Unilever sells off US detergents business July 29, 2008 Shares in Unilever climbed after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant announced it had finally sold its North American detergents business – after almost a year of struggling to find a buyer. Private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners snapped up the business, which includes brands such as Snuggle, Wisk and Surf, for $1.45bn (£727m). Unilever has [...]
New Caz boss: I won’t turn us into sharks July 29, 2008 JP Morgan Cazenove’s brand new CEO Naguib Kheraj has a long history in investment banking, having worked at Salomon Brothers and Robert Fleming prior to a 10-year career at Barclays. He joins the British investment bank at an opportune moment, as the famously blue-blooded organisation looks for experienced heads to guide it into the future. [...]
Northern Foods passes on fuel costs July 29, 2008 Northern Foods, the maker of chilled ready meals sold at Marks & Spencer, said yesterday it planned to pass on £32m of rising commodity and fuel costs to consumers. Chief executive Stefan Barden said: “We would be expecting to fully recover all the input cost inflation. We have to date and we would intend to [...]
BAE in deal to buy UK rival for £531m July 29, 2008 BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence firm, unveiled an agreed £531m deal to buy British rival Detica yesterday, to boost its presence in the US security market. BAE chief operating officer Ian King, who takes over from Mike Turner as chief executive later this summer, said the purchase “will provide a platform for us to apply [...]
KKR seeks new talent ahead of float July 29, 2008 Top executives at KKR, the US private equity group which is to merge with one of its funds and list in New York, said yesterday it would set aside a stake in the business to attract “new talent”. KKR will hold 79 per cent of the new quoted company, but will allocate 20 per cent [...]
Ryanair cuts ticket prices while earnings plummet July 29, 2008 Shares in low cost airline Ryanair sank 22 per cent yesterday after the company warned it may make a €60m (£47.4m) loss this year, as high oil prices eat into margins. It said it had made profit after tax in the first quarter of €21m- a drop of 85 per cent- but the carrier yesterday [...]
Housing market boost July 29, 2008 Britain’s battered housing market received a boost yesterday after an influential report predicted that house prices would rise 25 per cent by 2013. The data, published yesterday by the National Housing Federation, said that the average price of a home in Britain would increase by a quarter over the next five years to £274,700, with [...]
Tesco buys out RBS in £950m deal July 29, 2008 Britain’s retail giant is to take full control of its Tesco Personal Finance joint venture Tesco, the retail giant that already dominates the grocery market, is accelerating its push into financial services with a £950m buyout of the 50 per cent it does not own of its financial services joint venture with RBS. The buyout [...]
No excuses, it was just a bad day at the office July 29, 2008 Sometimes in sport you just have to hold your hands up and accept you’re going to come across the odd bad day at the office. Unfortunately for me, that day arrived just when I least wanted it to and it spelt the end of my Senior Open Championship hopes. A two over-par 73 on Thursday [...]
Fired-up Cook plots England’s revenge July 29, 2008 Opening batsman Alastair Cook says England have banished the memories of their second Test drubbing by South Africa and are in the mood to gain revenge. A 10-wicket humiliation at Headingley last week left the hosts 1-0 down in the series ahead of the third Test at Edgbaston, starting tomorrow. England have gone one down [...]
