Germany sees steep investor sentiment drop May 19, 2015 GERMAN investor sentiment declined sharply in May, following surprisingly weak economic growth and turbulence in the market for government debt. The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment dropped 11.4 points, to a score of 41.9 for May, according to figures released yesterday by the eponymous firm. It marks the sentiment indicator’s lowest point of 2015. “Financial [...]
DCC Energy to buy French business from Shell May 19, 2015 DUBLIN-BASED investments group DCC saw its shares surge yesterday, after the company’s energy division announced a €464m offer for Shell’s Butagaz liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business in France. The deal would mark the largest acquisition DCC has ever made, and would increase DCC Energy’s LPG business from around 700,000 tonnes to 1.2m tonnes. According to [...]
Aveva reveals £10m dent in profit for 2015 May 19, 2015 SHARES in engineering group Aveva reversed their upward trajectory yesterday, after reporting a 12 per cent drop in revenue in the year to 31 March. Sales fell from £237.3m in the 2014 financial year to £208.7m. Meanwhile, pre-tax profit plunged by 20 per cent from £69m to £58m. The company said the results reflect a [...]
Majors’ capex cuts good for Opec May 19, 2015 THE DECISIONS recently made by many oil majors to slash spending on new projects could be good for the oil price, according to analysts. According to research from Rystad Energy, there has been a $100bn (£65bn) drop in oil and gas capital expenditure since the oil price began to fall from around $115 a barrel [...]
PM’s ex-adviser pulls no punches on banking jobs May 19, 2015 STEVE HILTON, former adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, co-founder and boss of Silicon Valley tech start-up Crowdpac, visiting professor at Stamford University, is in London to promote his book, More Human, Designing a World Where People Come First. Among a range of topics – from the throttling of the High Street by supermarkets to the [...]
Scottish Tory leader asks Irish to say I Do to same-sex marriage May 19, 2015 SCOTTISH Tory leader Ruth Davidson has recently seen her star rise, with the referendum prompting an increased focus on politics north of the border. Now she is setting her sights across the sea to events in Ireland. Davidson, and her Irish girlfriend Jen Wilson, have called on voters in the country to say yes to [...]
Peppa Pig helps Entertainment One double its pre-tax profits May 19, 2015 ENTERTAINMENT One yesterday announced rising profits, fuelled by success in television, particularly the continuing popularity of its Peppa Pig children’s character. The firm said that pre-tax profits had doubled to £44m, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) was up 16 per cent to £107.3m, for the year ending March 31 2015. Group [...]
Land Securities share price rises as property developer hikes dividend amid lettings boom May 19, 2015 Shares in Land Securities rose almost three per cent yesterday, after the property developer hiked its dividend by 3.7 per cent, saying a boom in demand for commercial property had boosted its net asset value. The FTSE 100 company, which jointly owns the Walkie Talkie skyscraper in the City with Canary Wharf Group, said [...]
Crest Nicholson sees trade rise in a competitive housing market May 19, 2015 Housebuilder Crest Nicholson said yesterday that revisions to stamp duty and increasingly competitive pricing in the mortgage market led to strong trading in the six months ending 30 April. Sales per outlet per week for the six-month period were at 0.93, a 12 per cent increase on 0.83 in the first six months of 2014. [...]
Big Yellow sees bigger growth May 19, 2015 Storage group Big Yellow posted strong year-on-year results yesterday, with a 32 per cent rise in earnings. Big Yellow, which owns 84 stores and is the leading UK self-storage company, saw its revenue for the year ending 31 March 2015 jump 17 per cent, to £84.3m from £72.2m a year earlier. Nicholas Vetch, executive chairman, [...]
