the numbers failed to hit market hopes, sparking takeover talk. SocGen posted a 133 per cent rise in net profit to €426m (£381m) from €183m a year earlier, mainly due to the fact that the bank’s [...]
Northern Rock unveils surge in mortgage loans November 4, 2009 NORTHERN Rock saw improved trading in the third quarter, with encouraging trends on bad loans, and forecast a “significant improvement” in the second half of the year. But the state-owned lender, which is being split into two in readiness for a sale, warned that conditions in the mortgage and housing markets remained subdued. “House price [...]