United Utilities profits trump expectations May 24, 2012 UNITED Utilities yesterday reported profits which narrowly beat expectations and raised its final dividend. Britain’s largest listed water utility, said underlying pre-tax profit fell about one per cent to £327m but still beat analysts’ estimates of £317.7m. Price increases helped push sales up three per cent to £1.57bn, the company said in its figures covering [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | IS UNITED UTILITIES ADOPTING THE CORRECT PATH FOR GROWTH? May 24, 2012 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWN United has broadly reassured investors. It remains on track to meet its regulatory targets, whilst adjusted profits have materialised at the higher end of expectations. We say the stock is a ‘strong hold’. TINA COOK CHARLES STANLEY The financial position remains robust with headroom to cover projected financing needs to 2014. [...]
Cove narrows losses as suitor Shell re-thinks May 24, 2012 OIL and gas explorer Cove Energy yesterday said that its losses were narrowing while bidder for the company Shell said it was considering its options. The company reported a net loss for the year to the end of March of $4.09m (£2.6m) compared with $5.01m the previous year. Meanwhile oil major Shell issued a statement [...]
CWC dividend cut to four cents May 24, 2012 SHARES in Cable & Wireless Communications soared by 19 per cent yesterday after the company said it will halve its dividend to four cents. CWC boss Tony Rice told City A.M., “We wanted to set the dividend at a sustainable level, capable for growth. It was previously set at too high a level for the world we are entering.” [...]
Co-op hires 3,000 to expand legal service May 24, 2012 THE CO-Operative Group will hire 3,000 people to grow its legal arm, it said yesterday, as the firm continues its push to become the UK’s biggest provider of consumer legal services over the next decade. The Co-op was the first non-law firm to be licensed to sell legal services in the UK, after its application [...]
Banking group’s pledge should make law firms sit up and think May 24, 2012 With its commitment to hire 3,000 staff to expand its legal business, Co-op has come out fighting in the race to shake up the UK’s stagnating legal market. The comparatives are hardly scientific, but top firm Clifford Chance employs 3,200 legal advisers worldwide, so the Co-op’s goal would certainly bring it alongside the big boys [...]
Daily Mail firm profits hit by one-off costs May 24, 2012 BRITISH newspaper group Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) said yesterday that it still expects full-year earnings to grow, helped by an improved second-half performance, after the cost of disposals, restructuring and redundancies hit its first half. “Clearly the trading environment does remain somewhat challenging, particularly for our consumer businesses, but these results do illustrate the [...]
LONDON 2012 IMAGE OF THE WEEK May 24, 2012 THIS week, Lord Mayor of the City of London David Wootton posed with the 1948 Olympic torch – used when London last hosted the Games. Created by Ralph Lavers to represent the best of British craftsmanship, and inspired by classical architecture, the design was successful enough to be used again at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. [...]
Omnicom acquires ad agency behind John Lewis campaign May 24, 2012 ADAM & Eve, the communications agency behind the much-loved John Lewis adverts, was yesterday bought by DDB, a subsidiary of Omnicom. The £60m deal will see the company’s four founding partners – Jon Forsyth, Ben Priest, James Murphy and David Golding – assume senior roles at Adam & Eve / DDB. The five year old firm has risen [...]
Porvair upbeat on full year May 24, 2012 Filtration specialist Porvair said yesterday that it had started 2012 well and expects to report interim profits well ahead of 2011. It said group revenue in the first half of 2011 was up 10 per cent on the previous year while its order book was strong. It spent £3.4m buying Pulse Instrumentation, Pell Industries and [...]
