ANALYST VIEWS | DID HMV’S RESULTS SHOW ANY SIGNS OF IMPROVING PERFORMANCE? August 9, 2012 NICK BUBB INDEPENDENT ANALYST The long-awaited HMV finals are out…but there’s not a lot of new news…it clearly sees a big opportunity in tech and games to escape the downtrend in entertainment sales, but how long this upside lasts remains to be seen… KATE CALVERT SEYMOUR PIERCE We continue to see HMV as a value [...]
Ex CBI president quits carpet firm board after pay bust-up August 9, 2012 SIR Bryan Nicholson, former president of the CBI, resigned his directorship at carpet maker Victoria yesterday after he and two other non-executive directors lost the trust of the board by demanding a share of the proceeds of any sale of the firm. Victoria — which made the red carpet for last year’s Royal Wedding — [...]
Savills expects Europe property markets to remain subdued August 9, 2012 SAVILLS has said it expects European property markets to remain unsettled and very subdued in countries like Italy and Spain, as it posted a four per cent fall in first-half group profit before tax. The property consultancy said yesterday that underlying profit before tax fell to £19.7m in the six months to June, down from [...]
Retail industry lays out £500m growth plans August 9, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced some £500m of investment in Britain’s consumer industries, as some of the sector’s largest players laid out expansion plans in the UK and overseas. Speaking at the British Business Embassy’s Retail, Food and Drink summit in London yesterday, Boots chairman Stefano Pessina said the pharmacist will expand its store estate in [...]
Grainger sales up 13 per cent August 9, 2012 RESIDENTIAL landlord Grainger yesterday revealed property sales totalling £202.1m in the 10 months to July 2012, up 13 per cent on the previous year, as it continued to pay down debt. In an interim management statement, Chief Executive Andrew Cunningham, said the group continued to outperform the general residential market, with gross rents increasing by [...]
ABC overcomes TV hurdle with plastic Aussies August 9, 2012 CREDIT where credit’s due. The BBC have produced superb coverage of the London 2012 Olympics – but then it helps to have live broadcast rights for nearly every sport. Spare a thought for presenters at TV networks without that privilege, such as Australia’s ABC, who were forced to hit on a creative way of bringing [...]
LONDON 2012 IMAGE OF THE DAY August 9, 2012 Throughout the Olympics, City A.M. will be publishing its Olympic Image of the Day. If you have a shot you think our readers will like, please email pictures@cityam.com BMX riders crashed in an early heat yesterday, with only the race leader, Marc Willers of New Zealand, completing the gruelling course unscathed.
Football fun in the West End as Pele heads to Carnaby St August 9, 2012 TURNS out you don’t have to hunt down the last of the elusive (and eye-wateringly expensive) Olympic tickets if you want to see a world-famous sportsman in London this weekend. Pele, arguably the world’s greatest footballer and certainly the most famous face of erectile dysfunction solutions, is in town to meet fans at Soccer Scene [...]
RIM blasts US law as it wins a fine appeal August 9, 2012 BLACKBERRY maker Research in Motion (RIM) hit out at the US patent system yesterday after the Canadian company won an appeal overturning a $147.2m (£94.2m) fine it was ordered to pay to enterprise software company Mformation Technologies. The firm’s chief legal officer said: “The purpose of the patent system is to encourage innovation, but the [...]
Nokia sells Qt software and 500 patents August 9, 2012 STRUGGLING cellphone giant Nokia said yesterday it will sell some 500 wireless patents to US firm Vringo and divest its Qt software business to Finnish IT services firm Digia Oyj to bolster its fast-shrinking cash reserves. Nokia is fighting for survival after losing out in the smartphone war to Apple and Samsung. The world’s second-largest [...]
