Moody’s cuts Egypt debt rating January 31, 2011 Ratings agency Moody’s has cut its debt rating for Egypt, and changed its outlook from stable to negative. Moody’s said the cut was “prompted by the recent significant rise in political event risk and concern that the policy response could undermine Egypt’s already weak public finances”. It has downgraded the country’s debt rating one notch [...]
Greene King buys Cloverleaf January 31, 2011 Greene King has bought carvery and pub chain Cloverleaf Restaurants for £56m. Cloverleaf has 12 sites in the Midlands and the north of England with plans for 10 more. Meanwhile Suffolk-based Greene King said sales from outlets open more than a year in its largest unit, Retail, rose 3.9 per cent in the 38 weeks [...]
Honda profit hit by soaring yen January 31, 2011 Honda has reported a 40 per cent drop in third-quarter profits after overseas sales were hit by the strong yen. The auto manufacturer said its profit was 81.1bn yen (£623m), down from 134.6bn yen the year before. Government incentives to encourage more people to buy environmentally friendly cars have also be sidelined, which ha shit [...]
Toshiba profit surge fuelled by smartphones January 31, 2011 Japan’s Toshiba Corp said third quarter operating profit more than doubled on buoyant sales of NAND flash memory and liquid-crystal displays used in tablets and smartphones including Apple’s iPad and iPhone. The world’s second largest supplier of NAND chips kept its full year operating profit forecast unchanged, but lifted its net and pretax profit estimates. [...]
Ryanair “on track” despite £8.5m loss January 31, 2011 Europe’s biggest low-cost airline Ryanair re-affirmed its full-year profit target after rising passenger numbers and average fares helped offset disruption from strike action and bad weather. The Irish airline said it was on track to make a full-year net profit towards the upper end of its 380m euro (£325m) to 400m euro target range. Ryanair [...]
BP expected to restore dividend January 27, 2011 Oil giant BP is expected to reinstate its dividend when it unveils fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, after it cancelled the payout at the height of the oil spill last summer. Analysts predict BP will announce a payout of seven cents a share for the quarter, down from the 14 cents/share dividend for the fourth [...]
Retail growth slows in January January 27, 2011 Retail sales growth slowed as expected last month but the impact from a rise in sales tax at the start of the month was partly offset by widespread discounting, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed. However, retailers expect the next few months to be tough as household finances come under pressure from [...]
S&P downgrades Japan January 27, 2011 Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Japan’s long-term sovereign debt one notch from AA to AA minus , citing the country’s ballooning deficit, which it said will further reduce Tokyo’s already weak fiscal flexibility. Politicians and credit ratings agencies have been warning for years that Japan needs to lower its public debt pile, by far [...]
Equity market lacks competition says OFT January 27, 2011 Britain’s equity underwriting market is not working as well as it should and lacks effective competition on pricing, the Office of Fair Trading said. The OFT said it was urging companies and institutional shareholders to apply greater pressure on equity underwriting fees after finding certain flaws with how the equity underwriting market operated. The OFT [...]
House prices drop in January January 27, 2011 House prices in England and Wales fell for a seventh month in a row in January, dropping 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, property data firm Hometrack said. The monthly survey of more than 5,000 estate agents and surveyors showed prices slipped 0.5 per cent on the month, slightly more than December’s 0.4 per [...]
