ED BREWSTER MAKES A START ON HIS LATEST PR ADVENTURE February 29, 2012 FORMER Pru spinner Ed Brewster has made an appearance at giant telecoms event Mobile World Congress. Brewster is now tasked with looking after PR for Chinese behemoth Huawei as it attempts to conquer the consumer handset market. Attempting to break Apple and Google’s stranglehold over the industry may seem like a tall order but it’s [...]
Insurer Brit turns a profit against odds February 29, 2012 BRIT Insurance yesterday announced a profit for 2011 despite a generally miserable year for the industry. Profit before tax was £75.8m, down a third on 2010’s figure of £116.4m. Most of this was due to a doubling of one-off catastrophe-related claims to £141.9m, a result of earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and tornados in [...]
Woodford in legal bid over Olympus job February 29, 2012 THE BRITISH former chief executive of Olympus is due to open employment tribunal proceedings against the Japanese technology firm today. Michael Woodford, who said he was sacked after blowing the whistle on an accounting scandal, is due to appear for a preliminary hearing at East London Tribunal Service in Stratford. Woodford was based in Japan [...]
Interserve targets new markets drive February 29, 2012 OUTSOURCING giant Interserve said new markets and growing support services work would balance another weak year in its construction division. The company, whose services range from cleaning Sainsbury’s supermarkets to building shopping centres in the Middle East, posted a 4.6 per cent rise in 2011 underlying pre-tax profits to £72.8m, meeting analysts’ expectations. The FTSE [...]
National Express gets boost from US school buses February 29, 2012 BRITISH transport firm National Express Group’s full-year profit has risen on strong performance at its US school bus and UK coach divisions, and the company said it was confident about growth in 2012. It added that it was not looking to exit its UK rail business, which accounted for 31 per cent of its 2011 [...]
Sportingbet in first-half loss February 29, 2012 ONLINE gaming firm Sportingbet posted a first-half loss hurt by a drop in sports betting in its European segment yesterday, but said its third quarter had started well. The company, which operates in sports betting, casino gaming and poker, said pre-tax loss for its first half to 31 January was £7.2m, compared with a profit [...]
RSM Tenon plans staff cuts February 29, 2012 Advisory and accountancy group RSM Tenon is planning staff cuts as its costs rise, as it confirmed it had made a loss in the first half of its financial year. In the six months to 31 December, the company saw revenues fall 9.3 per cent to £107.8m. Taking into account a goodwill payment of £60.7m, [...]
Siemens wins UK train contract February 29, 2012 Siemens has won a $230m (£144m) contract to supply electric trains for use on British railways, the latest British train contract awarded to the German industrial group. The deal will see Siemens supply 20 Desiro UK trains to Go-Ahead Group’s London Midland and First Group’s TransPennine Express regional route franchises, to be used on routes [...]
Energy finance boss sells shares February 29, 2012 The finance chief of FTSE 100 listed power generator International Power has sold more than £1m of shares that he held in the firm, reducing his stake to zero. Mark Williamson, who has been finance chief of the company since 2003, sold 409,684 shares belonging to him and his wife for 340.5p each, making the [...]
Lawsuit for Healthcare Locums February 29, 2012 Shares in troubled nursing recruitment agency Healthcare Locums fell by more than 20 per cent yesterday after several of its US investors launched a lawsuit against the company. Healthcare Locums came close to collapsing last year when accounting irregularities were found in its books. Hedge funds including Permian and Arundel have joined forces to file [...]
