European woes put a spanner in Wolseley’s plan March 27, 2012 PLUMBING and heating merchant Wolseley has revealed higher profits on the back of continued strong growth in the US, but warned of challenging economic conditions in Europe. The owner of Plumb Centre and Bathstore as well as Ferguson in the US reported pre-tax profits of £250m for the six months to the end of January, [...]
ANALYST VIEWS CAN WOLSELEY WEATHER THE TOUGH EUROPEAN CONDITIONS? March 27, 2012 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWNE Sales for the group’s biggest division have slowed, while comparatives are becoming more challenging. Furthermore, recent US housing data provides room for caution…On the upside, its finances have been well and truly stabilised, whilst the group continues to be re-positioned. HOWARD SEYMOUR NUMIS Good interim results prompt increased forecasts and target [...]
Cussons warns of earnings hit from Nigeria March 27, 2012 SOAP and shampoo maker PZ Cussons has issued a second profit warning in less than four months, blaming a hit to sales from social unrest in Nigeria, its biggest single market. Shares in the maker of Imperial Leather soaps and Carex anti-bacterial hand washes fell by more than 10 per cent yesterday after it said [...]
Total fights to stem gas leak in North Sea March 27, 2012 OIL major Total is fighting to control a gas leak that has caused a massive evacuation of North Sea workers, and admitted yesterday the problem may take up to six months to resolve. A cloud of explosive natural gas boiling out of the North Sea from a leak at Total’s abandoned Elgin platform has forced [...]
BP and Shell seem to be shouldering the blame for fuel bills March 27, 2012 CHARTING public perception towards oil companies over the last five years has revealed some fascinating patterns. Both charts shown here on the right depict the overall Index score (a composite of six key image attributes) from YouGov’s BrandIndex, the first going back to 2007 and the second with greater focus on 2012. The five-year view [...]
Afren’s annual profits treble March 27, 2012 AFREN said its full-year profit nearly tripled in 2011, benefiting from a key oil field in Nigeria, and all eyes are now on the British oil firm’s field in Kurdistan that is set to start production in August. Afren’s pre-tax profit in 2011 rose to $221m (£138.3m) from $79m in 2010. The Barda Rash field [...]
Enquest to put $1bn into wells March 27, 2012 OIL and gas company Enquest said it plans to spend $1bn (£625m) on at least 11 new wells in the North Sea and raised its stake in one of its fields. The company, which more than doubled its full-year profit, said yesterday that half of the spending would be on Alma and Galia. The North-Sea [...]
Consumer woes weigh on retail March 27, 2012 UK RETAIL sales are poor for the time of year and expected to get worse, according to an influential business survey published yesterday. An equal number of firms reported sales falling as rising in the first two weeks of March, leaving a net balance of zero growth, the Confederation of British Industry’s distributive trades survey [...]
French confidence spikes but oil prices hit German recovery March 27, 2012 FRENCH consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than a year in March, figures showed yesterday, as hopes rose that a change of government in France could boost the economy. However, German confidence, which has grown strongly in recent months, fell very slightly as worries grew over the increasing price of oil. German [...]
Chinese profits point to risk of a hard landing March 27, 2012 CHINESE industrial profits slumped in the first two months of 2012, according to official figures out yesterday, increasing fears that the world’s second-largest economy may be faltering. Across the sector profits fell 5.2 per cent compared with the same period of 2011, raising calls for further policy loosening to support the economy. The biggest losses [...]
