Sales growth for Spirit on successful demerger March 15, 2012 SPIRIT Pub Company said yesterday it was on track to meet its full year expectations as sales at its managed pubs grew 5.6 per cent in its second quarter. Drink sales were up 5.2 per cent, while food sales led the way with 7.2 per cent growth during the period. Spirit, which operates about 800 [...]
New senior partner at SJ Berwin March 15, 2012 Competition head Stephen Kon was yesterday named as the new senior partner at City law firm SJ Berwin, after winning a two-way partner vote. Kon, who has worked at the firm for 30 years, said he planned to focus on “integrating the firm’s international practices” over his three-year term. He also said he was looking [...]
Powell re-elected as PwC chair March 15, 2012 Incumbent Ian Powell was yesterday re-elected as chairman and senior partner of big four accountancy firm PwC. Powell, who joined PwC as a graduate trainee in 1977, will serve another four-year term at the top of the firm from 1 July 2012. He was voted in by a ballot open to PwC’s 894 UK partners. [...]
JL Infrastructure grows value March 15, 2012 Recent FTSE-250 entrant John Laing Infrastructure Fund said yesterday its portfolio had grown faster than expected during 2011 – its first full year as a publicly listed company. The portfolio valuation of the group grew by £115.7m last year after it spent £109.5m on 10 acquisitions. Profits before tax at the firm were £23.4m, and [...]
Shell’s execs get bumper pay awards March 15, 2012 SHELL’S record profits led to bumper pay-outs for its top staff last year, its annual report showed yesterday. The company beat eight of its 14 performance targets, thanks to the soaring price of oil that pushed up its profits 54 per cent to £18bn, allowing it to “increase… the overall remuneration quantum” for the year. [...]
Lufthansa to cut costs in bid to reduce impact of fuel costs March 15, 2012 GERMAN flagship airline Deutsche Lufthansa vowed to make tough cost cuts and restructure its loss-making Austrian unit as it warned yesterday that economic uncertainty and high fuel prices would cut into its operating profit this year. Lufthansa saw operating profit drop by almost 20 per cent to €820m (£683.1m) in 2011 and said it saw [...]
BAE Systems to buy textbooks for Tanzania in SFO settlement March 15, 2012 DEFENCE giant BAE Systems agreed yesterday to pay almost £30m towards education projects in Tanzania as part of a settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The payment is linked to a fine handed to BAE in late 2010 after the company admitted it had failed to keep adequate accounting records in relation to a [...]
PRIVATE JET COMPANY PROFITS FALL March 15, 2012 PRIVATE charter airline Air Partner said yesterday that its pre-tax profits fell 56 per cent for the six months to 30 January, but said it continued to be profitable in a “challenging market”. The airline made a profit before tax of £1.6m in the period, compared to £2.8m last year.
Premier Farnell hit by sluggish growth March 15, 2012 ELECTRONIC parts distributor Premier Farnell said strong emerging markets demand and increased market share would see it return to growth this year after it posted profit below expectations in a tough global industrial sector. Premier Farnell, which in July issued a profit warning after sales were hit by the global economic slowdown, said adjusted pre-tax [...]
Glaxo sells brands including Nytol to Belgium’s Omega March 15, 2012 PHARMA giant GlaxoSmithKline has sold some of its brands in Europe, including sleeping pill Nytol and hayfever spray Beconase, to Omega Pharma for €470m (£391m), it said yesterday. The firm has been offloading its non-core healthcare consumer brands for about a year, and said yesterday the proceeds from this latest sale will be returned to [...]
