Fuller’s sales warmed by the sun July 21, 2009 Pub company Fuller’s, Smith & Turner said that the warmer weather boosted like-for-like sales in its managed pubs and hotels by 2.9 per cent in the 16 weeks to 18 July. Sales of Fuller’s own brewed beer, which includes London Pride, were up by two per cent. However chairman Michael Turner added that its tenanted [...]
Tricorona mulls over bid for rival July 21, 2009 The bidding war for EcoSecurities Group intensified yesterday with Swedish clean energy project developer Tricorona saying that it would consider bidding for the British rival. Tricorona’s statement comes a week after EcoSecurities rejected a second bid worth 77p per share by co-founder Pedro Moura Costa’s company Guanabara Holdings.
Oakley sees asset value rise July 21, 2009 Bermuda-based adviser Oakley Capital Investments reported a 16 per cent rise in net asset value per share for the first half of the year, and said it expected a significant number of attractive investment opportunities over the next 24 months. It added that its Oakley Capital Private unit’s largest portfolio company, Host Europe, sold one [...]
Next boosted by sales rush July 21, 2009 NEXT, the high street clothing retailer, yesterday brought some sunshine to the City by raising its annual profit forecast by £30m in an early trading update. Chief executive Simon Wolfson said: “Six months ago we were billed as optimists for saying the world wasn’t going to end. And it hasn’t.” The fashion chain, which has [...]
IG Group directors demand higher pay after profits rise July 21, 2009 SPREADBETTING firm IG Group said yesterday that it will ask shareholders to approve increases in its directors’ pay packages, as it reported a 30 per cent hike in its full-year profits, driven by new account openings. The company said that its directors’ basic pay has “fallen into the bottom quartile in most relevant surveys”, due [...]
DOES NEXT’S PROFIT UPGRADES BOOST YOUR FAITH IN RETAIL ? July 21, 2009 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWNEIn the midst of the current economic malaise, Next has been making outstanding progress. The early indications from its current summer sales are encouraging, whilst overall sales are in positive territory – almost inevitably helped along by a decent contribution from the Directory business. Meanwhile, the recent bout of good weather has [...]
Client inflows boost revival at BlackRock July 21, 2009 US ASSET manager BlackRock suffered a 20 per cent fall in second-quarter profit compared to last year, but saw results improve from the first three months of the year, it said yesterday. The firm, which will become the world’s largest asset manager upon completion of its $13.5bn (£8.2bn) acquisition of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), said [...]
Supermarkets that reacted to slump are strongest July 21, 2009 THE usual assumption is that the stock market is a “leading indicator” for economic confidence. But as today’s cut of YouGov data shows, it doesn’t lead public sentiment, but is actually behind. The graph shows the BrandIndex scores for public perception of “value for money” (rolling monthly average) for Waitrose, J Sainsbury and M&S, alongside [...]
Credit spreads at pre-Lehman levels as US sentiment boosted by CIT rescue July 21, 2009 EUROPEAN credit derivatives continued their revival yesterday, with spreads on the Markit iTraxx index reaching levels last seen prior to the collapse last year of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. The series 11 Markit iTraxx Europe index, tracking the cost of insuring against default on 125 investment-grade borrowers, reached 101/102 basis points yesterday afternoon, [...]
CHIP’S DOWN July 21, 2009 SINGAPORE’S Temasek yesterday said Charles (Chip) Goodyear, the former boss of BHP Billiton, had decided not to become chief executive of the state investment firm due to differences over strategy. The shock announcement, less than six months after Goodyear accepted the post, comes after severe criticism of the fund which has been hammered by its [...]
