Deadly tornadoes raise prospect of large payouts March 5, 2012 A SPATE of tornadoes has hit the US, killing at least 39 people and leaving the insurance industry facing losses of several hundred million dollars. A thousand-mile chain of destruction reaching down to the Gulf of Mexico has demolished homes, damaged schools and led to deaths in the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Alabama. [...]
London needs somebody to gamble on an IPO March 5, 2012 WITH the Edwards vacuum technology company heading for a £1bn flotation in the US and Mayfair-based jewellery retailer Graff also preferring a Hong Kong listing to braving the UK new issue markets, only one thing is certain: the London IPO market is in a pretty bad way. Bankers that I’ve been speaking to say they [...]
Store wars fail to dent Ocado sales March 5, 2012 ONLINE grocer Ocado said the industry competition in Britain is the toughest in the world as it reassured its battered investors with a jump in first-quarter sales. The firm, which has seen its share price halve over the last year, posted a 10.9 per cent rise in gross sales to £162.1m but chief financial officer [...]
Tesco defends pledge of 20,000 new jobs as it pursues Eastern dreams with property fund float March 5, 2012 THE head of Tesco’s British business defended the chain’s pledge of 20,000 new jobs yesterday, following analysts’ claims that supermarkets inflate their figures. Richard Brasher said the hiring plan represented “real net new jobs” after the retailer, Britain’s largest, said it could not yet give figures for the split of full and part-time positions. More [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: SHOULD INVESTORS DO THEIR SHOPPING AT OCADO? March 5, 2012 ANDREW WADE | NUMIS Ocado has posted a solid first quarter, with sales growth of +10.9 per cent, marginally ahead of guidance… Improvements over the last quarter (and the quarter to come) will enable the business to reaccelerate sales growth. PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON We expect that the competitive environment will get tougher and [...]
Regulator probes KPMG audit March 5, 2012 The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board has begun probes into KPMG’s auditing of Lloyd’s of London car and motorcycles insurer Equity Red Star and actuaries who advised it. In 2010 the firm, a UK subsidiary of Insurance Australia Group that insures one in four motorcycles on UK roads, crashed to a £240m loss after failing [...]
Top brands pay best dividend March 5, 2012 Trusted brands known and used in every household in the UK were among some of the most consistent, dividend yielding stocks over the past year, according to research by Indixs. The UK Dividend Achievers Index listed the most consistent dividend paying stocks and found that consumer brands such as SABMiller, Diageo, Unilever, British American Tobacco [...]
Hydrogen profits up 48 per cent March 5, 2012 Pre-tax profits at recruitment group Hydrogen grew by 48 per cent to £3.7m in 2011, driven by its global markets. Chief exec Tim Smeaton said the company had made the most of an “interesting and challenging environment”, increasing headcount by 10 per cent over the year and focusing almost half of its sales staff on [...]
Services see third month of expansion March 5, 2012 THE UK is likely to avoid a new recession according to figures published yesterday, which show a third consecutive month of growth in the services sector. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 53.8 for February – slower than the 56 seen in January, but still firmly above the no-change level of 50. The [...]
Clegg hints the government will ease child benefit plans March 5, 2012 PLANS to remove child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers could be changed to avoid distorting the incentive to work, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured) said yesterday. Under current plans, families with one parent earning above the £42,475 threshold will lose child benefit. That creates a cliff-edge, where a parent just below the threshold will actually lose [...]
