Profits up at Amlin in spite of losses in UK May 22, 2014 INSURER Amlin has announced a 5.1 per cent rise in gross written premium for the first three quarters of this year, despite declining profits in the UK business. Overall gross written premium to the end of March this year was £1.27bn compared to £1.22bn in the same period the year before. Strong performances in Amlin [...]
Profits soar as SABMiller plans further savings May 22, 2014 SABMILLER, the world’s second largest brewer, led the FTSE 100 risers yesterday after it posted a three per cent rise in profits to $4.8bn (£2.8bn) for the year ended 31 March, beating market expectations. The brewer also announced it would aim to make an additional $500m a year in savings by the financial year ending [...]
Cuts to defence spending hit Qinetiq’s revenue and profits May 22, 2014 QINETIQ, the former research arm of the Ministry of Defence, yesterday posted a decline in full-year revenue and profit, due to government spending cuts in the US and Europe. The FTSE 250-listed defence and technology company reported revenue of £1.19bn, down from £1.33bn the previous year, while pre-tax profit dropped to £119.4m from £152.1m. But [...]
Dairy Crest milks profits May 22, 2014 DAIRY Crest yesterday reported a 31 per cent rise in pre-tax full-year profits to £65.3m, buoyed by a strong performance by its Cathedral City cheese. However, Mark Allen, the chief executive of Britain’s largest dairy firm, warned that profits might be hit by rising milk costs. Shares closed down 32.10p at 427.9p.
Carillion awarded £300m Dubai hotels contract May 22, 2014 LONDON-LISTED construction services firm Carillion yesterday said that its joint venture business in the Middle East has signed contracts to build two new luxury hotels in Dubai, worth a total of £300m. As part of the agreement, Al Futtaim Carillion will construct a luxury 435-room hotel resort for Jumeirah Group, which will be located next [...]
Electrocomponents growth disappoints May 22, 2014 Electrocomponents, a British distributor of electronic products for engineers, reported two per cent growth in sales for the first seven weeks of its financial year, sending its shares down as much as 6.2 per cent in early trading. The company said yesterday its full-year headline pre-tax profit rose 7.4 per cent to £101.1m in the [...]
City Moves for 23 May 2014 | Who’s switching jobs May 22, 2014 Addleshaw Goddard The law firm has announced the election of John Joyce as a managing partner. He specialises in corporate restructuring. Joyce has been a partner since 1998, and was most recently head of business support and restructuring. Euler Hermes Bonding The surety bond provider has appointed Adam Hinc as a senior underwriter in its [...]
Best of the Brokers for 23 May 2014 May 22, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com MARKS & SPENCER UBS has kept its “neutral” rating for the high street shop, but cut its target from 475p to 465p after this week’s results, which were slightly better than expected. The broker thinks M&S’s three-year recovery plan has been disappointing so far, [...]
London Report: FTSE ends flat as Royal Mail warns of rivals May 22, 2014 THE FTSE 100 fell slightly yesterday on the back of a mixed picture of the latest Purchasing Managers Index surveys – with China and the US reporting good results while France’s were poor. The market closed down 0.48 points at 6820.56, a drop of 0.01 per cent. The biggest climber of the day was global [...]
New York Report: Wall Street up after biotech stocks surge May 22, 2014 WALL Street ended higher for the second straight session yesterday, led by small-cap stocks, while the Nasdaq climbed on a rally in biotech shares. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.02 points or 0.06 per cent, to end at 16,543.08. The S&P 500 gained 4.46 points or 0.24 per cent, to 1,892.49. The Nasdaq Composite [...]
