Asos profit estimated at top end April 13, 2011 online fashion firm ASOS said full year profit was likely to be towards the top end of expectations after a jump in fourth quarter sales. The fast-growing firm said retail sales increased 70 per cent to £93.4m in the three months to 31 March, its fiscal fourth quarter. That compares with a rise of 59 [...]
Exports fuel drop in UK trade deficit April 12, 2011 Record exports helped narrow the UK’s trade deficit with the rest of the world in February to £2.4bn from £3.9bn the previous month, according to official figures. Total exports hit £30.7bn in the month, a fresh high since 1980, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The deficit on physical goods fell to £6.8bn, from [...]
LSE to expand futures trading business April 12, 2011 The London Stock Exchange is forging ahead with a plan to challenge the dominance of NYSE Euronext’s Liffe and Deutsche Boerse’s Eurex by expanding its futures trading business. The British exchange said on Tuesday it will start trading FTSE 100 index futures, subject to regulatory approval, in the first week of June, a direct challenge [...]
Skrill cuts back IPO in final hours April 12, 2011 Online payments company Skrill has cut its IPO back ahead of the book closing later today. The deal was set to raise £80m for the company, previously known as Moneybookers, and £80m for existing shareholders. However, the secondary portion has been slashed to £30m, making the deal worth for a total of £110m, the International [...]
Inflation in surprise drop April 12, 2011 Consumer price inflation fell unexpectedly in March, after a month-on-month decline in the cost of food and drink outweighed higher housing and utility costs, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. The first fall in the CPI rate since July last year will provide much-wanted reassurance for the Bank of England that inflation is [...]
Alliance Trust in asset boost April 12, 2011 Investment company Alliance Trust posted a double-digit rise in its net asset value on Tuesday, in full-year figures likely to soothe a shareholder rebellion over costs and the way the company accounts for them. Alliance Trust, which activist shareholder Laxey Partners says is hiding the true costs of its subsidiaries, said net asset value per [...]
Allied Irish loss soars to €10.4bn April 12, 2011 Allied Irish Banks’ full-year loss more than quadrupled to €10.4bn (£9.2bn) in 2010 and the lender said on Tuesday it would axe over 2,000 jobs as it seeks to re-invent itself as a locally-focussed bank. A former stock market darling with international ambitions, AIB has been effectively nationalised and saved from collapse by emergency ECB [...]
Japan raises nuclear crisis to Chernobyl level April 12, 2011 Japan has raised the severity of its nuclear crisis to the highest level, putting it on a par with the world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 because of the amount of radiation released into the air and sea. As another major aftershock rattled the earthquake-ravaged east of the country, a fire broke out [...]
Walker Greenbank profit trebles April 12, 2011 Luxury interior furnishings group Walker Greenbank’s full-year pretax profit nearly tripled, helped by an uptick in demand for luxury goods, and said it was upbeat about its new financial year. The wallpaper and fabrics maker, whose brands include Harlequin, Morris & Co, Sanderson, and Zoffany, said on Tuesday brand sales in the first 10 weeks [...]
IMF says global recovery still on track April 11, 2011 The global economy is still on the recovery trail but threats to growth remain, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. Rising oil prices, unrest in the Middle East, continued inflation in China and debt problems in Europe are among the challenges casting a shadow the IMF said. It forecast that the global economy should [...]
