JD Wetherspoon restores dividend after record profit March 11, 2010 PUB chain Wetherspoon today announced the end of a year-long dividend freeze after successfully completing its debt refinancing. Shareholders will receive a 12p dividend on 1 April for the year to July 2009 with a further special dividend of 7p a share. Last year it scrapped its dividend payment as negotiated its refinancing. It has [...]
Home Retail Group ups forecasts but Argos slumps March 11, 2010 HOME retail Group – which owns Argos and Homebase – has tipped its pre-tax profit for the year to come in at £290m The figure is slightly ahead of market forecasts for the year to 27 February. Argos sales fell 9.4 per cent while sales at its home improvement operation Homebase declined 0.6 per cent [...]
Morrisons raises dividend after profits surge March 11, 2010 SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons saw a 21 per cent surge in profits last year to £767m. The company, Britain’s fourth largest grocer, raised its full year dividend 41 per cent to 8.2 pence a share on the strength of the results. Morrisons new chief executive Dalton Philips starts later this month. Former chief executive, Marc Bolland, [...]
Industrial production down March 10, 2010 INDUSTRIAL production in the UK fell by 0.4 per cent in January, official figures showed. The drop came after a relatively strong performance in December. Manufacturing output fell 0.9 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However year-on-year manufacturing output recorded its first rise since March 2008, up 0.2 per cent. The [...]
BAA passenger numbers up March 10, 2010 BAA saw its first rise in domestic passengers in two years for last month as Brits started flying again after improvements in the economy. The operator reported that the number of people flying between British destinations grew 1.1 per cent to 1.35m. BAA said its six British airports, including Heathrow, had an overall 2.4 per [...]
BAA passenger numbers up March 10, 2010 BAA saw its first rise in domestic passengers in two years for last month as Brits started flying again after improvements in the economy. The operator reported that the number of people flying between British destinations grew 1.1 per cent to 1.35m. BAA said its six British airports, including Heathrow, had an overall 2.4 per [...]
Tullow Oil profit plummets by 92pc March 10, 2010 TULLOW Oil’s full year profits plummeted as a slump in oil and gas prices took the shine off outstanding exploration success. The FTSE 100 oil exploration group posted a 92 per cent drop in after tax profit to £19m, compared to £226m in 2008, while sales revenue shed 16 per cent to £582m. The group [...]
Brown says budget to take place “in two weeks” March 10, 2010 THIS year’s Budget will be held in “two weeks’ time”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed. The 24 March budget will be six weeks ahead of an election date tipped for 6 May. Brown said the government had guided the economy through a “storm” at a speech in Canary Wharf. The Prime Minister said on [...]
Northern Rock losses narrow March 10, 2010 LOSSES at nationalised bank Northern Rock shrank to £257.4m last year, as income levels picked up and bad loans lessened in the second half of the year. This compares to a £1.36bn pre-tax loss in 2008, when the beleaguered lender was feeling the full force of the financial crisis. Rock, which was taken into the [...]
Standard Life beats profit forecasts March 10, 2010 INSURER Standard Life saw its 2009 operating profit slip 1.5 per cent to £919m. The result was well above forecasts thanks to a strong performance in Britain and Asia. Standard Life aims to cut costs by £75m by the end of this year and has already achieved £47m of that by restructuring its customer services [...]
