C&C pins hopes on new Magners ads May 25, 2010 C&C Group hopes a series of new ad campaigns and acquisitions will help to arrest declining sales in its Magners brand. The UK cider market has been growing around five per cent a year but Magners has seen a reversal in fortunes. Chief executive John Dunsmore said: “Magners has lost substantial market share in the [...]
M&S sees 5pc profit jump as Rose moves on May 25, 2010 MARKS & Spencer yesterday reported a rise in profits as new chief executive Marc Bolland prepared to take over the reins at the high street giant. The figures were the last to be presented by outgoing chief Sir Stuart Rose, who said the handover was going “smoothly”. M&S recorded a pre-tax profit of £632m for [...]
Dyson to take over at Punch May 25, 2010 IAN Dyson will take over as Punch Taverns’ chief executive in September. The current finance head of Marks & Spencer (M&S) will take up the challenge of being boss of the UK’s largest pub company. Punch’s chief executive, Giles Thorley, will stay on board “until an orderly handover has been completed”, Punch said in a [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: ARE THE M&S RESULTS SATISFACTORY? May 25, 2010 MATTHEW MCEACHRAN | SINGER CAPITAL MARKETS “Although current ranges are winning back customers, new chief executive Bolland will be under pressure to improve investor sentiment. This might take time but, after a period of sector underperformance, the shares appear to be slightly oversold. Bolland will need to draw on all his management skills.” KATE CALVERT [...]
De La Rue profits hit by surging pension deficit May 25, 2010 DE La Rue, the world’s biggest non-governmental printer of banknotes, yesterday announced plans to cut its pension deficit after restructuring charges and pension costs hit profits. An early April valuation of its UK final salary pension scheme showed a deficit of £204m, from £56m in April 2006, as declining asset values and longer life expectancy [...]
Ovoca Gold plans a 10 per cent buyback of shares May 25, 2010 Ovoca Gold said yesterday it plans to seek approval to repurchase up to 10 per cent of the company’s issued share capital by way of on-market share buybacks. The company does not currently have the authority to repurchase its own shares. Ovaca said it has a strong balance sheet of US$43m (£30m) in net cash [...]
Vienna top for quality of life May 25, 2010 VIENNA still has the highest quality of living, according to new research which ranks it as the number one city in the world to live. It is the second year running that the Austrian Capital has bagged the top spot. Mercer’s Quality of Living index showed that people in Vienna have a high quality of [...]
Findus frozen out by bidders May 25, 2010 PRIVATE equity houses Permira and Lion Capital are emerging as front runners for Unilever’s Italian frozen food unit Findus as other bidders question its profitability, sources close to the situation said yesterday. Permira and Lion, which already run frozen food businesses, both put in offers for the Unilever unit on yesterday’s deadline for first round [...]
Hedge fund Magnetar lines up M&A portfolio May 25, 2010 US-BASED hedge fund firm Magnetar Capital plans to launch an event-driven fund in coming months, said a source close to the firm, capitalising on investor expectations of a pick-up in mergers and acquisitions. The fund will be managed by Alec Litowitz, who founded Magnetar in 2005 and specialises in this area, and will bet on [...]
Investors in WaMu probe JP Morgan May 25, 2010 SHAREHOLDERS of bankrupt Washington Mutual asked a federal judge for permission to investigate JPMorgan Chase for its role in the failure of Washington Mutual Bank, according to court documents filed yesterday. The equity committee wants information that could lead to potential claims against JPMorgan if they can show that the investment bank had a role [...]
