Bovis builds a solid profit in southern UK January 16, 2012 HOUSING group Bovis has laid the foundation for a strong 2012 after reporting significant profit growth last year, largely fuelled by family homes in the south of England. The house-building company, which is based in Kent, expects to improve returns further in 2012 after a year that saw 2,045 homes legally completed – an eight [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM BOVIS IN 2012? January 16, 2012 SIMON BROWN | NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS The group will achieve faster profit growth in 2012 due to stock specific attributes and a regional bias to southern England. We believe over 50 per cent of the sites in 2012 will be higher margin outlets. Coupled with improved cash flow, the new sites will yield a higher [...]
BALFOUR BEATTY WINS £100M IN DEALS January 16, 2012 BALFOUR Beatty has won construction contracts in the commercial sector worth £100m. In the City of London, the company has secured a £57m contract, to build AXA Real Estate’s Sixty London prime office development (pictured). The company has also won a £25m deal to deliver an 11-storey office building in the City for Viridis Real [...]
Ebooks lead to growth at Bloomsbury January 16, 2012 THE CHRISTMAS boost in e-reader sales led to a strong quarter for Bloomsbury, the London-based publisher, which reported significant growth in its digital department. For the September to December period inclusive, Bloomsbury saw a 38 per cent increase in ebook sales compared to the same quarter the previous year. Over a million electronic reading devices [...]
Samsung sides with Intel OS January 16, 2012 SAMSUNG is merging its Bada operating system with Tizen, an Intel-backed mobile operating system, in a bid to increase its stake of the smartphone market. The move could be seen as a response to Google’s $12.5bn (£8.2bn) acquisition of Motorola Mobility last year which has hinted that software giants could eventually hold in-house hardware departments. [...]
Hackers strike Israeli bourse January 16, 2012 HACKERS disrupted online access to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, El Al Airlines and three banks yesterday in what the government described as a cyber-offensive against Israel. The attacks came just days after an unidentified hacker, proclaiming Palestinian sympathies, posted the details of thousands of Israeli credit card holders and other personal information on the [...]
CITY VIEWS: TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU THINK EBOOKS WILL REPLACE PUBLISHED BOOKS? January 16, 2012 BHAVIN VAGHELA | LOVE AND TATE “Books have been around for a long time, and I prefer to be able to make notes on the page. It is also a lot easier to read on paper than on a screen.” DARREN MCCAUSLAND | STEPHENSON HARWOOD “I don’t own one but they will affect book sales [...]
Five weeks for Hoare Govett to learn its fate January 16, 2012 HOARE Govett, the stockbroker being sold by the beleaguered RBS bank, has already lost two blue chip clients in GlaxoSmithKline and Amlin as clients fret over its fate, so it is comforting to learn that it might know its new home in around five weeks time. Of course, in an ideal world, its future would [...]
Camco sells UK advisory business January 16, 2012 British low-carbon project developer Camco said yesterday it will sell its UK advisory business to Baxi Partnership for £4.5m, a move analysts say will help it raise cash in the face of record-low carbon prices. The company will continue its advisory business in Africa and provide some other advisory services outside the UK. Camco Advisory [...]
Kenya rubber stamps Ophir deal January 16, 2012 The energy minister for Kenya has approved London-listed Ophir Energy’s acquisition of oil firm Dominion Petroleum, whose operations are focused in East Africa. The takeover was announced in October last year when Ophir agreed to acquire Dominion for £118.2m, a 64 per cent premium to Dominion’s share price on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
