Clinton Cards collapses into administration May 9, 2012 CLINTON CARDS, the UK’s largest specialist greeting cards retailer, has been placed into administration by its largest supplier, putting more than 8,000 jobs at risk. Restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper were called in as administrators yesterday after Clinton’s banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, sold the company’s £35m of loans to US card retailer American [...]
ANALYST VIEWS HOW IS SAINSBURY’S FARING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT? May 9, 2012 JAMES GRZINIC JEFFERIES Sainsbury’s full-year results were nearly two per cent better than expected…Crucially, the group has confirmed that it expects core capex to decline from the 2011-12 peak of £1.24bn to £1bn in 2012-13. We expect yield merits to be better underpinned given better cashflow dynamics, but Morrisons and Tesco are a 20 per [...]
IHG: still room at the Inn for the Olympics May 9, 2012 INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) has said it continues to see “strong demand” in London ahead of the Olympics, as the world’s largest hotel operator posted better than expected first quarter profits. Chief financial officer Tom Singer said roughly 20 per cent of the rooms it was obliged to contract to Locog, the Olympic Games committee, [...]
Russia takes fizz out of Carlsberg May 9, 2012 Danish brewer Carlsberg yesterday failed to meet first-quarter profit forecasts after its crucial Russian market took another hit from beer tax hikes. Operating profit dropped to 574m Danish crowns (£61.9m), missing forecasts for 823m crowns. Group sales rose to 12.87bn crowns.
Rightmove traffic moves upward May 9, 2012 Property website Rightmove has reported a growth in advertising revenue for the first four months of the year on higher ad rates and a 20 per cent rise in internet traffic compared to a year ago. Rightmove said it was confident of meeting its expectations for 2012 if the UK housing market doesn’t decline significantly. [...]
Tesco takes pensions in-house May 9, 2012 Tesco yesterday said it would manage its own pension scheme, one of the largest in the country still offering defined benefits, to maximise returns and cut dependence on consultants. Tesco Pension Investment will be led by Steven Daniels, previously group chief investment officer of LV= Asset Management.
Carphone seeks new Warehouses May 9, 2012 Carphone Warehouse said it is looking to expand outside its core markets in Britain and France after its fourth quarter revenue took a 5.5 per cent turn for the worse. But the firm said it should still meet full year forecasts, and its shares rose by three per cent to 136p.
Assets rise at stormy F&C as change looms May 9, 2012 SHARES in F&C Asset Management slipped again yesterday after it posted a further £1.7bn of outflows for the first quarter. The firm, which has endured a turbulent 18 months including a boardroom coup, said the outflows had included key client exits, the loss of third-party institutional cash and withdrawals from the Thames River Global Bond [...]
Resolution sees its sales rise and costs shrink as planned May 9, 2012 INSURANCE acquisition vehicle Resolution reported an eight per cent sales rise in the first quarter of 2012 as growth in Britain offset a downturn overseas. The FTSE 100 firm, created in 2008 to buy underperforming British life insurers and merge them into a more profitable whole, announced total sales of £292m in the three months [...]
Insurance giant Allianz beats forecasts with €2.3bn profits May 9, 2012 ALLIANZ, Europe’s largest insurer, said yesterday that its net profit rose nearly 60 per cent to over €1.4bn (£1.12bn) in the first quarter, according to preliminary figures that beat analyst expectations. The firm, releasing results ahead of its official publication next week, also said revenues exceeded €30bn and operating profit was more than €2.3bn in [...]
