British Gas profits fuelled by freezing winter May 10, 2010 BRITISH Gas has seen profits rise in the first quarter of the year after the freezing winter saw households using more heating. Parent company Centrica said that gas usage was seven per cent higher than in the same period in 2009. Electricity consumption also up two per cent and British Gas is expected to turn [...]
Brown and Cameron make their pleas to Clegg May 7, 2010 GORDON Brown and David Cameron have set out their stall as they try to grab power with a deal with the Liberal Democrats. Brown said he is prepared to talk to any of the party leaders after the election ended in a hung parliament. The Prime Minister, speaking in Downing Street, said it was time [...]
Clegg: I will speak to Tories first May 7, 2010 LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said he will first go into talks with David Cameron to discuss a possible power sharing deal. Clegg maintained before the election that he would initially speak to the party with the greatest number of votes. He said as it became clear that the Conservatives had polled the most [...]
UK assets slide on poll uncertainty May 7, 2010 UK equity futures tumbled, sterling fell and gilt futures went into reverse as an inconclusive election outcome unnerved investors already jittery after a global equity market sell-off. With most of the ballots counted, the outcome of Britain’s election remained too close to call, with results so far suggesting the Conservatives would be the largest party [...]
Goldsmith takes Richmond Park May 7, 2010 CONSERVATIVE Zac Goldsmith has won the Richmond Park seat after defeating Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer. The Tory billionaire won 29,461 votes against Kramer’s 25,370 in the West London seat. He said: “We held a very positive straight campaign. It comes down to positive, hard work.” Kramer said on her defeat: “You have chosen someone else [...]
Commerzbank profits bounce back May 6, 2010 COMMERZBANK posted better than expected first-quarter results thanks to strong trading and lower risk provisions but still lagged the stellar earnings of investment banking peers. Germany’s second-biggest lender has only a small-scale investment banking business, leaving it unable to benefit from some of the stimulus measures that pushed Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley [...]
Diageo sees rebound in drinks market May 6, 2010 DIAGEO beat forecasts with a big sales rebound in the first three months of the year as the recovery kicked in led by strong emerging market growth. The London-based maker of Smirnoff vodka and Captain Morgan rum said it had seen signs of fragile recovery in its mature markets such as North America and a [...]
Morrisons customers up but warns over slowdown May 6, 2010 SUPERMARKET giant Morrisons has seen record numbers of customers in its stores but the new financial year has been hit by a slowdown, it said in a trading statement. The Group has continued to grow share in the first quarter with sales, excluding fuel, up 5.9 per cent in the 13 weeks to 2 May. [...]
JD Wetherspoon urges caution as sales drop May 5, 2010 PUBS group JD Wetherspoon is feeling the sobering effects of lower consumer spending and tax and duty rises with sales growth slowing in recent months. Same outlet sales for the 13 weeks to 25 April slipped 0.8 per cent. This was much steeper than the 0.2% decline recorded over the nine month period. Meanwhile total [...]
Prudential hits regulation hurdle in £13bn cash call May 5, 2010 PRUDENTIAL has stalled the publication of details of its $21bn (£13.8bn) rights issue aimed at helping to fund its $35.5bn acquisition of AIA in Asia. The insurer revealed it was in discussions with the Financial Services Authority about the the deal. The capital structure of the firm is understood to be under scrutiny. The delay [...]
