SocGen bucks broking slump with Evo hires August 23, 2011 FRANCE’S number two bank Societe Generale has bucked the downward trend hitting many City brokers by snapping up an equities team from its rival Evolution Securities. SocGen, which employs about 2,300 people in the UK, hired Evolution’s four-man former consumer research and sales team headed by Warren Ackerman, a food, home and personal care analyst. [...]
BP PAYS OUT $5BN IN GULF COMPENSATION August 23, 2011 BP has now paid out more than $5bn to 204,434 victims of last year’s massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg said yesterday. The pay outs amount to roughly 25 per cent of the $20bn fund, known as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which was set up a year ago following the [...]
Persimmon profits surge and costs fall August 23, 2011 PERSIMMON saw a pickup in summer sales and enjoyed a surge in first half pre-tax profits as the UK’s third largest housebuilder improved its operating margins and clamped down on development costs. The York-based company, whose brands include Charles Church and Westbury, made an underlying pretax profit of £59.7m in the six months to the [...]
Segro earnings slump despite improving rents August 23, 2011 SEGRO’s net asset value inched forward in the first half of the year while pre-tax profits halved, as the industrial landlord continued to weather tough conditions in the European industrial property markets. Pre-tax profit fell to £64.6m from £148.9m a year earlier, while net asset value per share was up by one pence to 377p [...]
HOW WERE PERSIMMON’S RESULTS? August 23, 2011 RACHAEL WARING | PANMURE GORDON Persimmon delivered a confident but prudent presentation at today’s analysts meeting. In our view, despite ongoing challenging market conditions, the group will continue to deliver increased profitability, primarily driven by improving net margins… though our 2012 forecasts remain conservative for now. CHRIS MILLINGTON | NUMIS Persimmon’s results are better than [...]
G4S focuses on emerging market gains August 23, 2011 SECURITY group G4S has unveiled a plan to make half of its annual revenues from emerging markets by 2018. The FTSE 100 company, whose operations include airport security, is to start the process with a £200m investment, which could include some acquisitions. G4S also reported a five per cent increase in half-year profits from £142m [...]
New bidder for Charter as sale talks heat up August 23, 2011 TAKEOVER target Charter International saw its shares bounce more than 18 per cent yesterday as it said it was in talks with a second potential bidder. Charter has rejected two offers from investment group Melrose, the highest valuing it at £1.4bn, as too low. But it said it had started talks with another bidder likely [...]
GOODMANS RAISES THE STEAKS IN MAYFAIR August 23, 2011 CONTINUING the theme of the boom in the City’s resurgent restaurant scene, as reported yesterday, The Capitalist hears steakhouse Goodmans is plotting not one but two launches for November. One is a traditional Goodmans restaurant on the South Quay at Canary Wharf to complement the City and Mayfair venues. The other marks a new direction [...]
UKCPT profit and net asset values slide August 23, 2011 UK COMMERCIAL Property Trust, the largest UK-focused trust of its kind, has announced a slight decline in its net asset value per share in the first half of 2011 to 76.9p, from 77p in the previous six months, as a slow economic recovery continued to take its toll. In its half-year results the trust said [...]
Hays says sorry after it revealed RBS pay figures August 23, 2011 RECRUITMENT agency Hays was forced to apologise to banking giant RBS yesterday after one of its staff mistakenly emailed out the rates it was paying its temporary staff. The email included the salaries of about 3,000 contract staff and was sent to about 800 RBS temps after the wrong attachment was inadvertently used, a source [...]
