Baidu beats Street forecasts as more surfers in China use its site February 16, 2012 CHINA’S top search engine, Baidu, beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates last night as its revenue grew more than 80 per cent year-on-year in the fourth-quarter. Shares of New York-listed Baidu were up more than two per cent in after-hours trading. Baidu reported fourth-quarter net income of $326.3m (£206.5m), on revenues of $710.9m. The firm has [...]
Fears GM will press brakes on Vauxhall February 16, 2012 GENERAL Motors has laid the ground for cuts to its Vauxhall operation in Britain as it posted another heavy loss in Europe despite record global profits. Dan Ammann, chief financial officer of the Detroit carmaker, described last year’s $747m (£472.7m) European loss, including $562m in the final quarter, as “unacceptable”. He said the company is [...]
Iceland founder lines up banks to help bid effort February 16, 2012 ICELANDIC banks Landsbanki and Glitnir have helped Malcolm Walker and other execs beat private equity firms to exclusive talks to buy Iceland Foods, a deal that values the retailer he founded at £1.55bn. The two banks are said to be providing Walker with a £250m loan. That makes his offer more valuable and helped beat [...]
Cameron urges Scots to stay within the UK February 16, 2012 DAVID Cameron yesterday delivered a plea to Scots in defence of the UK, enticing Scotland to reject independence with an offer to devolve more power to Edinburgh. The Scottish National Party want to hold a referendum on full independence in 2014 but the Prime Minister is desperate to keep the union intact. Cameron took his [...]
B&Q boss set for windfall as goals met February 16, 2012 KINGFISHER boss Ian Cheshire is in line for a windfall payout after the retailer said it was on track to meet analyst forecasts for a full-year profit of £800m. Cheshire is likely to receive shares worth up to £6.14m, after the owner of the B&Q chain beat two main targets set out in its 2008 [...]
Ladbrokes beats the stakes February 16, 2012 BRITAIN’S second-biggest bookmaker Ladbrokes reported a better-than-expected full year operating profit yesterday as strong growth in revenue from gambling machines helped its retail business to perform strongly despite tough market conditions. The company, which has around 2,100 shops in Britain, said yesterday group operating profit fell by 0.4 per cent to £193.5m. The average forecast [...]
CWW promises strategic scheme to save business February 16, 2012 MENTION of Vodafone was conspicuously lacking in Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s interim statement yesterday after news of the possible buyout bid pricked ears on Monday, sending CWW’s share price up by almost half. The telecoms group, which provides communication networks to 70 of the FTSE 100 companies, kept its full year outlook unchanged and said [...]
Deutsche Telekom could sell British ops February 16, 2012 GERMAN phone network Deutsche Telekom could pull out of telco hybrid Everything Everywhere in a bid to raise cash after its attempt to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T fell through. The largest telephone company in Germany is said to be in early stages of considering the sale of T-Mobile UK, although Deutsche Telekom has not [...]
BT latest to plan legal service as claims business applies for Tesco law licence February 16, 2012 TELECOMS giant BT is muscling in on the legal sector after confirming yesterday that its claims management division has applied to become an alternative business structure under the so-called Tesco law. Wholly-owned subsidiary BT Claims currently just handles claims related to its parent group’s corporate vehicles, but if a licence is granted plans to roll [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW WELL IS KINGFISHER PERFORMING? February 16, 2012 PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON Good underlying progress, but we need to shave our numbers for 2013 by £30m to £865m. We continue to believe that Kingfisher has a significant growth opportunity…At last, Kingfisher is beginning to extract benefits from having a group structure and is set to dramatically increase both common and direct sourcing. [...]
