Investec profits hit by Rand fall August 1, 2013 SOUTH African bank and asset manager Investec has seen its rise in profit wiped out by the dramatic depreciation of the rand. In the three months to the end of June, Investec said total operating income rose four per cent, but costs rose by the same amount wiping out any increase. The rand slumped by [...]
Hedgies amass £1 trillion debt August 1, 2013 TOP HEDGE funds around the world have debts of more than $1 trillion (£660m) on their balance sheets, secret data from US regulators show. The findings were released by the US Securities Exchange Commission. The watchdog collects the confidential data under new rules as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. The debts are mainly made up [...]
ArcelorMittal cuts its forecast August 1, 2013 ARCELORMITTAL, the world’s largest steelmaker, cut its 2013 core profit guidance yesterday on weaker than forecast demand in Europe and the United States and lower raw material prices. The firm, which makes six to seven per cent of the world’s steel, said it now expected the European market would shrink by between 1.5 and 2.5 [...]
Portmeirion’s royal sales lift August 1, 2013 PORTMEIRION said it expects the birth of baby Cambridge to provide a strong fillip to sales as it posted a 4.4 per cent rise in revenues to £23.8m for the first six months of the year. Chief executive Lawrence Bryan said yesterday customers had already snapped up £500,000 of bone china mugs and plates with [...]
Smith & Nephew revenues in line August 1, 2013 ARTIFICIAL knee and hip maker Smith & Nephew reported trading profit of $232m (£152.5m) yesterday, up one per cent on an underlying basis, as strength in its advanced wound management unit offset a weak performance in orthopaedic reconstruction. “As expected orthopaedic reconstruction had a slow quarter and we anticipate a better second half,” the company [...]
Trinity Mirror earnings rise August 1, 2013 A SHARP rise in the number of digital users saw better-than-expected results for publishing group Trinity Mirror. The firm, which owns a string of national and local publications in the UK, reported in its first-half results yesterday that its number of online users had grown by 37 per cent across its publishing operations. Coupled with [...]
Retail failures weigh on Intu August 1, 2013 INTU saw its shares slip yesterday after the shopping centre owner blamed retail administrations for a 2.9 per cent fall in like-for-like rental income in the first half of the year. The company said earnings had been hit by failures in the last 18 months of tenants, representing annual rent of £35m – or £13m [...]
City Moves for 2 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 1, 2013 Thomas Cook The travel group has announced the appointment of Sandra Campopiano as chief people officer. She joins from Premier Farnell, where she was chief people officer for six years. KPMG The professional services firm has made three hires to its tax litigation practice. Amanda Brown has been appointed overall head of tax litigation. She [...]
Best of the Brokers for 2 August 2013 August 1, 2013 ENTERPRISE INNS Deutsche Bank has raised the pub company’s target price by 40 per cent to 190p as it reaffirmed its “buy” rating. The bank’s analysts said that the recent good weather should see a return to profit in the chain’s third quarter results, due next week. KINGFISHER A recent meeting with Kingfisher’s management failed [...]
London Report: Mid-cap index in historic jump beyond 15,000 August 1, 2013 BRITAIN’S equity markets rose yesterday, led by financials and mining stocks, with the mid-cap FTSE 250 index closing above the psychologically key 15,000 points mark for the first time in its two-decade history. Financials, the biggest sector among Britain’s mid and large-caps, rallied thanks to forecast-beating results at the UK’s largest retail bank Lloyds, up [...]
