Smiths profits increase fuelled by acquisition October 20, 2011 BRITAIN’S biggest wholesaler of newspapers, magazines and books Smiths News posted a 10 per cent rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profits, boosted by cost cuts and the acquisition of Dawson Holdings. Nearly two years after buying Dawson Holdings’ news and magazine units, Smiths News bought the remaining assets of its rival to expand its international [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HAS SPIRIT MANAGED TO TURN ITSELF AROUND? October 20, 2011 PAUL HICKMAN | PEEL HUNT I think its good to see that the momentum is there and …the current period of like-for-like sales recovered to 4.8 per cent positive in the last eight weeks…It was good to see that current bounce back in trading because it shows the investment process is still delivering the kind [...]
Debenhams in buy-back October 20, 2011 DEBENHAMS is to launch a share buy-back after yesterday posting a rise in profits. The department store chain saw pre-tax profits lift by 10 per cent to £166m in the year to 3 September. Revenues rose 4.2 per cent to £2.2bn over the year. However, like-for-like sales, excluding VAT, fell by 0.3 per cent, while [...]
Pernod beats forecasts with Asia boost October 20, 2011 FRENCH spirits groups Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau beat forecasts yesterday as strong Asian demand and a recovering US market lifted its quarterly sales, while Pernod sounded a cautious note amid a fragile economic climate. Pernod, the world’s second biggest spirits group behind Britain’s Diageo, said it was targeting a rise of close to six [...]
BRITVIC SALES FIZZ UP October 20, 2011 BRITVIC, which owns the Robinsons, Tango, Drench and Fruit Shoot brands, yesterday reported full-year revenue of £1.29bn, 14.6 per cent up on the previous year. Sales in the UK and France were strong while Ireland fell by 9.6 per cent. Fizzy drink sales rose 7.3 per cent over the year as a whole in Great [...]
Petrofac on track for full year October 20, 2011 British oil services firm Petrofac said it was on track to post annual profit in line with market expectations and is confident of meeting its longer term growth target, buoyed by the strong pipeline of opportunities it is seeing. Petrofac, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure and invests alongside producers in oil fields, [...]
Record profit at African Barrick October 20, 2011 African Barrick Gold said its profit rose to a record in the third quarter boosted by higher production and all-time high gold prices. Net profit jumped to $102m, beating the $99m consensus supplied by the company, from $40m in the year-earlier quarter as revenue surged 61 per cent. It produced 182,401 ounces of gold in [...]
Output up at Petropavlovsk October 20, 2011 Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk said yesterday that its third-quarter output rose 65 per cent, beating most forecasts, and that it was confident of meeting its full-year target of 600,000 ounces. The company, which operates three open-pit gold mines in Russia’s far east, produced 228,110 oz in the three months to the end of September, 65 [...]
Hochschild sees production fall October 20, 2011 Latin American precious metals group Hochschild Mining said yesterday that third-quarter production fell 12 per cent from last year, although it kept its full-year target. The company produced 5.8m silver equivalent ounces in the third quarter, comprising 3.8 ounces of silver and 33,500 ounces of gold, down from 6.6m ounces a year earlier. Hochschild added [...]
Nokia surges after posting shock results October 20, 2011 NOKIA experienced a rare surge in its stock yesterday after it posted a far smaller loss than analysts had feared. The struggling Finnish manufacturer lost €68m (£59.5m), compared to a profit of €529m last year. However, it was a vast improvement on the €368m it lost in the last quarter. Investors rallied on hopes Nokia [...]
