Cranswick’s sales lifted by high pork demand but margins suffer May 19, 2014 PORK specialist Cranswick beat expectations yesterday with full-year profits up six per cent to £52.2m, driven by increased consumer demand for British pork, but saw its margins squeezed by higher pig feed prices. Revenues leapt 14 per cent to £994.9m after Cranswick launched new products including a range of premium pastries including pies, sausage rolls [...]
Punch pockets £6.7m on sales May 19, 2014 PUNCH Taverns, the indebted pub chain currently restructuring a £2.3bn bond mountain with noteholders, yesterday said it has sold four of its London pubs for £6.7m. Morgana Limited will take ownership of the pubs by the end of June when the deal will close. Punch said the cash raised from the sale would be used [...]
Oasis snaps up Apex dentists May 19, 2014 OASIS Healthcare has bought Apex Dental Care, adding to its chain of NHS and private dentists, the group announced yesterday. Oasis, which was bought by private equity firm Bridgepoint a year ago, is thought to have paid upwards of £20m for Apex’s 31 dental practices. Apex posted pre-tax profits of £714,000 on revenues of £13m [...]
Centaur falls after £26m sell off May 19, 2014 Information and events group Centaur Media saw its shares fall 7.1 per cent yesterday after announcing the disposal of a major subsidiary and the earlier £12.5m payment of an earn-out on a recent acquisition. Chief Andria Vidler said the sale of Perfect Information for £26m is justified as it “does not fit with the rest [...]
Terra Firma gives direct holding May 19, 2014 Private equity company Terra Firma plans to give investors in its Terra Firma Deutsche Annington Fund (TFDA) a direct shareholding in German real estate group Deutsche Annington, the firm revealed yesterday. “This will result in TFDA’s investors having direct ownership of Deutsche Annington Ordinary shares, pro rata to their interests in TFDA,” Terra Firma stated. [...]
Unipol keen to sell Alitalia stake May 19, 2014 Italian insurer Unipol would sell its 0.3 per cent stake in Alitalia if it were asked to do so as part of ongoing talks with Abu Dhabi airline Etihad about investing in the Italian carrier, its chief executive said yesterday. “It is not a large stake. If we were asked to (as part of negotiations [...]
Mitie profits up 4.3pc despite disposal costs May 19, 2014 MITIE shrugged off the woes of the wider outsourcing sector yesterday by unveiling in-line results for the year, which showed a 5.2 per cent rise in organic revenue growth and a 4.3 per cent rise in pre-tax profit. The FTSE 250-listed outsourcing firm, which holds contracts with a range of organisations including Network Rail, the [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of Mitie’s full-year results? May 19, 2014 CAROLINE DE LA SOUJEOLE | CANTOR FITZGERALD The headline numbers were broadly in-line with expectations but exceptional items are significantly higher than anticipated which raises questions over the quality of earnings. The shape of the group has changed significantly in recent years, and the business is now operating in more attractive markets. JOE BRENT | [...]
Government cuts boost Babcock earnings May 19, 2014 UK ENGINEERING firm Babcock yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for the year ahead, as it unveiled a 15 per cent rise in full-year profits. The FTSE 100 company posted a nine per cent rise in revenue to £3.5bn and pre-tax profits of £316.1m. Babcock, which generates more than half its revenue from the Ministry of [...]
Mears reveals £110m in deals May 19, 2014 MEARS, the social housing support group, yesterday said it is trading in line with expectations and has secured new contracts totalling £110m this year to date. The London-listed company said it has now secured 94 per cent of the £904m revenues forecast for 2014, with an order book of £3.8bn and a bid pipeline of [...]
