Travis Perkins restores dividends July 2, 2010 BUILDERS’ merchant Travis Perkins has said it will restore dividends after better-than-expected first half results. The company, which also sells DIY products, said revenue for the six months to 30 June increased 4.7 per cent with sales at stores open over a year up 3.4 per cent. It said: “In May, we reported a strong [...]
Ageas in £215m deal for Kwik-Fit insurance arm July 2, 2010 Kwik-Fit Insurance Services is being sold for £215m to Belgian-based insurance group Ageas. The insurance intermediary – currently owned by private equity company PAI Partners – will contribute over 600,000 customers to Ageas, giving it a customer base of 1.6m in Britain. Ageas chief executive Bart De Smet said: “I welcome this acquisition on its [...]
RBS completes sale of Sempra to JP Morgan July 2, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has completed the sale of its metals, oil and European energy business RBS Sempra Commodities to US bank JP Morgan in a $1.6bn (£1.1bn) deal. RBS was ordered by the European Commission last year to sell offload assets after being bailed out by the UK government. The bank was also [...]
Office hires advisors for possible sale July 2, 2010 BRITISH fashion and sports footwear retailer Office has hired advisers, which could lead to a sale of the business. The company – owned by West Coast Capital, the private equity vehicle of Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter – said on Friday it had appointed corporate adviser Hawkpoint in the UK and boutique investment firm Financo in [...]
Manufacturing rebound slows July 1, 2010 A REBOUND in manufacturing slowed in June from the previous month’s 15-year high as export order growth all but ran out of steam, a survey has showed. However, employment, a lagging indicator, rose at its fastest pace since February 1995 as companies added staff to keep up with rising production. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing [...]
European shares slide after weak China data July 1, 2010 European shares tumbled in early trade – retreating for the seventh time in eight sessions, after tepid Chinese macro data raised concerns about the global recovery. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.2 percent at 981.94 points, while Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone’s blue chip index, fell 1.5 percent at [...]
BT announces charges for Sky Sports July 1, 2010 BT has announced it will charge customers £16.99 a month for both Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, or £11.99 for just one of the channels. The packages will be available on month-by-month contracts. BT and Sky signed a deal to allow BT Vision customers to watch the two sports channels, they revealed earlier [...]
Debenhams sees sales dip July 1, 2010 DEBENHAMS has posted a fall in underlying third-quarter sales but said it was winning market share and its gross margins were rising. Sales at stores open over a year fell 0.4 percent in the 42 weeks to 19 June. Debenhams, with about 160 stores in Britain and Ireland and more than 50 franchised outlets overseas, [...]
Barclays in Japanese wealth management deal July 1, 2010 UK banking giant Barclays and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said they would launch a wealth management joint venture in Japan, targeting individuals with at least 500 million yen (£3.8m) to invest. Japan’s third-largest bank by assets acquired a two per cent stake in Barclays for about $1bn in 2008 and the two have been preparing [...]
Lloyds Banking Group to axe another 650 jobs June 30, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group is to shed a further 650 jobs, it has confirmed. Insurance and back office-based staff in Nottingham and Chester would bear the brunt of the latest cuts, the bank said. It will also close its network of Halifax-branded agencies which are “no longer integral to its business model”. Cath Speight, Unite national [...]
