Profits double at Aldermore ahead of float February 17, 2015 CHALLENGER bank Aldermore reassured potential investors by doubling profits over 2014, in an important declaration of strength after it had to cancel its stock market flotation last year. Pre-tax profits surged to £56m for the year and return on equity climbed to 19 per cent for the second half of 2014. Aldermore’s net loans increased [...]
Pendragon doubles dividend sending shares racing higher February 17, 2015 CAR DEALERSHIP Pendragon doubled its dividend after it reported a 36 per cent jump in underlying pre-tax profit in 2014. As profit rose to £60.2m, the company paid 0.6 pence per share and earnings per share went up by more than a third. “We have doubled the dividend to reward our shareholders and our strong [...]
Center Parcs‘ owner chooses banks to lead upcoming London listing February 17, 2015 BLACKSTONE, the owner of Center Parcs since 2006, has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to head up its listing on the London Stock Exchange. Barclays and Deutsche Bank were also chosen to work on the listing, which would value the company at £2.5bn.
Business groups back Petroceltic in fight with Worldview February 17, 2015 Shares in oil firm Petroceltic closed up by 1.69 per cent yesterday after the company revealed that three leading corporate governance organisations had announced their support for the firm in its ongoing dispute with major shareholder Worldview. Activist investor Worldview is seeking to have the Irish firm’s chef executive Brian O’Cathain removed from the board [...]
Dragon Oil revenue hit by poor oil price but dividend remains February 17, 2015 LONDON-listed Dragon Oil posted revenue of $1.09bn (£712m) for 2014, up from the $1.05bn reported for the previous year, despite a 16 per cent decline in operating profit, which was down from $688m to $579m. The company said revenues had been hit “primarily by a significant decline in the Brent oil price” during the second [...]
Sky hopes that huge Premier League TV football deal will score with fans – Brand Index February 17, 2015 Sky Sports was clearly in no mood to relinquish to BT Sport the right to broadcast Premier League matches between 2016-19, despite having to shell out the bulk of the £5bn needed to secure those rights. There has been some dissent, with some ex-players calling the amount of money involved obscene. Commentators have asserted that [...]
Draghi’s bond buying sparks EU shares rush February 17, 2015 FUND managers are shunning US shares in favour of Eurozone stocks in the wake of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) massive bond buying programme, a poll showed yesterday. Allocations to listed stocks in the Eurozone rose to its second highest level ever this month, according to Bank of America’s fund manager survey, threatening to breach its [...]
Finance firms shun bond market as likes of Apple take the lead February 17, 2015 APPLE’S Tim Cook has rolled out four jumbo bond issues in the past two years – and according to new research published yesterday it seems he’s not alone. Figures from the influential Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show the number of non-financial companies issuing corporate bonds has jumped 77 per cent since 2008, [...]
SocGen backs derivatives trading venue February 17, 2015 SOCIETE Generale has taken a minority stake in London-based derivatives exchange Global Markets Exchange (GMex) Group for an undisclosed sum. The banking corporation has taken the stake through its Societe Generale Prime Services arm, formerly known as Newedge. The deal puts SocGen second on the shareholder register to Deutsche Borse Group, which bought part of GMex [...]
Wood Group hit by oil price drop so will cut $30m February 17, 2015 Aberdeen-based energy service company Wood Group expects to cut back on $30m (£19.5m) worth of expenses in 2015. The company yesterday reported a rise in profit of little under three per cent to $424.4m and saw its revenue go up by 7.8 per cent in 2014. An internal focus on efficiency will help Wood Group [...]
