London Capital in buyout talks February 12, 2013 LONDON Capital Group saw its shares leap 23 per cent yesterday after the spread betting firm confirmed it is in takeover talks with a number of bidders. The owner of Capital Spreads said it has received preliminary takeover approaches from Cantor Fitzgerald, GAIN Capital and City Index although it said there was no certainty of [...]
Profits up on Marsh’s sales February 12, 2013 MARSH & McLennan’s said yesterday its fourth-quarter profit rose two per cent, helped by growth in its core insurance business. The insurance broker reported a profit of $259m (£165.4m), or 47 cents per share, up from $256m, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue at Marsh, the company’s main insurance business, grew four [...]
Inflation stuck above target for 38th month February 12, 2013 CONSUMER prices grew faster than the Bank of England’s target rate for the 38th straight month over the year to January, data revealed yesterday. The consumer prices index (CPI) grew 2.7 per cent between January 2012 and January 2013, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, the same rate as recorded in October, November and [...]
House prices climb steadily through 2012 February 12, 2013 HOUSE prices chugged upwards steadily during last year, according to official statistics out yesterday. The average UK home was worth 3.3 per cent more at the end of 2012 than at end of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its house price index, up from the 2.2 per cent annual growth seen [...]
Draghi in no rush to buy up Spain’s bonds February 12, 2013 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) will only step into the Spanish bond market and use its bond buying scheme if it was having “major problems” trying to carry out monetary policy, its boss said yesterday. ECB boss Draghi also said the rate-setters would not use the outright monetary transactions (OMT) bond-buying programme unless Spain had [...]
3i targets more sell-offs after £615m disposal February 12, 2013 BRITISH investment giant 3i yesterday sold its plastic equipment business Mold-Masters to US rival Milacron for C$975m (£615m), pleasing investors who want the business to pay down its debt pile. Proceeds from the deal will be around £219m – 2.6 times the initial £84m investment 3i made in October 2007. The company said there had [...]
Glencore and Xstrata post output drop February 12, 2013 COMMODITIES trader Glencore and Xstrata, in the final stages of a £56bn mega-merger, yesterday posted a drop in combined output across key metals including copper. The two companies’ combined production figures, released by Glencore yesterday, show a nine per cent annual drop in copper output in 2012, and a one per cent fall in zinc [...]
Hibu heralds a looming deal with lenders February 12, 2013 YELLOW Pages publisher Hibu, which is grappling with a heavy debt load, said yesterday it expects to reach a deal with its lenders on restructuring its debt “in the near future”. Hibu said in October that it would suspend debt repayments and that it planned to present a restructuring proposal to lenders by January to [...]
Analyst Views | What do you see in the future for Dunelm? February 12, 2013 JEAN ROCHE | PANMURE GORDON The cash conversion ratio is an impressive 107 per cent, and bolsters our view that the company will be able to make another generous capital return in two-three years’ time, of perhaps £80m-90m, following £65.8m returned last November. MARK PHOTIADES | N+1 SINGER We also see the development of multi-channel [...]
Dunelm plans to step up online growth as half-year profits rise February 12, 2013 DUNELM, the homewares retailer, said it plans to step up the expansion of its online business this year as it posted a strong rise in sales and profits in the first half of the year. The Leicester-based group, which trades as Dunelm Mill, said it plans to open a new warehouse for online orders, which [...]
