Zynga: second share offering March 14, 2012 ZYNGA is planning a secondary offering of $400m (£255m) in a bid to keep its current investors happy. The social gaming company, which listed for $10 a share in December, wants its main shareholders to agree to a longer “lock-up” period – usually six months – in which they can’t offload their shares. It could be [...]
Mecom rocked by low ad sales March 14, 2012 EUROPEAN publishing group Mecom reported a two per cent drop in revenues to €1.06bn in 2011 as advertising income fell seven per cent to €461.5m. Pre-tax losses were €33.4m – an improvement on 2010’s loss of €94.8m. Mecom also said it had acquired near total control of Wegener, its Dutch regional newspaper unit that accounts for [...]
Slump in UK hurts French Connection March 14, 2012 FRENCH CONNECTION said yesterday it was launching a review of its UK operations after a disappointing performance caused profits to slide by 32 per cent in 2011. The group, whose eponymous brand accounts for over 90 per cent of its revenue, reported pre-tax profits of £5m in the year to the end of January, in [...]
Greggs hopes special offers will reverse its slowing sales March 14, 2012 GREGGS said it has introduced extra promotions and discounts in its worst performing regions to entice cash-strapped customers, as sales slowed in the first weeks of the year. Chief executive Ken McMeikan said the 1.8 per cent fall in like for like sales in the first 10 weeks of 2012 reflected a four per cent [...]
Another firm looks to Asia for growth March 14, 2012 IT’S an increasingly familiar story. A UK firm, starved of revenue at home, looks east to expand, hoping the growing middle classes in India and China will pick up where the British “squeezed middle” have dropped out. French Connection’s position at the more expensive end of the high street means it may be able to [...]
RED-HOT GROWTH COOLS FOR HUGO BOSS March 14, 2012 HUGO Boss said sales growth would halve this year, cooled by a likely slowdown in red-hot Chinese demand for designer labels. The German fashion house, controlled by private equity house Permira, also announced plans to convert all its preference shares into ordinary shares, rekindling speculation that the buyout firm could seek an exit soon. In [...]
Weak factory data fuels fear of recession March 14, 2012 EVERY major EU economy except Germany’s saw industrial production fall in the year to January, official figures showed yesterday. The data reflects output from factories, as well as other industrial activities such as mining. Output fell 1.2 per cent in the 12-month period in the Eurozone and one per cent in the EU as a [...]
Economic growth slows across major economies March 14, 2012 GROWTH declined in the final quarter of 2011 across most of the world’s 20 biggest economies, according to research published yesterday. Aggregate GDP growth slowed to 0.7 per cent, following a 0.9 per cent expansion in the previous three month period and taking growth for the year as a whole to 2.8 per cent. That [...]
Fed boss plays down US GDP growth spurt March 14, 2012 THE US ECONOMIC recovery has been “frustratingly slow,” despite recent indications that growth was returning, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (pictured) said yesterday, as the US’s trade position deteriorated. New data showed the current account deficit expanded unexpectedly in the final quarter of last year, hitting $124.1bn (£79.2bn) as exports dropped and imports rose. The deteriorating [...]
Haldane: Better data could stop next Lehmans March 14, 2012 A CONFUSING array of different languages used in financial communications increases risks and damages competition, a top Bank of England official said yesterday. The Bank’s director for financial stability, Andy Haldane, said a global tagging system for trades would make markets safer and improve risk assessment – an area of confusion which worsened the Lehman [...]
