Credit Suisse axes 2,000 jobs July 28, 2011 Swiss bank Credit Suisse is cutting about 2,000 jobs after a second hit by weak trading activity and the strong Swiss franc. Net profit fell to 768m Swiss francs (£570m), the bank said – below average analyst forecasts for 1 billion. Net new assets in private banking were 11.5 billion, below average analyst forecasts for [...]
Centrica sees £1.3bn profit July 28, 2011 British Gas owner Centrica has seen operating profits of £1.3bn in the six months to 30 June. The figure was down 19 per cent on the same period last year. The results include a 54 per cent fall in operating profits at its residential energy division, British Gas, to £270m. Yesterday British Gas was fined [...]
Shell reports £4.9bn profit July 28, 2011 Royal Dutch Shell reported a 77 per cent rise in net second-quarter income compared with the same period last year, as higher oil prices, asset sales and non-cash gains outweighed a drop in production. Shell said second-quarter current cost of supply net income was $8bn (£4.9bn). Excluding one-offs the result was $6.55bn, just below an [...]
Manufacturing slows in July says CBI July 27, 2011 British factory orders fell more sharply than forecast in July while industry expects the slowdown in manufacturing to continue over the coming months. The survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) doused hopes for improvement in the third quarter a day after official data showed the economy barely grew in the second quarter. The [...]
Ofgem fines British Gas £2.5m July 27, 2011 Energy regulator Ofgem is to fine Centrica’s British Gas, the country’s biggest household energy supplier, £2.5m for breaching regulations related to the handling of customer complaints. The complaint handling regulations took effect from October 2008 and set out the service that domestic and micro-business energy customers should expect from energy companies if they raise a [...]
ITV ad sales down but forecasts pick up in market July 27, 2011 ITV reported a six per cent drop in second-quarter national advertising revenue and saw the decline continuing as it remained cautious about the TV ad market and the economy. The company, which is one year into a five-year transformation plan under new management, reported a four per cent increase in total external revenue to £1.03bn [...]
Santander profit dented by UK insurance payouts July 27, 2011 Spain’s Banco Santander is to take a one-off charge of 620 million euros (£547m) to provide for insurance mis-selling claims in Britain, hurting its first-half profit. British banks including Lloyds and Barclays have unveiled billions of pounds of charges to cover compensation for mis-selling on payment protection insurance policies (PPI). Santander said on Wednesday first-half [...]
Aegis sells Synovate for £525m July 27, 2011 British marketing company Aegis Group said it agreed to sell its market research unit Synovate to French group Ipsos for £525m and planned to return a portion of the proceeds to shareholders. Aegis, which also has a media buying arm, said on Wednesday it would return £200m to shareholders via a special divided and added [...]
BAA narrows losses as traffic rises July 27, 2011 British airport operator BAA reported narrowing first half losses, helped by growth in long-haul travel, and said it continued to consider appealing a ruling saying it must sell two of its airports. BAA, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, reported an adjusted pretax loss of £116.9m in the six months to the end of [...]
BAT raises prices to boost earnings July 27, 2011 British American Tobacco raised its cigarette prices in the first half of 2011 to offset declining underlying volumes helping the group to beat forecasts on Wednesday with a 10 percent rise in half year earnings. The London-based maker of Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes said the price increases helped offset a 1 [...]
