Man Utd could list as early as next week July 19, 2012 MANCHESTER UNITED is expected to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in New York as early as next week for pricing in early August, after earlier attempts in Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore failed to reach expectations. The club had originally aimed to proceed with the listing in early September, but has moved its [...]
Mecom chief steps down as break-up eyed July 19, 2012 THE CHIEF executive of struggling European newspaper publisher Mecom stepped down yesterday following investor anger at the company’s strategy. Tom Toumazis, who became CEO last year, will step down in September. Chairman Stephen Davidson will become executive chairman and oversee a “strategic review” at the firm, which is likely to be broken up with many [...]
CITY VIEWS | DO YOU THINK THE OLYMPICS WILL BE A BOOST TO THE ECONOMY? July 19, 2012 ALEX TROTT ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT I think it mainly will affect the retail sector, because of the amount of people coming into the area. I agree that London will attract more attention than usual. It’s a big player in the world. JOE CHICK SEB KEY ASSET MANAGEMENT I doubt there will be a profit overall, [...]
Wet weather leads to drought for revenue growth for Britvic July 19, 2012 THE SUMMER washout has dampened sales of soft drinks, Britvic complained yesterday as it reported a deluge of disappointing figures. Britvic’s revenues dropped 7.6 per cent in the quarter, hurt by a currency impact as well as falling sales. The firm was last month forced to recall its Fruit Shoot drinks after a choking scare [...]
Verizon sees earnings leap July 19, 2012 AMERICAN telecoms operator Verizon yesterday reported that its profits rose by 19 per cent in the second quarter of the year, thanks to a huge rise in mobile data revenues. Income rose to $4.28bn (£2.72bn) on a 3.7 per cent rise in sales to $28.6bn, largely driven by the firm’s mobile network Verizon Wireless. Data [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | HOW SHOULD INVESTORS TAKE HALFORDS’ RESULTS? July 19, 2012 DAVID JEARY INVESTEC [This year] looks set to be tough, and clearly a change of CEO adds an element of uncertainty to the business. However, strategy is unchanged, cash generation remains strong, supporting our unchanged dividend forecast. AURELIE CASPAR BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH We think the shares should react positively to newsflow today as [...]
Profits jump at Paragon July 19, 2012 Buy-to-let mortgage firm Paragon Group said yesterday its operating profit had reached £68.9m for the nine months to 30 June 2012, a strong performance in line with management expectations. The group put the 17 per cent increase, up from £58.9m last year, down to its acquired portfolio of consumer loans. Pre-tax profits, including a £600,000 [...]
Coller raises $5.5bn for sixth fund July 19, 2012 Coller Capital has raised $5.5bn (£3.5bn) – 10 per cent more than initially targeted – to buy private equity investments from banks and other investors. The money will fund its sixth so-called secondaries fund. Coller was one of the first firms to specialise in buying positions in private equity funds, as well as acquiring portfolios [...]
Vivendi mulls sale of Brazil unit July 19, 2012 Vivendi is considering selling its Brazilian telecom unit GVT, sources said last night. A sale of GVT could be worth up to €8.5bn and comes after the French group’s exploratory talks to offload video games unit Activision Blizzard found few takers at the price it sought. “A sale of GVT is no longer taboo and [...]
Co-op trends on Twitter after Lloyds decision July 19, 2012 There were many at the Co-op’s headquarters near Manchester who never thought it would happen. Not the successful bid for the Lloyds branches that Lloyds had been forced to sell for competition reasons by the EU. Despite a few jitters, Co-op insiders were always confident of clinching a deal. But one thing did surprise many [...]
