FTSE held back by blue-chips and miners February 9, 2011 London trading was weighed down by falls in major stocks trading ex-dividend, outweighing strong performances by financial stocks. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.64 per cent or 30.04 points at 6,052.29, as BP, GlaxoSmithKline, International Power, Royal Dutch Shell, Sage Group and Unilever all lost their payout attractions. “After Tuesday’s leap to multi-year highs, a [...]
Premier Foods sells off can division to Princes February 8, 2011 PREMIER Foods yesterday said that it sold its canned grocery division –?including the brands Crosse & Blackwell and Fray Bentos – to rival Princes. The £182m deal is aimed at cutting Premier’s debt and is the second disposal in less than a month after the company sold its Quorn business for £205m. Premier said it [...]
Amsterdam: 400 years on, and still rich in promise February 1, 2011 The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company to allow people to buy and sell its printed stocks and bonds. As such, it is considered the oldest stock exchange in the world. Things have changed a lot since then, though, and the Amsterdam exchange now forms part of NYSE [...]
Goldman earnings prompt FTSE sell-off January 19, 2011 A surprisingly sharp sell-off on the FTSE this afternoon pushed the index below the 6,000 mark, to close down 79.73 points or 1.32 per cent, at 5,976.70. A bigger than expected fall in earnings at leading US investment bank Goldman Sachs sparked a rout among investors across all sectors. Earlier in the day, more bad [...]
Unilever acquisition of Alberto Culver given shareholder nod December 20, 2010 SHAREHOLDERS in US consumer goods group Alberto Culver have voted in favour of its proposed $3.7bn (£2.38bn) acquisition by Unilever, announced on September 27. Alberto Culver brands include personal care names TRESemmé, Alberto VO5, Nexxus, St. Ives and Simple. The deal will make Unilever the world’s leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in [...]
Retailers and commodities push FTSE to three-week high December 7, 2010 Britain’s top shares closed at their highest level in over three weeks yesterday, lifted by commodity makers and retailers as equities remained the preferred asset class among investors despite macro concerns. The FTSE 100 ended up 38.17 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,808.45, having closed 0.4 per cent higher on Monday and 7.3 per [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 5, 2010 Linklaters Linklaters, the global law firm, has appointed Anne Byrne as UK head of real estate, based in London. Byrne, a partner since 2001, previously worked for Capital Shopping Centres and ProLogis and recently acted for UBS on its new European headquarters building at Broadgate. Linklaters also hired Yves Moreau as the global head of [...]
Unilever deal gets go-ahead November 17, 2010 ANGLO-DUTCH consumer goods firm Unilever won EU regulatory approval yesterday for its $1.3bn (£817m) purchase of Sara Lee Corp’s bodycare business after pledging to divest some assets from the acquisition. The European Commission said Unilever’s plan to sell Sara Lee’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe had eased concerns that the takeover could hurt [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 15, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES INVESTORS SCEPTICAL OF UNILEVER GROWTH PLAN For a company whose products clutter the shelves of virtually every home in the UK – not to mention plenty in Brazil, Indonesia and China – Unilever’s shares are not in demand. The maker of Dove soap, Persil detergent and PG Tips tea managed to confound analyst [...]
Rok calls in administrator November 8, 2010 SOCIAL housing company Rok stunned investors yesterday by filing for administration less than two months after management declared its confidence in the business. The Essex-based firm, which employs 3,800 people, released a terse statement to the stock market yesterday and PricewaterhouseCooper were later appointed as administrator. The firm issued a profit warning in August, but [...]