Sports Direct eyes up Blacks December 13, 2011 STRUGGLING retailer Blacks Leisure said yesterday it had been approached by Sports Direct International – one of a number of expressions of interest it has received since putting itself up for sale last week. Sports Direct, controlled by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, has a 21 per cent stake in the firm, and said any [...]
Carpetright in profits plunge December 13, 2011 CARPETRIGHT, the UK’s biggest floor coverings retailer, posted the worst first-half performance in its history as a listed company yesterday, but said it expected better trading in the second half due to improved margins and marketing. The firm posted a pre-tax loss of £800,000 for the period to 29 October.
GO-AHEAD BULLISH ON UK TRANSPORT December 13, 2011 RAIL and bus operator Go-Ahead said full-year profit is likely to exceed expectations after a strong first-half performance. The company, run by chief executive David Brown (pictured), yesterday said revenues were boosted by passengers turning to public transport. Go-Ahead is expected to report average full-year operating profit of £108.45m.
MAN GROUP AIDE PLOTS FAME, SEX AND RUIN December 13, 2011 MANAGING the press coverage of Man Group’s multimillionaire hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange is not a nine-to-five job. Which is partly why it taken Man Group’s head of media relations David Waller eight years “on and off” to complete his second historical biography around his day job, this time on his scandalous great-uncle Eugen Sandow. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 13, 2011 Alvarez & Marsal The professional services firm has expanded its European real estate advisory team by appointing London-based senior director Ian Morgan. Morgan joins Alvarez & Marsal from the boutique advisory firm European Resolution Capital, where he was portfolio head for real estate, responsible for a distressed loan book of €1bn. Prior to that, Morgan [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 13, 2011 CSR Morgan Stanley rates the chipmaker as “equal-weight” with a target price of 250p, following the company’s announcement yesterday that it is halting its investment in the digital television and tuner side of its business. As a consequence, the broker lowers its 2012 and 2013 revenue forecasts by $50m and $100m respectively, and operating expenses [...]
Slump goes on as all eyes on the Fed December 13, 2011 Stocks fell for a second consecutive day yesterday after the Federal Reserve gave no hints of new stimulus measures to offset the effects of the worsening European debt crisis. Though the Fed did leave the door open to further easing next year, as it has done after recent meetings, it gave no indication it was [...]
Investors stay wary despite energy fuelling rise on FTSE December 13, 2011 THE FTSE 100 rebounded in low volume yesterday, with energy stocks rallying on the back of soaring oil prices. The oil and gas sector index rose 2.3 per cent, tracking a rise in the price of crude. That came after the International Energy Agency said it expected demand growth next year, and Citigroup raised its [...]
Time to say the unsayable – European unification needs to restart without the euro December 13, 2011 DAVID Cameron’s veto last week expresses again the British elites’ long running ambivalence to the European project. Though probably not his intention, his oppositional stance also represented something perhaps more novel: a tiny dent to the dominant assumption that nothing is more important today than “saving the euro”. A parallel point to ponder is that [...]
Durban’s climate conference puts green deal on ice December 13, 2011 AFTER two weeks of talks and partying, delegates at the UN climate summit in Durban agreed to meet again for further talks and partying around the dream of a global climate treaty. As expected, an informal coalition of major emitters such as the USA, China, India and Russia won the battle at the climate talks [...]
