Moneysupermarket.com profit triples March 1, 2011 Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com said its full-year pre-tax profit jumped more than three times due to growth in its insurance, money and home services business. The company, which offers services such as travel, insurance and money and uses actor and comedian Omid Djalili in its advertising, said trading in 2011 was in line with management [...]
House sales rise in February March 1, 2011 House prices rose unexpectedly in February after a small fall at the start of the year, according to figures from the Nationwide. Prices climbed by a seasonally adjusted 0.3 per cent month-on-month, defying economists’ forecasts for a fall of 0.3 per cent following January’s 0.1 per cent drop. The annual rate of house price inflation [...]
GKN to pay dividend after profit surge March 1, 2011 Airplane parts maker swung to a full-year profit, helped by a strong performance at its automotive unit, and said the outlook was positive with civil aircraft production set to grow in 2011. GKN, which produces airframes, engine structures and components for plane makers Airbus and Boeing reported a 2010 pre-tax profit of £363m, up from [...]
Barclays to buy Egg credit card assets March 1, 2011 Barclays is to buy the British credit card assets of online bank Egg from US lender Citigroup for an undisclosed price, as part of plans to boost its retail banking business. “The acquisition of Egg’s UK credit card accounts has been priced at a significant discount to gross receivables. Based on current projections, we expect [...]
HMV in profit warning March 1, 2011 HMV Group has said full-year pre-tax profits will be “moderately below” market expectations of £45m. The company, which has been hit by the move to downloads, also said it expected to breach its banking covenants when they are tested after its full-year results. It confirmed it had started talks with its lenders with a view [...]
US home sales data shows bigger than expected fall February 28, 2011 Contracts for pending sales of previously owned homes in the US fell faster than expected in January to the slowest pace in three months, data from a real estate trade group showed. The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in January, declined 2.8 percent to 88.9 from a downwardly [...]
HSBC shares drop as profit disappoints market February 28, 2011 HSBC scaled back some of its financial targets on Monday as Europe’s biggest bank posted a surge in pre-tax annual profit. HSBC said pre-tax profits for the year ending 31 December more than doubled from 2009 to £11.8bn. HSBC said it had made a good start to the year but the company cut its long-term [...]
Aer Lingus says profit hit by surging fuel costs February 28, 2011 Irish airline Aer Lingus expects high fuel prices, increased airport charges and a weak domestic market to hit its 2011 performance after it returned to profit in 2010 following cost cuts. The company said it had posted an operating profit of €57.6m (£49m) in 2010, a swing in profitability of €139m, despite bad weather conditions [...]
Tesco in deal for three malls in China February 28, 2011 Tesco, the world’s third-biggest retailer, has signed a joint venture to build three more shopping malls in China as part of its plans to rapidly expand in the world’s most populous country. The supermarket group said on Monday that 50 percent of the venture would be owned by a consortium of Asian investors including Singapore’s [...]
Bunzl profit up as it eyes acquistions February 28, 2011 British distributor Bunzl posted a rise in full year pre-tax profit and said it planned acquisitions to drive further growth. FTSE 100-listed Bunzl, which among other things supplies carrier bags, take-away boxes and healthcare products, announced profit before amortisation and acquisition costs of £276m for the year to 31 December 2010. Sales rose four per [...]
