Mouchel warns over profit in tough environment October 14, 2010 Outsourcer Mouchel has warned full-year profit could be lower than expected. The company, which provides maintenance for highways and handles local government payrolls, estimated that pre-tax profit before exceptionals for the year would be around £30.5m. Analysts were, on average, expecting £34.85m, a Thomson Reuters poll showed. “Taking into account the challenging business environment and [...]
WH Smith hikes dividend after profit rise October 14, 2010 Retailer WH Smith beat forecasts with a nine per cent rise in year profit, hiked its final dividend by 18 per cent and said it would return up to £50m to shareholders. The newspapers, books and stationery retailer, said the return of cash would be through a share buyback programme. WH Smith made an underlying [...]
Asos sees sales surge by 47 per cent October 14, 2010 Online fashion retailer ASOS said it was on track to meet full-year profit forecasts after a 47 per cent surge in second-quarter sales. ASOS, which launched a US website last month, also said it expected to launch French and German versions by the end of the month. Retail sales jumped to £69.7m in the three [...]
Private equity firms court partners for Yahoo bid October 14, 2010 Several private equity firms have approached Internet and media companies including News Corp and AOL to gauge their interest in buying out Yahoo, a source with knowledge of the approaches said. The news comes as Yahoo, the No.2 search engine in the United States behind Google Inc , struggles to revive its revenue growth under [...]
US economy loses 95,000 jobs October 8, 2010 The US economy lost another 95,000 jobs in September, the fourth in a row that jobs have been lost, according to official figures. The fall was almost double August’s 54,000 job loss number. Government payrolls fell and private hiring was less than expected, the Labor Department said. Meanwhile private employment increased by 64,000, well below [...]
Alan Johnson to be shadow chancellor October 8, 2010 Labour leader Ed Miliband has chosen Alan Johnson as his shadow chancellor, while Ed Balls will take on the shadow home secretary role. Yvette Cooper will be shadow foreign secretary. Cooper and Balls had been tipped as front runners for the shadow chancellor role, which has been handed to Johnson, a former home secretary. Meanwhile [...]
Corporate insolvencies plummet in London October 8, 2010 London businesses are “leading the country out of recession” according to research that shows the number of corporate insolvencies by 28 per cent in the third quarter. Only 745 London firms went bust in the three months to September, down from 1034 in the second quarter of the year and a 35 per cent drop [...]
Asda closes final salary pension scheme October 8, 2010 Asda is closing its final salary pension scheme as it seeks to tackle a soaring deficit, in a move affecting around 4,000 of its staff, it said. The Walmart owned chain closed the final salary scheme to new members in 2005, said it would compensate affected employees with a cash sum equivalent to 25 per [...]
Man Utd debt triggers £83m loss October 8, 2010 Manchester United made a full-year loss of £83.6m due to managing the cost of debt. The club, third in the Premier League, posted a record operating profit of £101m due to increased broadcasting and commercial income but made a loss when interest charges and the cost of restructuring its debt were added on. Net finance [...]
Freud Communications profit soars October 8, 2010 Freud Communications bucked the recession with a 28 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £6.7m last year. Annual accounts for the PR agency, which is majority-owned by French advertising giant Publicis Groupe, show revenues rose 23 per cent to £33 million. It is understood that significant growth at teh firm run by Matthew Freud, [...]
