Trinity Mirror hit by ad revenue fall May 12, 2011 Trinity Mirror suffered a 10 per cent drop in advertising sales during the first four months of the year, as the newspaper publisher was hampered by difficult trading conditions. The media group, which recently completed the acquisition of Guardian Media Group’s regional titles, said the trading environment remained challenging due to the fragile economy, public [...]
RSA upbeat as sales rise May 12, 2011 Insurer RSA gave a confident outlook as acquisitions made over the last year helped boost its first-quarter sales. RSA said its first-quarter net written premiums had risen by 8 percent from the previous year to 2.1 billion pounds, with turnover boosted by deals such as its acquisitions of Canadian insurer GCAN and Irish group 123 [...]
BT beats forecasts and reveals pensions boost May 12, 2011 BT posted a better-than-expected rise in fourth quarter core earnings due to cost cuts, strong broadband and enterprise sales and showed a huge improvement in its pension scheme. Britain’s biggest fixed-line services supplier, which has been hampered in the last two years by concerns over its pension deficit, said total revenues for the quarter were [...]
Prudential reports better than expected profit May 11, 2011 Insurer Prudential has reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit after a strong performance in its key Asian markets helped it offset a previously flagged downturn in India. Prudential, Britain’s biggest insurer, said it made a new business profit of 498 million pounds in the first three months, up 17 per cent from a year earlier. Analysts had [...]
Trade gap widens in March – but still strong May 11, 2011 The country’s goods trade deficit widened more than expected in March, giving back some of the strong improvement seen in the first two months. The Office for National Statistics said that the goods trade gap widened to £7.66bn from £6.99bn in February, some way above the £7.25bn (ONS) economists had expected. The total trade deficit, [...]
Sainsbury’s profit up 12.8pc May 11, 2011 Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has reported a 12.8 per cent jump in annual pre-tax profits to £827m. The retailer said that total sales for the year to 19 March rose 7.1 per cent to £23bn, with non-food sales performing well. The group also said that it had won market share from rivals, taking it from 16.1 [...]
HSBC plans £2.1bn savings May 11, 2011 HSBC is reviewing its US cards business and streamlining its wealth management and retail banking operations as it eyes savings of up to $3.5bn (£2.1bn), Europe’s biggest bank has said. HSBC said the savings would help it reduce the proportion of revenue spent on expenses to 48-52 per cent by 2013 from 61 per cent [...]
Tube strike called off May 10, 2011 The two-week Tube drivers’ strike due to start next Monday was called off after a deal was struck through secret negotiations. Transport for London chief Mike Brown held talks with the RMT union and told leader Bob Crow that a driver at the centre of the dispute will be re-employed. Brown said the deal had [...]
Tesco to appeal to “aspirational” shoppers May 10, 2011 Tesco plans to create new brands to spruce up its product ranges and appeal to increasingly aspirational shoppers across the world, its new chief executive said. Phil Clarke, outlining his strategy for the supermarket group, also said Tesco would be online in all 15 of its markets this decade and, while it would continue to [...]
BG Group profit hit by North Sea tax May 10, 2011 Civil unrest in North Africa and floods in Australia conspired to hit British gas and oil producer BG Group’s profit in the first quarter and forced it to cut its output growth forecast for this year. Underlying pre-tax profit fell eight per cent, the company said in an update that missed forecasts and knocked 3.4 [...]
