Thomas Cook buys German tour group for €30m July 12, 2010 HOLIDAY group Thomas Cook has bought German tour operator Oger for €30m (£25.2m). Oger specializes in holidays in Turkey and tours and carried more than 400,000 passengers last year. It reported gross revenues of €256m and operating profit of €3.3m. Thomas Cook said that the deal could create €8m in cost savings for the two [...]
Public sector building slump raises double-dip fears July 12, 2010 A SHARP drop in public sector building activity caused commercial development to fall to the lowest monthly level in nearly a year in June, according to property advisor Savills. The company said its Commercial Development Activity Index showed a net balance of minus 2.8 percent in June, the lowest reading in 11 months, down from [...]
China renews Google licence July 9, 2010 GOOGLE has sealed a deal Chinese authorities to renew its licence to operate a website in the country. The move came after a row over censorship between the country and the search engine. Google said last week that it would stop automatically rerouting users to its uncensored Hong Kong-based search page, explaining that Beijing had [...]
Hamleys back in the black July 9, 2010 HAMLEYS has bounced back into the black for the first time in six years. Like-for-like sales rose five per cent in the year to 31 March helping the retailer to a pre-tax profit of £0.1m from continuing operations versus a loss of £4.1m in the previous year. However once exceptional charges associated with the restructuring [...]
UK trade gap widens July 9, 2010 OFFICIAL data showed Britain’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world widened to £8.062bn in May from £7.411bn in April after imports jumped 2.4 per cent on the month while exports were broadly flat. That was a surprise to economists waiting in vain for an export-led recovery after the pound’s 20 per cent [...]
Fixed income hedge funds performing best July 9, 2010 FIXED income hedge funds have been the most successful in the first half, according to a new index. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, a broad measure of hedge fund performance, shows a six-month loss of 0.18 per cent at the end of June, following a 0.81 per cent fall in June. Hedge funds focussed [...]
Fixed income hedge funds most successful July 9, 2010 FIXED income hedge funds have been the most successful in the first half, according to a new index. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, a broad measure of hedge fund performance, shows a six-month loss of 0.18 per cent at the end of June, following a 0.81 per cent fall in June. Hedge funds focussed [...]
BT pay deal averts strike action July 9, 2010 BT and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have sealed a deal on pay, heading off strike action. Under the agreement BT workers receive a 9.3 per cent pay rise over 39 months. BT had previously offered a 5.1 per cent rise over 21 months. The company described the deal as “unprecedented” while the union said [...]
Michael Page profit up in jobs market boost July 9, 2010 WHITE collar recruitment firm Michael Page International has reported a strong rise in second quarter profit – fuelled boosted by demand for permanent staff outside Europe and in the financial sector. Michael Page, which places people in legal, financial and sales jobs, said it made a gross profit of £111.5m in the second quarter of [...]
Rothschild’s Vallar raises £700m in IPO July 9, 2010 Vallar, which is seeking to build up a mid-tier mining house from scratch, has raised £707.2m in an initial public offering (IPO) and will start trading on 14 July, it said. Vallar, led by finance and mining veterans Nathaniel Rothschild and James Campbell, unveiled its plans on June 25 to raise at least £600m to [...]
