Spirits high at SSG after vodka boost June 27, 2010 STOCK Spirits Group (SSG) has turned in a record profit – fuelled by sales of the fastest growing vodka brand in the world. The company’s annual revenue soared by 17 per cent to €262m (£216m) in 2009 compared with the previous year. Earnings – before tax interest, taxes and amortisation – were up 46 per [...]
Alchemy sells Pierce stake June 27, 2010 ALCHEMY Partners will sell its stake in broker Seymour Pierce as it attempts to scale down its investments in the wake of the departure of founder Jon Moulton. Alchemy acquired 29.9 per cent of the City’s biggest small-cap brokerage after throwing its weight behind a management buyout in 2003. The Seymour Pierce employee benefit trust [...]
Eurozone divided on debt June 27, 2010 THE never-ending, seemingly billion-hour tennis marathon and the World Cup have been welcome distractions to the doom and gloom in the market. As the latest record high in Greek 5-year credit default swaps indicate, investors still think there is a real possibility that Greece could default on its gargantuan national debt. Marie Diron, an economic [...]
Shooting school sold for £8m June 27, 2010 Royal Berkshire Shooting School, the clay pigeon shooting and country sports company based in Pangbourne outside Reading, has changed hands for between £7m and £8m. Alex Newman, the former head of mining player Antofagasta’s corporate finance department, has bought the centre from property investor Bryan Richmond-Dodd. Newman said he was planning to plough money into the [...]
Economist pays £33m dividend June 27, 2010 The Economist Group, which owns the well-known Economist business magazine, has raised its dividend 38 per cent to £33m even though its pre-tax profits fell 10 per cent to £50m. The payout was shared by investors including the Rothschild and Schroder families. The Economist boosted its weekly circulation to 1.4m copies, offsetting a slump in [...]
Tui finance boss linked to M&S June 27, 2010 Tui Travel’s finance director, Paul Bowtell, has been linked to a board position with retailing heavyweight Marks & Spencer. Bowtell, who has previously done stints with British Gas and BG Group, is understood to have held talks with M&S about the upcoming finance director vacancy following Ian Dyson’s shock resignation, which came just days after Marc [...]
TfL closes door on Tube Lines takeover June 27, 2010 BORIS JOHNSON, London’s Mayor, and Transport for London (TfL) have completed the takeover of Tube Lines. Under the agreement, TfL has purchased all of Tube Lines’ shares from Bechtel and Ferrovial’s Amey, for £310m and will now manage the ongoing work to the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines. Johnson said the deal will open a [...]
HMV to announce profits of £74m June 27, 2010 EMBATTLED retailer HMV is expected to post pre-tax profits of £74m in its full year results on Wednesday, boosting hopes the firm’s new management can turn around its fortunes. It is understood HMV will hit estimates laid out earlier this year. The music, film and games merchant has been torpedoed by the proliferation of digital [...]
HMV June 27, 2010 IT’S not hard to see why shareholders are so down on HMV. Its traditional source of revenue – CDs, DVDs and video games – is being quickly eroded by digital replacements. And its foray into ticketing, live music and music-themed memorabilia and clothing isn’t convincing the market. That said, HMV is massively oversold: it has [...]
Financial firms fear looming regulation June 27, 2010 ACTIVITY in financial services firms over the past three months has increased at the fastest rate since September 2007, but market volatility meant that this growth was much slower than had been expected, the quarterly CBI/PwC Financial Services survey will show today. In the second quarter, a net nine per cent of firms said that [...]
