Unilever sales jump on higher prices November 3, 2011 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever beat expectations by posting a 7.8 per cent rise in third quarter revenues yesterday, after it hiked prices and saw strong growth in emerging markets. The Dove soaps and Hellmann’s mayonnaise group raised prices nearly six per cent while strong sales in emerging markets like India, Indonesia and Brazil helped offset [...]
Tate & Lyle sees its profits soar November 3, 2011 SUGAR giant Tate & Lyle said it was concerned about the ongoing Eurozone crisis after it posted a 38 per cent jump in half-year profit as it saw little impact yet from the global economic downturn. The London-based group posted a first-half pre-tax profit of £180m for the six months to end of September yesterday, ahead [...]
Redrow reports strong demand November 3, 2011 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow said it made steady progress in the first 17 weeks of the year, with underlying demand expected to increase despite a tough macro picture weighing on the sector. The group said reservations to date were one per cent ahead in the period from the end of June compared with a year ago, averaging [...]
Asos lifts off overseas but UK is tougher November 3, 2011 ASOS yesterday reported a rise in profits fuelled by booming international markets, though UK growth slowed. The company, which sells designer labels at discounted prices online, said revenue for the six months to the end of September was £217m, up more than 50 per cent on the same period last year. Underlying profits – which [...]
Alliance Boots sales rise but the high street still struggles November 3, 2011 ALLIANCE Boots saw sales rise by more than a third in the first half of the year as strong demand from international markets continued to compensate for weak consumer spending on the UK high street. The global healthcare and beauty company said revenues rose 31 per cent to £11.74bn in the six months to 30 [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN ASOS CONTINUE TO GROW SALES DESPITE A SLOW UK? November 3, 2011 MATTHEW MCEACHRAN | SINGER CAPITAL MARKETS Asos is a top five most visited fashion website in the world. Coupled with further development of the offer, higher margin guidance, and strengthening demand in certain international markets, it is no wonder that confidence is high about delivery of full year market expecations. Buy. WAYNE BROWN | COLLINS [...]
Wetherspoon boss hits out at pub taxes November 3, 2011 TIM Martin, the outspoken executive chairman of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain he founded in 1979, has called for the Treasury to rein in an “unsustainable” level of tax levied on pubs. Wetherspoon’s tax bill tallied to £453.1m in the 13 weeks to 21 October, compared with a profit after tax of just £46.8m. This [...]
Aer Lingus profits look rosy but no word on sale November 3, 2011 Irish airline Aer Lingus expects to post full-year operating profit of around €40m (£34.5m) and hopes to make progress in talks over a huge pension deficit early next year, its chief executive said yesterday. But it warned that higher fuel and airport charges would mean it would post a large operating loss in last three [...]
BP agrees to pay Texas £31m for pollution November 3, 2011 Oil giant BP’s US subsidiary has agreed to pay $50m (£31m) in civil penalties to the state of Texas for pollution from its Texas City refinery, including the deadly March 2005 explosion, state attorney general Greg Abbott said. The fine is equal to the amount BP Products North America paid in 2009 for pollution from [...]
Think-tanks: UK’s reply to Tobin is weak November 3, 2011 A EUROPE-WIDE financial transactions tax (FTT) could cost the UK’s economy tens of billions of pounds, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) warned yesterday – and yet the government is failing to act to stop such a tax being introduced, said the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). The ASI calculated that the UK will be hit [...]
