Kuwaitis to buy up Hammerson asset November 1, 2011 KUWAITI property firm St Martins Corporation is close to buying 60 Threadneedle Street at the heart of the City from Hammerson in a deal said to be worth more than £175m. The offices, which were completed in 2009, are 99 per cent let, producing £8.8m of rent a year from tenants including Talbot Underwriting and [...]
DTZ says City offices resilient November 1, 2011 OFFICES in London’s Square Mile offer one of the best defensive plays for property investors seeking to safeguard total returns if the pan-European sector is dragged into a second recession by the Eurozone debt crisis, research by DTZ claims. The property consultancy carried out research based on a worst-case scenario, with the 20 per cent [...]
H&M swoops on Carnaby St November 1, 2011 SWEDISH Fashion retailer H&M yesterday signed for the first UK stand-alone stores for its Monki and Cheap brands on London’s Carnaby Street. West End property company Shaftesbury has let its two newly-built stores for a ten year term, which will produce a total rental income of £965,000 per year. Last month H&M took full control [...]
A strong US performance boosts Aegis November 1, 2011 Advertising giant Aegis yesterday outperformed the industry, smashing analyst growth forecasts. The UK firm was buoyed by a strong performance in the US, where rivals including WPP have struggled in the last three months. It posted organic revenue growth of 11.2 per cent, compared with analyst forecasts of 7.5 per cent. Aegis said it expects [...]
Wolfson swings to $10m loss November 1, 2011 WOLFSON yesterday swung to a $10m (£6.3m) third-quarter loss and said weak demand meant it would not return to profitability until well into next year. The firm, whose audio chips are in Samsung handsets, also slashed its revenue forecast for the final quarter to $35-$40m, down from $46.1m. Chief executive Mike Hickey said order intake [...]
Olympus lays out plans it hopes will quell scandal November 1, 2011 OLYMPUS yesterday announced a plan it hopes will help put an end to the scandal that threatens to drag the business to its knees. The endoscope and camera maker named six men, including a former Japanese supreme court justice, to investigate past M&A deals, which have been under intense scrutiny after record-breaking advisory fees were [...]
ARM snaps up American design firm November 1, 2011 ARM Holdings yesterday snapped up US design software firm Prolific, as chief executive Warren East reiterated his belief that the firm would suffer if it was subject to a US takeover. And East’s bullish attitude appeared justified later in the day, as Hewlett-Packard unveiled plans to develop extremely low-energy servers, utilising ARM technology. The Silicon Valley [...]
Online gaming firm 888 cashes in as customers stay at home and gamble November 1, 2011 Online gaming firm 888 expects 2011 earnings to be significantly ahead of estimates as squeezed consumers opted to stay home and gamble instead of venturing outside. Third-quarter sales grew 42 per cent to $86m (£54m), the highest quarterly revenue ever achieved in its history. It said it has more than 10m registered casino, poker and [...]
Perform Group reassures investors with solid results November 1, 2011 PERFORM yesterday continued its long journey to restore investor confidence after its disastrous IPO this year with a solid set of results. The media rights company posted year-on-year revenue growth of 55 per cent to £27.4m and said it is on track to hit full-year forecasts. Joint chief executive Oliver Slipper said: “We are very [...]
Rail and bus firms deliver revenue gains November 1, 2011 TRANSPORT firms Stagecoach and National Express reported rising ticket sales yesterday as commuters looking to avoid the high cost of cars turn to buses and trains. Underlying revenue at Stagecoach’s domestic rail business, which includes South West Trains, grew 8.7 per cent in the 24 weeks to 16 October, while Virgin Rail Group, a joint [...]
