HMV sees return to profit next year August 9, 2012 Struggling British entertainment retailer HMV posted a £16.2m loss, but said it was confident that a focus on technology and the support of its suppliers and banks would help it bounce back. The 91-year-old retailer, famous for its Nipper the dog trademark, said today it made a pretax loss before exceptionals of £16.2m in the [...]
China factory output growth at three-year low August 9, 2012 Annual growth in China’s factory output slowed to its weakest in more than three years in July, missing market forecasts and increasing expectations that Beijing will take further policy steps to support an economy that has been sliding for six straight quarters. Official data released today also showed China’s annual consumer inflation fell to a [...]
Aviva profit down on restructuring costs August 9, 2012 Aviva, Britain’s second-largest insurer, reported a 10 per cent drop in half-year profit, blaming higher costs as it pushes through reorganisation aimed at improving its financial performance. Aviva made an operating profit of £935m in the first six months of 2012, down from £1.035bn a year earlier, it said today. Analysts had expected a profit [...]
MAN UTD KICKS OFF IPO WITH SKY-HIGH RATING August 8, 2012 MANCHESTER United is set to become a publicly traded company tomorrow after investors filled the order book for its shares, despite warnings from analysts that the stock is overpriced. City A.M. understands that there has been sufficient demand for the club to push ahead with its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, which will [...]
American regulator denies claim that it has an anti-British stance August 8, 2012 THE US regulatory body at the centre of allegations against Standard Chartered yesterday came out fighting against criticism that it had acted without consulting its fellow watchdogs, and denied that the case was proof of an anti-UK bias. One of the New York’s state financial services department’s senior officials told City A.M. yesterday that the [...]
Manchester United heads to the stock market (again) August 8, 2012 Way back in the 1990s, a host of football clubs decided to become public companies, listing their shares on the London stock market. They were led by Manchester United, which floated in 1991, and were followed by the likes of Aston Villa, Sunderland, Chelsea and even Charlton and Birmingham. Backers tried to convince investors they [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 8, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Square ties-up deal with Starbucks Square, the mobile payments start-up created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, yesterday took a big step towards the mainstream when Starbucks announced it would use its smartphone technology to replace transaction systems in its US coffee shops. Under the deal, Square will process all Starbucks transactions done with [...]
Greeks bid for Credit Agricole unit August 8, 2012 Two of Greece’s largest banks yesterday joined a race to buy Credit Agricole’s struggling Greek subsidiary Emporiki, put up for sale to limit the French lender’s exposure to crisis-hit Greece. National Bank and Eurobank said in separate bourse filings they submitted offers for Emporiki, which lost €1.62bn (£0.9bn) in 2011. Alpha Bank has already said [...]
Morgan Stanley eyes job cuts August 8, 2012 Morgan Stanley, under fire to boost profit margins in its retail brokerage arm, is considering closing brokerage offices, laying off support staff and requiring some branch managers also to generate revenue as advisers under a cost-cutting drive, according to reports. Morgan Stanley, which controls the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney venture owned jointly with Citigroup, last [...]
News Corp hit by writedown on publishing August 8, 2012 RUPERT Murdoch’s News Corp last night posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.55bn (£990m) after taking a major hit on the value of its publishing business and setting aside a further $57m to cover the cost of the ongoing phone hacking scandal in the UK. Total revenue for the three months to 30 June fell to [...]
