Greggs profit hit by summer washout August 7, 2012 Britain’s largest seller of food on the go, Greggs, posted a 4.5 per cent fall in first-half profit after sales were hit by the wettest April to June period since records began. Greggs, which sells sandwiches, savouries, bread, cakes and pastries to 6m customers a week, said today it made a pretax profit of £16.5m [...]
InterContinental to return $1bn as profits rise August 7, 2012 InterContinental, the world’s biggest hotelier, cheered investors by promising to return $1bn (£642m) to them partially funded from the planned sale of a New York hotel as it posted a rise in profits boosted by trade in the US and China. The British-based group, home to the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn as well as InterContinental [...]
Xstrata H1 earnings drop, defers $1bn of spending August 7, 2012 Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata, in the throes of a $26bn (£16.7bn) takeover bid, posted a smaller-than-expected drop in profit despite the impact of weaker prices and reduced copper production, and announced plans to cut spending for the year. Xstrata’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the first six months of 2012 totalled just [...]
Spyker sues GM for over $3bn on Saab bankruptcy August 7, 2012 Dutch sportscar maker Spyker NV is suing General Motors for more than $3bn (£1.92bn) on behalf of its subsidiary Saab, accusing the US automaker of deliberately bankrupting the Swedish group by blocking a deal with a Chinese investor. Saab Automobile, one of Sweden’s best-known brands, stopped production in May 2011 when it could no longer [...]
Citi to sell Diners Club card issuing UK, Ireland business August 6, 2012 Citigroup agreed to sell its Diners Club card issuing businesses in the UK and Ireland to private investor group Affiniture Cards as the bank continues to shed assets held in Citi Holdings. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The third largest US bank is still feeling pain from Citi Holdings, a unit set up [...]
Eurozone sentiment falls for fifth straight month August 6, 2012 Eurozone sentiment fell for a fifth straight month in August to touch its lowest level in over three years amid ongoing worries about the bloc’s debt crisis, an index from the Sentix research group showed today. Sentix said its monthly index tracking investor sentiment in the 17-nation currency bloc dipped to -30.3 in August, down [...]
Car sales rise by annual 9.3 per cent in July August 6, 2012 Car sales showed their strongest annual increase in two years, rising by 9.3 per cent to 143,884 vehicles, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said today. Car sales so far this year are 3.5 per cent up on last year’s level, showing resilience in the face of recession, and the SMMT said it [...]
Peregrine CEO asset hunt reveals few luxuries August 6, 2012 The hunt for the assets of Peregrine Financial Group CEO Russell Wasendorf Sr. has yielded a backyard pool, 2,000 bottles of wine, pickup trucks and some high-end photography equipment. But a receiver appointed for Wasendorf’s assets in the firm’s bankruptcy says that so far there is little to suggest that the CEO, who in July [...]
Insurer Catlin back in profit as catastrophes ease August 6, 2012 Bermuda-based insurer Catlin swung back to profit in the first six months of 2012, helped by a sharp drop in natural catastrophe-related claims relative to last year. Catlin, operator of the biggest syndicate in the Lloyd’s of London market, made a pretax profit of $231m (£148m) in the six months to 30 June, compared with [...]
House prices fall 0.6 per cent in July August 6, 2012 British house prices fell by 0.6 per cent in July, mortgage lender Halifax said today, a marginally bigger fall than economists had forecast but one that leaves the pattern of broadly stable prices intact. House prices in the three months to July are 0.6 per cent down on a year earlier, in line with forecasts [...]
